Domain: NC Foundations for Early Learning: Cognitive Development (CD)

Subdomain: Mathematical Thinking and Expression

Goal: Children show understanding of numbers and quantities during play and other activities

Skill Progression: Recognizing number and subitizing

Age: 48-54 Months

Click here to go to all skills for ages 48-54 Months.

Play a dice game. Give each child a piece of paper with a 12 X 4 grid (or with more columns if desired). Children can play in small groups and take turns with the dice.

First give children one die. Children take turns throwing the die and drawing the pattern on the die next to the number represented on the die. Once everyone at the table has thrown 1-6, give the children a second die. Again they count the pips on the die and draw what they have next to the total number. Different combinations that comprise the same number are drawn in different columns. The first person to fill in all twelve numbers wins. While children are playing or after they are done with a round of play, the adult can ask children to find all of the combinations that are the same number as X. For example, “Look at what you drew next to that number.” “Who can tell me different combinations that are the same number as 8?” Listen to their responses. “Yes, 4 and 4, 5 and 3, 6 and 2. All of those combinations are the number 8.”

Children may need some support to see that what they have done in their game is find different ways to “say” a number in their drawings. The adult can tell that children are reading the written numerals correctly when they give correct responses to the question.

Again, dice, board, and card games are a good way for parents and children to interact with each other while learning about the different ways to express numbers.