Practice Counting With Your Hands

Help your child cut down the side seam of a paper grocery bag. Cut the bottom off and open it up into a long rectangle with the non-printed side facing up.

Pour finger paint into a pan that is big enough to hold your child's hands.

Have your child place his hands in the paint. Ask him to describe how the paint feels. For example, is it warm or cold? Is it thick? Is it slippery or slimy? Then, have him place both hands down on one end of the paper. With the crayon or marker, write the counting numbers above each finger of the first handprint (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) and the second handprint (6, 7, 8, 9, 10).

Ask your child to count the fingers forward by 1's and then backward by 1's.

Now have him add three more handprints next to the first two. Continue the number sequence above the fingers of each hand: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and so on, up to 25. Under the first handprint write "5," under the second handprint write "10," and so on until you reach "25" under the fifth handprint.

Ask your child to count by 1's up to 25 and then count the fingers by 5's up to 25, both forward and backward.

Have older children add five more handprints, so the counting sequence can continue up to 50.