Number trees - Age 4

Learning numbers

Today I decided to set up an activity that I did with "S" when she was just shy of 4 years old. "I" took a little longer to show an interest in numbers and letters. So, at age 4 she is showing readiness, and I couldn't wait to do this with her! Thankfully, she loved it.

I drew three apple trees and taped them to the wall. 

On some large apple cut-outs, I wrote the numbers 1-10. To do the activity, she'd pick three numbered apples and tape them to each tree. 

Taping her numbered apples to the tree: 

 For each tree, she'd gather that amount of small apple cut-outs and tape them to the tree.

Then, something miraculous happened ... she asked to do more!! Instead of taking the apples down, I thought we'd see how she'd do with a little math.

 In this picture, she's looking at the tree with two apples. The new number is one. Hmmm .... what do we do next?

 I asked her how many it needed, "One apple." So I asked her to count how many were on the tree, "One ... Two." So, what do we need to do? "We need only one." And she took one down. WOW! 

The rest wasn't as easy (with higher numbers), but we got her brain thinking. The wheels are turning, and she was fantastic! I'm just glad she had fun:)