Number Recognition
I didn’t know what to call this game because it uses so many skills . The player needs to recognize sizes , sound out words for the street names as well as recognize numbers for the house addresses. Also it incorporates gross motor and balance as they push the car along the streets. Of course I wouldn’t be posting an activity like this without making adaptations easy. The street names could be turned to letters such as A Street. B Street etc… and the houses could be colors instead of numbers! My son who is almost 5 loves this game, we have played with with friends and alone over the past week. The best part is that new street names and house numbers can be added so easily!
- Gather your materials. You will need a patch of floor, painter’s tape, some construction paper ( I used black, brown , orange and yellow), a glue stick, a marker , white paper and some sicssors. Oh and a toy car , my son wanted one with space to actually put the pizza in it so ours is huge. Use your favorite.
- Start by choosing the words you want to make into the street names. The player will have to find the right address to deliver the pizza and will have to read all the streets they drive on. I chose to do all sm , sn and sp blends but any words will do. For us my son needed to work on sounding out so I chose words he wouldn’t be as apt to read by sight. Write them on white paper.
- Glue them on black construction paper and cut out.
- Next up make the houses. As you can see my goal is not perfection , it’s fun so as long as my son can tell it’s a house , I am happy.
- Pop some numbers on the houses. Try to make some that are “easy” for your child, ones they will recognize immediately and some that are a challenge.
- Time for pizza. If your child is gaga for crafts have them make the pizza while you do the previous steps. We made 6 total – 2 large, 2 medium and 2 small.
- Don’t forget the pizzeria – ours is elaborate
- Now create the road way with tape on your floor.
- Place the streets and houses with numbers on the roadway.
- Invite your player to come and deliver the pizzas! How to play: Pretend to call the pizza place asking for any combo of the pizza sizes such as one large and two smalls. Give them your address ( which of course is determined by the house on the street… so ours was #77 Smoke street ), then as they deliver the pizza they have to read the streets they use to get there.
- Keep going until all the pizzas are delivered!
- Switch up where each road is and move the houses around for the next round! This was such a hit we played for a long time.
Books About Pizza !
The Princess and the Pizza
The Little Red Hen (Makes a Pizza)
Pizza at Sally’s
Stores may already have winter holiday decorations out, but fall is not over with. There is so much more time to enjoy it. Here is a fun way to incorporate learning, crafting, and turkeys. Yep, turkeys.
You will need some construction paper, glue, scissors, and markers. For a reusable (and glue-free) version of this activity use felt instead of construction paper.
Trace circles onto brown construction paper. I used a drinking glass to trace. Make a circle for each number you would like to use in this activity.
Cut out the circles and glue them onto smaller sheets of colored paper. At this point you could have your child cut and glue. I prepared all of mine ahead of time because this activity was done simultaneously with 9 children and only me. Draw little wings, feet, and turkey heads on. At the top write the number for each sheet.
Now cut out lots of feathers in an array of colors.
Now your child can read the number (or count the dots) and set out how many feathers need to be glued onto the turkey.
Let your child start gluing away. With so many small children and just me, I used glue sticks.
Have them count out the feathers to make sure they have the correct amount. Then they can be a silly turkey themselves.
This is a fun activity that helps number recognition, counting, colors, sorting, you can even do the feathers in a pattern, motor skills, and is just plain fun.
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Kim is a contributing writer for No Time For Flash Cards, a mom to a toddler, a preschooler, and a foster parent, too. She juggles her day by trying out fun activities and crafts with the kids. After all, she is just a big kid herself. See what she has been up to over at Mom Tried It
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- Gather your materials. You will need some self adhesive address numbers (found at the hardware store), card stock, a hole punch, ribbon, pencil and scissors.
- Using a sheet of card stock create a template for your flag. I made ours large but you can do any size. I liked that mine wasn’t perfectly triangular but if perfect lines make you happy, grab a ruler too!
- Trace on every page . I used a pad of card stock with a rainbow of colors and simply made one flag per color but you could have fun with patterns too.
- Time to add the numbers. These are very lightweight which is what you’ll want so the flags aren’t too heavy for the ribbon to hold.
- Punch holes in the two upper corners of each page. I punched the holes in one then used it as a guide by laying it on top as a template when punching the holes in the next.
- Cut a piece of ribbon about 2 feet long and tie two flags together loosely.
- I did most of this while my daughter played at the table, but this project was great for doing a little here and there. I did most the tying the next day.
- Hang it up.
This is our old master bedroom- the only place in our old house big enough for it. 
- I carefully packed it into a ziplock – so if you are making one of these for a party you know it’s easy to transport without damaging.
My son cannot stand traditional flash cards. I have to try to get creative. When I saw this idea forKnock-Knock Valentines on Silly Eagle Books, I knew this is exactly what I needed. You will need construction paper, glue, scissors, stickers, a marker, and the lid to travel size baby wipes.
Here is an example of the baby wipe lids I am referring to. I just pulled them right off of the package after I used all of them.
Draw lines on a sheet of construction paper dividing it into fourths. I had my son cut along the lines. Moms can take over this task if the little one isn’t quite ready for this yet.
Have your child put a designated number of stickers on the top of each wipe lid. For this post we did numbers 3 and 5 (but we have done 1-10).
Now put a bead of glue around the bottom of the wipe lid. A neat way to get your child involved with this step is to put some glue in a small bowl and let them apply it with a cotton swab. Glue the wipe lid to a piece of construction paper.
Once the glue dries, open the lid and write the number inside that matches the number of stickers on the lid.
Now your child has an interactive flash card! They can count the number of stickers on the lid and learn to recognize the number by opening their card.
This is great for sight words and introducing math equations for older kids. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination.
What would you put on yours?
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Kim is a contributing writer for No Time For Flash Cards, a mom to a toddler, a preschooler, and a foster parent, too. She juggles her day by trying out fun activities and crafts with the kids. After all, she is just a big kid herself. See what she has been up to over at Mom Tried It.
When you find something your child genuinely loves use it! My son adores painting with this roller sponge, he calls it his steam roller and pretends to be making a road on any painting we make with it. When I suggested we make a magic number painting with it he all but leaped into the kitchen, which delighted me since he has not been as keen about art since the weather has been amazing, really who can blame the kid?
- Gather your materials. You will need a sheet of light colored paper, some vinyl number stickers, paint, plates and a sponge or roller sponge paint brush. Using a sponge is much easier when you want coverage. This activity doesn’t work well if the whole paper isn’t covered in paint.
- Start by placing the number sticker on the paper. Depending on your child’s ability you can simple pop them on , or challenge them to make numbers with them. For example say ” Can you make 23? Or 51? ” don’t push it though having fun with learning is the point not quizzing your kids.
- Pour paint onto the plates.
- Start painting.
- I called out the numbers at first for my son to cover with paint asking him if he could find 7 or 4 etc… but then he started to pretend that he was building a road and I sat back and listened to his pretend play.
- Let dry.
- Peel off.
As adults we know that the number will peel off and white will be beneath it but at least for my 3 year old it was a fun and awesome surprise – and he even thought it was magic that they were white!
by Mitsumasa Anno almost didn’t make it into my library bag. I am so glad it did. This is a wonderful book full of possibilities. There is no text , simple aerial illustrations of a field as it evolves one number at a time. The illustrations fill up quickly and it might take a while to see that you have to classify the pictures on each page to match it with the number on the page but once you do , each page is a lesson!
by Doris K. Gayzagian is a beautiful book. Visually it reminds me of an impressionist painting, the soft beach colors used by illustrator Kristina Swarner are calming and pretty. This is more than just a counting book, there is a story of a little girl at the beach,what she finds and how she plans to use them when she takes them home. It’s so beautifully done that it almost makes me forget how much I hate finding sand in my car after a trip to the beach.
Museum 123 
