Count the Steps
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Description
Walk from one spot to another and count every step aloud together. Guess how many steps a route will take before counting, then check. Practices counting with one-to-one correspondence through movement.
Play guide
- 1Pick two spots - one close together and one further apart. Start with the short one.
- 2Before walking, guess together: "How many steps do you think it will take?" Accept any guess; don't correct.
- 3Walk slowly and count each step aloud together, pointing down with each foot. Stop when you arrive and say the final number.
- 4Compare to the guess: "We said [guess] and it was [actual] - close or far off?"
- 5Try the longer route. Guess again, count again, compare.
Success signals
Your child counts one number for each step rather than counting ahead of their feet. They remember to compare the final count to the guess. They suggest a new route to test on their own: "Let's count to the door."
If it's tricky
Child counts too fast and loses track: Slow the walk to one deliberate step at a time - march it together. They lose the count in the middle of a long route: Just start again from where you lost it rather than backtracking - "we lost count at 10, let's keep going from 10." Counting to 10 is hard: Limit routes to 5 steps for now and focus on getting one number per step right. They want to run rather than count carefully: Let them run a route first, then walk it slowly for the count.