Recommended Age: 4 and ½ to 5 and ½ years
Purpose: To give the child another means of counting in a series (skip counting) and more practice in linear counting. Skip counting also prepares the child for multiplication
Level of Parent Involvement: Low, once the adult demonstrates the activity the child may work independently
Prerequisites
- The child must be able to recognise the numbers and quantities of numbers up to ten
- The child must have worked with the teen beads and boards and can count onwards from ten
- The child must have worked with the ten’s beads and boards
- The child has worked with the 100 chain
- The child has been introduced to the short chains
Materials
- The long chain of 5
- 5 squares of 5
- The cube f 5
- A long mat
- Labels
- OR if doing this exercise from home see skip counting PDF (use only the 53 chain and labels)
Preparation
- Print skip counting PDF
- Cut out labels (only the 53 chain and labels)
Steps
- Invite the child
- Invite the child to carry the long chain of 5 by unhooking the first loop with your left hand, and taking each subsequent loop off with your right, bringing each loop to the first, once all loops are gathered, place each loop as it is taken from the cabinet over your other hand, so the chain hangs on either side of your hand
- The child may also collect on the tray the 5 squares of 5 and the cube of 5
- Place the chain on the mat (horizontally), show the child how to carry the chain by hanging it over the other hand
- Place the cube of 5 on the mat, informing the child if we stretched out the cube it would look the same as the chain of 5
- Fold the chain, and stack the squares of 5 to show the child they are the same size as the cube of 5
- Unfold the chain and invite the child to fold the chain in the same way
- Introduce the labels, noting they are the same colour and invite the child to sort by size
- Count the beads and place the labels, ensuring a square of 5 is placed at every increment of 25 beads (as per 1000 chain
- When confident invite the child to take over
- Come back as the child is nearing the end of the chain ensuring the square, then the cube of five is placed when the label of 125 is placed, informing the child that the cube of 5 is 125
- Read the labels with the child (5, 10, 15, 20, 25) making a point that it is quicker than counting each individual bead)
- Remove labels, mix, invite the child
Variations
- Count and label both short and long chains so child can see the relationship
- Making shapes with chains (red makes a point, green makes an angle, pink makes a triangle, yellow makes a square etc.)
