Number Sticks

When my mother-in-law, Ruth, came to stay with the kids on Monday, David took pieces of the play dough we made Friday night to create "Number Sticks".

He stuck uncooked spaghetti noodles into the play dough.

Next to each of the piles,  Ruth put various numbers down.

Next to one of the piles she wrote, "A Pattern".

David had to count out Fruit Loops to place the correct number on each "Number Stick". He created a pattern of colors on the one next to "A Pattern".

With this visual, we are able to ask him questions like, "Which number is greater/more", Which number is the smallest", etc. This is a great way to introduce simple mathematics terms that will help him solve mathematic problems in early elementary.

The play dough has since molded around the spaghetti. We can now just interchange the numbers and ideas around the sticks and continue the counting lesson.