Purpose:
- To develop children’s ability to count forward and backward.
You need:
- Nothing
Activity:
This activity starts with partners facing each other. Each person slaps their legs using both hands then claps the following counting patterns.
- Clap one – slap the legs
- Clap one, two – slap the legs
- Clap one, two, three – slap the legs
- Clap one, two, three, four – slap the legs
- Clap one, two, three, four, five – slap the legs
The counting is then reversed.
- Clap one, two, three, four, five – slap the legs
- Clap one, two, three, four – slap the legs
- Clap one, two, three – slap the legs
- Clap one – slap the legs
Variations:
- Count forward and backwards in your home language.
- Instead of counting in ones, partners can develop the idea of skip counting to support their multiplication tables, for example clapping the sequence and counting up in 5’s, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and then reversing.
- Counting could start at 95 and go over the 100 to 105. The clap and count sequence would then be 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103 etc., and then reversing.