Recommended Age: 4y+
Level of Parent Involvement: Medium, until your child has had more practice
Prerequisites
- Able to count up to 10 individual objects
- Can identify and recognise numbers 1 to 9
Materials
- Shallow tray, wooden box or baking tray
- Light coloured sand
- A short ruler or piece of wood to smooth the sand after writing in it
- Sandpaper Numbers Vic Cursive (click to download)
Preparation
- Pour the sand into the tray or box.
- Download ‘Sandpaper Numbers Vic Cursive’ and print them out onto regular printer paper (80gsm) or slightly thicker presentation paper (e.g. 100gsm/120gsm/160gsm).
- Laminate the Sandpaper Number cards if possible, as they are more durable and can be used for other activities.
- If possible, place the sand tray and Sandpaper Number cards on a larger tray and in a place on a low shelf that is accessible by the child.
Steps
- Explain to the child that you are going to practice writing numbers in the sand tray.
- Show the child how you hold your hand to trace over the Sandpaper Number cards and to write in the sand tray – keep the index and middle fingers of your dominant hand next to each other and tuck your thumb and other fingers away underneath in the palm of your hand.
- Choose one of the Sandpaper Number cards. Place the card on your non-dominant side of the sand tray (this means that you will naturally hold the card steady with your non-dominant hand as you trace over the number with your dominant hand). Using your ‘special fingers’, trace over the number on the card, then write the same number in the sand tray. Look at the card and the number that you wrote in the sand tray, indicate that you are pleased with your work. Erase your writing in the sand tray by gently smoothing over the sand with a short ruler/piece of wood or by gently shaking the tray.
- Invite the child to have a turn.
- Encourage the child to practice writing the numbers that he knows.
- Montessori Sand Tray – https://youtu.be/5tT9ud4omW8
Variations
- When your child can write numbers in the sand tray with ease, encourage him to write the numbers that he knows on a blank chalk board.
- When your child can confidently write the numbers that he knows on a blank chalk board, challenge him to write the numbers on a squared chalk board.
Math Related Songs: Counting by 2’s