Play is the most powerful way young children learn. Every time you play, sing or read to young children they are learning about language. By sharing this book and play activities with them they will have the opportunity to: Develop mathematical skills through play. Develop their mathematical vocabulary through sharing stories and songs. Use mathematical ideas to solve problems. We hope these activities will provide you with a starting point for fun play with young children. Engaging with Language and Literacy When you read the story: Emphasise the rhyme and repetition. This will encourage children to join in with and remember the text. Give children the opportunity to read the story with you. Their enjoyment and enthusiasm is more important than getting all the words right. Encourage children to join in by letting them finish the rhyme. After reading the book: Look back through the illustrations and use mathematical language to discuss who fell out first, second, third etc Let the children have a go at counting how many toys are in and out of the bed on each page. Spend some time with the children looking at and talking about the other stories that are happening in the illustrations. Retelling The Story The strong rhythm, rhyme and repetitive text make this an ideal story for the children to retell through imaginative play. With the children collect 10 toys. If possible use 9 animals and one doll. Place the toys in a row or make a bed out of a box and act out the story as you read or sing the words. Attach numbers to the animals so the children can place them in the correct order. Ten In The Bed by Page 1 of 10
Page 2 of 10 Engaging With Numbers and Numeracy Children need many opportunities to hear and practice counting. Touching items as you count them helps children understand that numbers represent quantities. This is called one-to-one correspondence and is an important mathematical skill. If you would like some ideas for developing oneto-one correspondence please refer to the ideas for Play School Come and Play Numbers by ABC Books, the Little Big Book clubs recommendation for two and three year olds. Here are some fun ways for children to explore what numbers look like. You will need a set of numerals 1-10 written on card for the children to copy and large outlines of the numbers for the children to work directly onto. Write in wet sand Write on a whiteboard Write with chalk Model them out of play dough or clay Write in shaving cream Stamp thumbprints Paint with water on outside surfaces Make with play dough cutters Place objects on an outline, eg, shells, seeds, leaves or buttons Number Games Children this age will enjoy simple games that use numbers or counting. Try Snakes and Ladders, Bingo and Hopscotch.
Free play gives children the chance to experiment, develop their understandings and learn from each other in a non threatening situation. Observing children s free play will enable you to learn about their mathematical understandings and decide what experiences to offer them next. They will also enjoy opportunities for free play with dice, dominoes and playing cards. Explore the Number 10 You can change this number to suit the needs of your group of children. Learn how to count to 10 in another language. Look at how numbers are written in different cultures. Make 10 biscuits out of play dough. Give the children 10 paper plates so they can match the correct number of biscuits to plates. Play with 10 trains on the train track. Put 10 farm animals in the block corner for the children to play with. Write large numerals on pieces of paper so the children can: Paint over the top of them Glue on top of them and stick objects on to make a numeral collage. Hundreds and Thousands Children this age love experimenting with big numbers. Talk about hundreds, thousands, billions and trillions in your play. Make fairy bread or decorate cupcakes or biscuits with Hundreds and Thousands. Sing The Grand Old Duke of York. Read How Big Is A Million? By Anna Milbourne and Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag. Show the children how 100, 1000 and 1000000 look like. Page 3 of 10
Enjoying Imaginative Play Toy Shop Use the imaginative play area as a toy shop. Discuss with the children what your shop will need. As you set up the toy shop with the children look at how many ways numbers have been used: Address and telephone number of shop Sign with opening hours displayed. Price tags Cash register Money Telephone Receipts Toy Library Establish an area where children can borrow toys to play with for short periods of time. Use small sets of toys that are suitable for one or two children to play with and that can be quickly and easily packed up. Help the children make library cards and a system for recording what toys have been borrowed. Sleep Over Set up an area where children can have pretend sleep overs with their friends and toys. If the weather is fine you could set up a tent outside or hang an old sheet to create a cosy space. While you are playing talk about bedtimes and other times of the day. Use language that includes words like morning, afternoon, before, after, today, tomorrow, day and night etc Page 4 of 10
Being Creative Through Play Children develop mathematical skills as they encounter situations that encourage mathematical thinking. Give children the opportunity to engage in mathematical thinking by posing realistic problems based on the book for the children to solve. For example, can the children: Make 10 beds for each toy in the story. Each bed will need a pillow and a blanket and be the right size for the toy. Make one bed, blanket and pillow that is large enough for all ten toys. Provide the children with 10 real toys to use or pictures of the 10 toys so that they have models to work with. Number Collage Provide the children with old magazines, birthday cards, calendars etc... that they can cut numbers out of. Stick all the numbers onto a large piece of paper to make a giant number collage. Number Stories Give each child an outline of a bed and 10 animal stickers or cut out pictures of animals. Encourage the children to stick some animals in the bed and some on the floor. What story have the children made? Write the children s story for them eg There were 6 in the bed and 4 on the floor. Encourage the children to write or copy over the numerals and count all the animals in their story. Try this activity with other counting stories, eg, Five Little Ducks. Page 5 of 10
Exploring Our World Finding numbers and talking about what they represent will give children an understanding of the importance of numbers in our lives. Classroom Number Hunt Write the numbers 1-5 or 1-10 down the side of a piece of paper. Make a copy for each child that wants to join in. Attach the piece of paper and a pencil to a clipboard. Walk around the room looking for numbers. When you find one of the numbers on your list the children can tick it off, draw a picture of the object or try writing the numeral. Take photos of all the numbers you find in your room and use them as a display. Eye Spy Numbers Make a collection of everyday objects that have numbers on them. Supermarket catalogues (prices) Food packaging (nutrition information, weight, quantity) Envelopes (house/building number, postcode, value on stamp) Phone Books (phone numbers, page numbers) Telephone (number pad) Calculator (number buttons) Clock / Watch (numeral display) Map (grid numbers) Let the children take turns to spy a number. To make the game more fun let the children hold a magnifying glass when it is their turn. Page 6 of 10
Having Fun with Music and Movement Children s natural love of music means that it is a great learning aide. Sing the Ten In The Bed song. Let the children take turns at using musical instruments to provide sound effects as the animals fall out of the bed. Choose children to role play the parts of the toys and the little one as you sing the song. If it is easier to manage you can adapt the song to Five In The Bed. Sing other songs that involve counting forwards and backwards. Choose children to act out the parts of the characters in the song. This will give the children a visual representation of numbers, addition and subtraction, as well as being lots of fun! Try singing a familiar song using numbers from a language other than English. Make posters of number rhymes using the children s illustrations. Try the following number rhymes: Five Cheeky Monkeys One Grey Elephant Five Little Speckled Frogs Five Currant Buns Five Little Ducks One Elephant Went Out To Play Page 7 of 10
Other books to try: The Biggest Bed In The World by Lindsay Camp Time For Bed by Mem Fox Cuddle Time by Libby Gleeson One Bear At Bedtime by Mick Inkpen Sleepy Bears by Mem Fox Handa s Hen by Eileen Browne Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag How Big Is A Million by Anna Milbourne Over In The Meadow: A Counting Rhyme by Louise Voce Five Little Ducks by Dan Yaccarino The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle One Woolly Wombat by Kerry Argent Play School Come and Play Numbers by ABC Books Page 8 of 10
Songs & Rhymes: Five In The Bed There were five in the bed And the little one said Roll over, roll over. So they all rolled over And one fell out There were four in the bed Etc There was one in the bed And that one said Good night. 5 Cheeky Monkeys Five cheeky monkeys Jumping on the bed One fell off and bumped his head Daddy phoned the doctor The doctor said No more monkeys jumping on the bed! Four cheeky monkeys Etc One little doctor Jumping on the bed He/she fell off and bumped his/her head Daddy phoned the monkeys The monkeys said No more doctors jumping on the bed! Five Little Ducks Hold up five fingers and move to look like walking. Five little ducks went out one day Over the hills and far away Open and close hand to look like a beak quacking. Mother duck said quack, quack, quack, quack Hold up four fingers. But only four little ducks came back. Four little ducks Three little ducks Two little ducks One little duck went out one day Over the hills and far away Mother duck said quack, quack, quack, quack But none of those five little ducks came back. Sad mother duck went out one day Over the hills and far away Mother duck said quack, quack, quack, quack And all of the five little ducks came back. Page 9 of 10
List any other books, rhymes or activities the children have enjoyed. Page 10 of 10 One Grey Elephant One grey elephant balancing Step by step on a piece of string Thought it was such a wonderful stunt That he called for another elephant. Two grey elephants. Three grey elephants Four grey elephants Five grey elephants balancing Step by step on a piece of string All of a sudden the piece of string broke And down came all the elephant folk! 5 Green and Speckled Frogs Five green and speckled frogs Hold up five fingers to show the number of frogs sitting on the log Sat on a great big log Hold one arm straight in front of your chest to represent the log Eating some most delicious bugs Pretend to spoon food into your mouth Yum Yum Rub tummy One jumped into the pool Hold up one finger Where it was nice and cool splash Make a diving action iwht your hand Now there are four green speckled frogs Hold up four fingers Glub glub Four green and speckled frogs etc Five Currant Buns Five currant buns in a baker s shop Round and fat with a cherry on the top Along came (child s name) With a penny one day He/she bought a currant bun And took it away Four currant buns, etc One Elephant Went Out To Play One elephant went out to play On a spiders web one day He had such enormous fun So he called for another elephant to come. Two elephants went out. Three elephants went out Four elephants went out Five elephants went out The web went creak The web went crack And all of a sudden They all ran back The Grand Old Duke of York The grand old Duke of York He had ten thousand men He marched them up to the top of the hill And he marched them down again And when they were up they were up And when they were down they were down And when they were only half way up They were neither up nor down