The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a beloved book in our home, as I’m sure it is in many! We built a maths game around the book to practise number recognition and ordering skills.
Using some red
and green
glass pebbles (we have been using these so much recently; they are perfect for all kinds of loose part play. Take a look at our pebble colour game and the coconut quicksand dough). I drew a face onto one red pebble and numbers 1 to 10 on the others using a permanent marker.
I very lightly painted a leaf using some green water colours to create a fun surface to play the game on.
Starting with the caterpillar head I encouraged S to put the numbers in the correct order to make the caterpillar’s body.
Though she recognises numbers up to 10, she needed a little support to remember which one came next. She soon got the hang of what to do.
I wanted to extend the activity a little so made up some cards showing different sized caterpillars and numbers and encouraged S to copy them which she really enjoyed. We counted the caterpillar’s bodies together and then found the right pebbles to match.
In the Early Years Classroom
Some ways this activity can be extended to suit foundation stage children…
- Use numbers higher than 10. Try 20 or as high as your pupils are capable of
- Add number operation symbols (+ – =) to encourage children to make number sentence bodies
- Children could make bodies of odd and even numbers or jumping in 2s, 5s or 10s
I am learning…
- to recognise numbers :: Mathematics
- to place numbers in numerical order :: Mathematics
- to count confidently, using one number name for each object :: Mathematics
- to use fine motor precision to pick up and hold small objects :: Physical
If you enjoyed this activity, take a look at my MATHS archive or my Maths Activities Pinterest board for more ideas…
Follow Beth @ Wings and Roots’s board Maths Activities on Pinterest.
{Affiliate links are added to help you find the same or similar resources to the ones we use. Thank you so much for your support}