Counting to 10 and learning to count out objects are very different skills – counting to 10 is a language skill learned by repetition, counting out objects – so linking the language the notion that it’s a value is harder for kids to grasp. T loves to count – she goes from 1 to 18 and then skips and changes numbers around however counting out objects we tend to go 1, 2, 3 and then all the way upto 10 no matter how many or few objects we have.
Linking a little learning and some fun games is the best way to help support your child in their learning at preschool back in January we created a little game to go with the book Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff as part of the Virtual Book Club for Kids to help work on number skills and here’s an alternative using Frogs as thanks to the frog spawn and tadpoles they have become a large part of our life again.
More Counting Games for Preschoolers
Materials for Frog Counting Game
6 Plastic toy frogs or you could create your own from these amazing free printable from Picklebums
Brown Paper
Green Paper
Blue Paper
Brown Marker Pen
Dice
Creating the Pond and Log
With the blue paper cut out a woobly shape for a pond – I used a slightly thicker card stock for this as wanted to add the pond and game to our Nature Study Area afterwards as it’s perfect for Spring. With the green cut out some lilly pad shapes and place on the pond. With the brown card cut out a log shape and then use a brown marker to decorate with lines to make it look more realistic. Sit the 6 frogs on the log and you are ready to start.
Playing the Frog Counting Game
We love our large dice (sorry no idea where we got it from but it’s great for little hands to throw with) and the dots are easy to see and for little fingers to count with compared to the small dice we have in our games collection.
Set up the pond as above and sit down together – you could start of by singing a frog song e.g. “Five Little Speckled Frogs” perfect for some counting fun as well and then start the game.
Throw the dice and then help your child to count the number of spots on the dice – unlike us young children don’t recognise the pattern of dots corresponding with a number but the skill is quickly learnt the more that you use a dice with them and reinforce by counting out the dots each time.
Then help your child to count the number of frogs into the pond – make it fun by making big splash sounds as you go.
Make your own 5 Little Speckled Frogs Puppets perfect to support counting and language development with your toddlers and preschoolers.
Extension Activities
If your child is great with counting 1 – 6 then how about using two dice collect or print out more frogs (if using the Free Frog Printable from Picklebums). Then throw one dice, then the other either count directly the number of dots or help your children to learn number bonds to 12 by adding the numbers together.
Whilst you are playing the game you can introduce the concepts of subtraction – “If 3 frogs jump into the pond how many frogs from the 6 on the log do we have left”.
More Frog Themed Activities for Kids
Create your own Five Little Speckled Frogs
Raise Tadpoles to froglets at home
Pin this Frog Counting Game to Play Later
Evelyn Saenz says
If your child is way beyond this level in math, you can use two dice and multiply the numbers. Then use a 100’s board. Place one pond at the start and another at the end. Roll and add to cross the frogs from one pond to the other.
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The Preschool Toolbox says
Cerys – Love this! Such a great idea for spring counting and play! Thank you, again, for sharing via FB today. #appreciated
Kristi @ Creative Connections for Kids says
Love this game! I’ll be sharing this with my families at work, pinning and etc. Thanks! Kristi
Jackie @ Happy Hooligans says
Cerys, this is awesome! What a fun way for little ones to learn through play! And YES!! We love our large dice too!