Rainbow Lacing Number Bonds
One of my favourite topics for early Spring into April is Rainbows. With lots of rain and sunshine, you can almost guarantee that you will find one in the sky. The theme also lends itself beautifully to learning about colours an important topic for toddlers and preschoolers. For this week’s Virtual Book Club for Kids Activity based on the book Rainbow of my Own by Don Freeman, we have a FREE printable rainbow lacing activity to work on number bonds to 10. Inspired by our Rainbow Art Number Bonds from a couple of years ago this version also works on fine motor skills at the same time as reinforcing those number bonds.
A Rainbow Of My Own
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Our featured book for this week’s theme of Rainbows is Don Freeman’s A Rainbow of my Own in which a little boy imagines that he has his very own rainbow. Full of imagination, play and fun this little boy tries to catch a rainbow however it’s impossible so instead he imagines what it would be like to play with his very own rainbow.
Lacing Rainbow Activity for Toddler and Preschoolers
I love activities that use the same resources to work on different stages. Once this rainbow is created you can use it for it’s intended purpose which is to work on Number Bonds to 10 however, with younger children that are working on number recognition get them to lace the rainbow themselves with the numbers between 0 and 10 that you call out.
So why are number bonds to 10 so important? Well, it’s part of developing number sense – as our number system works on a base 10 where there is a repetition of the single digits 0 to 9 every 10 numbers learning the bonds that connect together to make 10 makes addition and subtraction easier as well as moving forward to working into tens and hundreds. Doing hands-on activities to work on these number bonds helps to reinforce the relationships in your child’s mind and help them with mental maths later on.
If you check further down you will find some of our suggestions for further activities to work on Number Bonds with your child or children throughout the year.
Materials Needed for your Lacing Rainbow Number Bonds Activity
Pinter and Printer Paper – in the Rainy Day Mum house we use an HP-Envy with instaink
Laminator and laminating pouches
Dice – ours is one of our set of chalkboard dice we have made to be reusable for different activities
Colourful shoelaces or some string from a children’s lacing set e.g this alphabet lacing beads
Prep Ahead
Before giving the activity over you need a little preparation.
- Download your Lacing Rainbow.
- Cut out.
- Laminate.
- Cut out your laminated rainbow.
- On each of the black circles punch a hole.
If you haven’t already then make your dice and write on it numbers 0 – 5 and the second dice with 5 – 10 on.
An alternative to using the dice would be to have numbers 0 – 5 or 0 – 9 in a bag (magnetic numbers or wooden numbers work well) and ask your child to draw a number out each time to start their lacing with.
How to Use
When working on number bonds to 10
- Throw the dice either the 0 – 5 or the 5 – 10 dice.
- Start threading through that number.
- Now ask which number “bonds” with that number to make 10.
- Lace through to the bonded number.
Repeat.
When working on number recognition
- Ignore the dice completely at first.
- Call out a number to start lacing with.
- Thread the lace through that number hole.
- Now call out another number and repeat step 3.
- Continue calling out numbers and checking that your child has got the numbers correct.
More Number Bond Activities for Kids
Fox in Socks – Sock Washing Line Number Bonds
Red and Green Apple Number Bonds
Join The Virtual Book Club for Kids
Each week here on Rainy Day Mum we share a book based activity for toddlers and preschoolers based on a weekly theme. These are fun ways to promote reading and connect with books. At the same time, we also share ideas from the cohosts of the book club’s activities, crafts, and recipes so that you have some fun ideas to extend the book further than just our activity.
The other way is to come and join our Virtual Book Club for Kids Facebook Group. Where the weekly co-hosts share their activities plus additional ideas for the weekly theme.
More Resources for rainbows and numbers bonds
I love this snap and slide number bonds set – the fact that it’s reusable has your child “doing” something with it is perfect for reinforcing the concept of number bonds further.
We know that one of the best ways for children to remember their number bonds after getting hands-on with them is by picturing them in their head. This set of Magnetic Ten Frames is perfect for getting children to picture the number bonds using the magnetic counters.
Although based on sorting the colours of the rainbow this set of Rainbow Counting Bears with sorting cups is perfect for adding as a math resource for your children. I have been using counting bears and other similar counters with children to work on and reinforce maths concepts throughout the primary years.
The Grimm’s Wooden Rainbow was one of my favourite toys when the children were younger. I loved the versatility of it – it was used for imaginative play, for construction as well as, as a beautiful decoration for Spring.
More Rainbow Themed Activities and Crafts for Toddlers and Preschoolers
Check out these fantastic Rainbow Activities and Crafts for Toddlers and Preschoolers from our site and the co-hosts of the Virtual Book Club for Kids.
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