Clothespins are some of my favorite tools for learning and this easy math activity uses them along with your child’s imagination and love of mundane adult things like hanging clean socks on the line. This number matching activity wasn’t easy for my daughter at first but after she got the hang of it it was a breeze. The turning point was folding the sock over the line and then she could pin it herself.   This can be set up, played with and taken down over and over.

1. Gather your materials. You will need some fabric paint, socks ( try the dollar store if you don’t have extras at home), some wired ribbon, marker,  a basket, clothes pins and something to secure the ribbon to the wall.
2. Start by painting numbers on your socks.  I let ours dry for 2 full days… just in case.
3. Write the numbers on your clothes pins. I did 2 sets one for my daughter and the other with simple equations for my son. He wasn’t into this activity “It’s kinda for little kids Mom.”  so I will use this clothes pins for a “big kid” activity like this one instead.
4. Set your clothesline up and pop the socks in the basket. Invite your little learner to hang out the wash.
5. The way I had it set up originally required me to help her and it slowed things down and she was frustrated not being able to do it herself.
6. So we switched things up and she was clearly thrilled.
7. I took all the pins off and put the socks on the line folded over.
8. Then she grabbed the matching pin and clipped it on. After that she was golden and quickly matched the numbers up. It took a lot of coordination to get the correct pin on.