Purpose:
You can help your child to learn to count on and back from any number up to 31.
What you need:
A calendar page with large numbers, a great way to use old calendars. The page could be stuck onto card (from an opened cereal box or similar) to make the numbers easier to handle.
What to do:
Cut out the numbers.
Put the numbers 1 - 15 in one set and the numbers 16 - 31 in another set.
Shuffle each set and put the numbers face down in two piles.
The child turns up one number from each pile and starts counting forwards from the smallest number to the largest number, or backwards for the largest number to the smallest number. For example if the numbers 15 and 21 are drawn, the child can either count "15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 21" or "21, 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15."
If your child is having difficulty, reduce the numbers you use. For example have the numbers 1- 10 in one pile, and 11 - 20 in the other. If needed your child could use another uncut calendar page as a prompt for their counting until they are more familiar with the counting sequence.
It is important to practice counting forwards and backwards.
What to expect your child to do:
- Be able to count forwards or backwards between any two numbers from 0 - 31, without starting from 1 as a prompt.
- Be able to count forwards or backwards across the decades. For example "9, 10, 11, 12, 13" or "22, 21, 20, 19, 18."
He Kupu Māori:
| count on | tatau whakamua |
| count back | tatau whakamuri |
| pile of cards | putunga kāri |
He Whakawhitinga Kōrero:
- Tangohia tētahi kāri mai i ia putunga. (Take one card from each pile.)
- Kōrerohia mai te tau iti. Kōrerohia mai te tau nui. (Say the smallest number. Say the largest number.)
- Tatau whakamua mai i te tau iti ki te tau nui. (Count forward from the smallest number to the largest.)
- Tatau whakamuri mai i te tau nui ki te tau iti. (Count backward from the largest number to the smallest.)
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