DIY toddler counting game

homeschooling a 5 year old with a 2 year old is challenging some days. in this season, the most challenging part of it all is busying Bubba so BigGirl can concentrate on her schoolwork. lately, he wants to do schoolwork too. one morning, after trying unsuccessfully to distract him with a few different things so his sister could work, i came up with this custom counting activity for him.


using 3 colored index cards per set, i wrote a number on each (1, 2, 3) and drew the same number of big circles on the card. i made 3 sets. i gave Bubba 6 dinosaur stickers, 6 of his favorite cars, and 6 colored beads. he put one dinosaur in each circle on the green cards, counting "one, two, three." and did the same thing with the cars and the beads.

he was so happy to have his own "schoolwork" all to himself! he played and counted for a good chunk of time...long enough for BigGirl to do her work. he spent a lot of time positioning the dinosaurs and cars so that they were facing the right way and grouped by color or style. he's OCD meticulous like that.

we saved the cards and each day we're changing out the manipulatives- one day we used Puffs, crayons, and Legos. soon i'll add cards with higher numbers on them, little by little. eventually i could turn this into a color matching game or alphabet game- sorting objects by the letter they begin with. the possibilities are endless. and simple!

this homemade DIY homeschool activity for toddlers works for me! linked up at WeAreThatFamily Works For Me Wednesday.