1 little, 2 little, 3 little round rocks…or sometimes they are not so round but they are great for some math. Math activities will certainly be part of the lessons and play at kindergarten but the more math experiences kids have before arriving at school the better will be their foundation. Here is a simple readiness-for-kindergarten idea for some math fun and learning that uses rocks.
Ask your child to find a rock for each person in your family or each person in your camping group. Set aside a space on the picnic table for these. Usually, this takes a while because kids change the rocks for different ones. Size may or may not be important for your child. What is important is that there is 1 rock for each person. This is called one-to-one correspondence and is a basic math concept. Kids need to understand this 1-to1 relationship first so they can link one number and one thing. While kids may be able to say lots of numbers in order they are not really counting until they have this idea that each number means one more thing.
Think of this rock activity as a stepping stone to kindergarten readiness! Does this rock for you?
