project 5 | slinky snake

Chances are that somewhere along the way, you made a slinky paper plate snake when you were growing up. One of our favorite counting books will give you an excuse to make another. Making Learning Fun also has this free printable Mouse Count Game to go along.

project 1 | counting beads

materials
wooden craft beads
wooden craft discs
pipe cleaners (or cord, if you prefer)
non-toxic enamel paints
permanent marker

instructions
1. Paint the beads. It’s easiest to string them onto a pipe cleaner (that you’ll eventually throw away) and then paint them. Otherwise it’s a bit of a messy endeavor. You can paint them however you choose but I purposefully painted all of my number 1 beads blue, number twos are orange, etc.

2. When the beads dry, remove them from the pipe cleaner and put them on clean pipe cleaners. Trim the pipe cleaners to appropriate lengths, leaving just a bit of space at each end so you can bend them and tuck the pointed ends inside the beads on either end.

3. Write the matching numerals on the round wooden discs.

Count the beads. Match them to the correct disc.

 NOTE: This game should be used only with adult supervision due to the tiny parts!

Venture over to Natural Suburbia for Creative Friday for more ideas and inspiration.