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Count and Climb with Jack and the Beanstalk

Combining classic stories and activities is a great way to develop literacy and other skills at the same time. In this Jack and the Beanstalk Maths Activity for toddlers and preschoolers, we get hands-on bringing the classic story to life and work on some numeracy and literacy skills. Stories are fabulous tools to use in learning because children naturally love stories and with a story, everything is just more fun!

Count and climb Jack's beanstalk with this fun early year maths activity for toddlers and preschoolers for the classic Fairy Tale Jack and the Beanstalk

Jack’s Beanstalk Maths Activity Skills

We worked on various skills with this fun activity:

  • Number recognition
  • Fine motor skills
  • Counting up to 10
  • Counting backward, from 10 to 1
  • Skip counting in 2’s
  • Recalling(memory) and retelling(language) the story

Discover more Hands-on Counting and Number Recognition Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers.

What you need for this count and climb Jack and the beanstalk activity

We have included affiliate links to some of the products and resources as an associate we may earn from qualifying purchases.

Count and climb Jack's beanstalk with this fun early year maths activity for toddlers and preschoolers for the classic Fairy Tale Jack and the Beanstalk

Jack and the Beanstalk Books

There are many different versions of the story that you could read aloud with your children before starting this activity we have selected our 4 favourites below and provided affiliate links to them on Amazon – if you purchase any of them we may earn a small commission based on the sale.

For the youngest children, we recommend this Jack and the Beanstalk board book which provides a lovely introduction to the tale as well as comes with an audio version so that you can play it in the car or at bedtime for your little ones.

Both of my children love the illustrations of Nick Sharratt and also his funny way of retelling and making up stories. In this Lift the flap Jack and the Beanstalk which is ideal for sharing with toddlers and preschoolers there also is a CD to listen aloud to together.

We have a collection of the Ladybird First Favourite Tales as they were a great introduction to the classic fairy tales and in a condensed and simplified language ideal for reading together, they were also some of the first books that my daughter started to read independently outside of the school reading scheme. This version of Jack and the Beanstalk and the other fairy tales would make a perfect addition to your bookshelf for your baby through to school age reading together and then independently.

A classic keepsake this Jack and the Beanstalk by Steven Kellogg is the one that follows the original story the best and has beautiful classic illustrations inside.

Setting up the Count and Climb Jack and the Beanstalk Activity

First, cut ten leaves from your craft foam or cardboard.

You can add more (up to 20) for your older child. Add the leaves to the craft sticks.

Then make slits in the cardboard roll for the craft sticks to fit in. Number these slots to correspond with your leave sticks.

Count and climb Jack's beanstalk with this fun early year maths activity for toddlers and preschoolers for the classic Fairy Tale Jack and the Beanstalk

For the giant’s castle: cut the cardboard in the shape of a castle and add the windows and doors with a marker. Glue this onto the top of the cardboard roll together with the cotton wool for “clouds”.

Count and climb Jack's beanstalk with this fun early year maths activity for toddlers and preschoolers for the classic Fairy Tale Jack and the Beanstalk

More Fairy Tale Inspired Activities for Kids

Time to play!

Let your child add the beanstalk leaves, here he will need to use his number recognition skills, counting skills and fine motor skills.

Count and climb Jack's beanstalk with this fun early year maths activity for toddlers and preschoolers for the classic Fairy Tale Jack and the Beanstalk


Climb and count up the beanstalk! We used our Duplo man as Jack and as he climbed up and up, my son(3.5 years old) did the counting.

Older kids can let “Jack” jump up the leaves in 2’s etc. to work on skip counting.

When coming down from the castle, your child can count backward until Jack reaches the ground. My son made an ax with leftover cardboard and at the end, he “chopped” off the leaves(pulling out the sticks) so the giant can’t get down!

Count and climb Jack's beanstalk with this fun early year maths activity for toddlers and preschoolers for the classic Fairy Tale Jack and the Beanstalk

We played this over and over(and over) again. Later he played all by himself and made up his own stories too. Thus making this simple toy great for imaginative play too!

A fun counting(and playing) activity to go along with the story Jack and the Beanstalk! I am sure your child will love it just as much.

Teach me mommy logo.

Nadia is a South African mommy of two and a therapist at an elementary remedial school.

She blogs over at Teach me Mommy about easy and playful activities with the aim to teach.

You can follow along on FacebookTwitterPinterest and Instagram.

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Count and climb Jack's beanstalk with this fun early year maths activity for toddlers and preschoolers for the classic Fairy Tale Jack and the Beanstalk

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Count and climb Jack's beanstalk with this fun early year maths activity for toddlers and preschoolers for the classic Fairy Tale Jack and the Beanstalk
Author
Cerys Parker

Cerys is a marine biologist, environmental educator, teacher, mum, and home educator from the UK. She loves getting creative, whether it is with simple and easy crafts and ideas, activities to make learning fun, or delicious recipes that you and your kids can cook together you'll find them all shared here on Rainy Day Mum.

2 Comments

  1. Chloe Lawson says:

    Wow this is interesting
    I’m making this math activity now for my class
    Thank you so much

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