How to Make a Homemade Picture and Counting Book
Need a fun, visual way to practice numbers and counting with young kids? Make a colorful counting book to practice counting to 10.
Learning Goals
This activity will help your child:
- Practice counting in sequence from one to 10
- Apply numeral, number and quantity correspondence in counting objects
- Use number words and write numerals to label quantities
Materials
- Construction paper
- Hole puncher
- String
- Markers
Vocabulary
- Numerals represent a number, such as 1, 2, or 3. In this activity, your child will practice writing numerals 1 through 10.
- Number words are spoken, written, or signed words that represent a quantity, such as "one," "two," or "three." In this activity, your child will practice counting aloud from one through 10.
- One-to-one correspondence means matching one and only one number word to each item being counted. In this activity, your child will practice counting each object in their book.
Step-by-Step Instructions
1. Create the pages! Hold three sheets of paper together and fold them lengthwise in half. Make sure to crease the fold tightly! Make three small holes along the fold with a hole puncher or scissors.
2. Tie the pages together. Cut three small pieces of string. Loop a piece of string into each hole and tie it to hold the papers in place. Tie them together and complete the book.
3. Now, it's time to write your book! Ask your child to pick a title for their book. They can be as creative as they want. Some ideas are: "My Counting Book," "Number Adventures," or "My Book of Numbers."
4. Number the pages 1-10. Open the book to the first page after the cover and have your child write on the bottom of the page numeral 1. On the next page, write numeral 2. On the next page, numeral 3, and so on, until you mark all 10 pages.
5. Practice number words. Go back to page 1, and on top of the page, write the word ONE. On the second page, write the word TWO. On the third page, write the word THREE, and so on, until you write the numbers for all TEN pages. Bonus: If you speak another language, you can write the number words in that language!
6. Illustrate the pages with drawings of your favorite things! Ask your child to draw the same number of objects as the number on each page.
- On the center of page 1, draw one of your favorite toys, for example, one soccer ball.
- On the center of page 2, draw 2 of your favorite fruits, for example, two bananas.
- On the center of page 3, draw 3 of your favorite t-shirts. And so on, until you illustrate all TEN numbers on the 10 pages. You can also follow a theme!
7. Time for show and tell! Have your child show off their counting book and practice counting to 10. Model how to count the objects on each page. Have your child count out loud with you as you touch each object, and then have them count by themselves. What happens if you read the book backward? Try and count from 10 to one.
Keep the Conversation Going
- Play number lotería to practice counting. This activity is inspired by the traditional Mexican bingo game called lotería.
- Explore counting up to 20 with this fun pretend cupcake-baking activity.
- Learn how you can help your child learn to count and build their number sense in this Family Math video.
Book Suggestion
"1, 2, 3" (Ages 2-5) by Eric Carle.
This wordless picture book will help your children learn to count from one to 10, matching numbers and colorful pictures of animals.
Corresponding Standards
California Preschool Learning Foundations
- Number Sense
- 1.0 Understanding number and quantity
Head Start Early Learning Outcome Framework
- Counting and Cardinality
- Goal P-MATH 1.Child knows the number names and the count sequence.
California Common Core State Standards
- Counting and Cardinality
- CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.CC.A.2 Count forward beginning from a given number within the known sequence (instead of having to begin at 1).
- CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.CC.A.3 Write numbers from 0 to 20. Represent a number of objects with a written numeral 0-20 (with 0 representing a count of no objects).
