This time of year, themed activities are starting to be all about Valentine’s Day! My favorite workbox activity for my preschoolers this time of year have been my Valentine’s Day Counting Cards to use with manipulative: puff balls, candy pieces, and so forth!
These are pretty simple: simply print the cards, laminate for durability, and practice counting the items on each page. Although playing with puff balls and matching them to the items on the cards seems obvious to us, for a toddler or preschooler, it’s an important early math concept!
The images on the cards are heart and Valentines themed: a box of chocolates, various heart, balloons, Valentines, and so forth. This is a simple but great activity for practicing one-to-one correspondence. The concept that each number that we count represents an item or thing is an important one. It is clear from the images that some cards have more than the others.
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My daughter loved playing with puff balls. It's even more fun when we play with candy pieces!
We don't have to limit it to that. Here are some things we can use for 1-to-1 correspondence with these cards:
Pretty much anything can become a manipulative for a young child!
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I've written about some other Valentine's Day activities for this age before. Here are other heart activities we could this season:
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