Active Counting

Make a spinner with pictures of activities on it such as jumping jacks, touch your toes, hop, jump, turn etc. Make your spinner by using a paper plate or by tracing a saucer on a piece of cardboard and cutting it out. Divide the circle like a pie and place a picture in each section of the pie. You can cut out pictures, use photos or make line drawings. Make an arrow out of cardboard and attach the arrow to the center of your circle with a paper fastener. Sometimes the spinner will work better if you use a small washer between the paper fastener and the circle. Don't make the paper fastener too tight.

Arm yourself with a variety of dice. Dice with numbers or dots work well. Use the die most appropriate for your group. (Do you want them to count dots or read numerals?) There are number dice available with numbers that go past six.

Directions for Play

The children spin the spinner and roll the die. Then the whole group can do what it says. If the die says 5 and the spinner says touch your toes the children would touch their toes five times. They get to count both when they read the die and when they do the activity. I got this idea from a kindergarten teacher who worked well with very active children.