Numeracy

  • Count anything – the number of apples in a bowl, stairs up to bed, penny coins in a purse, cuddly toys in the bedroom, the bottles of milk we had this week.
  • Count on and count back, first in ones and then in tens, starting first from zero and then from any small number.
  • Spot bus numbers or car numbers and find the smallest and largest of them.
  • Estimate first then count how many pasta shapes there are in a jar, or biscuits in a box, or tea-bags left in the packet.
  • Play versions of Snap or Pelmanism, where the two cards to be matched must have a total of 10, or a difference of 2, or any other small number.
  • Make domino lines: for example, touching dots must have a total of 7.
  • Play board games that involve counting, such as Ludo, but before you move take the dice number you roll from 10 (or 9 or 8).
  • Count in twos starting from zero, then starting from one.
  • Look out for odd and even numbers on the doors of houses.
  • Learn by heart the two and the ten-times tables.
  • Count on in tens, then hundreds, starting from any two-digit number, then back again.
  • Spot bus numbers or car numbers, then add 10 or 100 to them (or subtract).
  • Play Snakes and Ladders, using two dice instead of one, and predicting where you will land before you move – then play by starting at 100 and going backwards.
  • Count to at least 50 in twos, threes, fours or fives, then back again.
  • Spot odd number plates, or multiples of 5 or 10, or number plates with three digits with a total of 12.
  • Play computer games that involve using numbers.
  • Learn by heart the three, four and five times-tables.
  • Play darts, or games of cards.
  • Count to 10 in quarters, or to at least 100 in sixes, sevens, eights or nines, and back again.
  • Learn by heart the six, seven, eight and nine times-tables.
  • Spot car numbers that divide exactly by 6, 7, 8 or 9.
  • Design and make your own board game involving numbers or money, then play it.