Mini-Mathematicians

"It is THAT time!" said Jeremy, when I asked him what was the next step we needed to take for creating mini-mathematicians in this house!  We both decided to "move forward" after we were sure Jax understood sorting, counting verbally to 30 and using one-to-one correspondence using manipulatives,  more/less and a few other skills.
 So here's how I started intro to addition, last week...VERY SIMPLE!

Index card folded in 1/2 to make 2 sides, a foamy dice (Dollar Tree) and some round dot stickers

Keep in mind, my whole new idea in planning for my "school at home project" is to "work smarter, not harder"!  I do this by planning activities that can be used for Nixon AND Jackson.  (Same materials; different  lesson focus)  And keep in mind, we made these cards (in about 5 minutes) and then used them in a lesson 3 days later!
Here's what we did:

Nixon - fine motor skill development/one-to-one correspondence = peeling and placing stickers on cards while I count
Jackson - used dice to see how many stickers he need to stick on each side of the cards to make it "look like a domino"

I HAVE A VIDEO OF THIS LESSON BUT IT'S NOT UPLOADING!  I WILL TRY AGAIN OR JUST EMAIL ME (mommyslittlelearners@gmail.com) AND I WILL SEND IT TO YOU!

Dominoes are great way to introduce addition!  We just decided to make our own = child's ownership and to develop other skills.

This week, we are using foods (goldfish crackers, mini-marshmallows, cheerios) and placing one on each sticker of our homemade dominoes.

Once again, this helps Nixon with counting and one-to-one correspondence while Jackson is introduced to addition (for example: he puts 4 cheerios on one side, then 4 cheerios on the other side of this domino...pushes them ALL TOGETHER to see the "sum" of his addition problem.)  Hope this makes sense!

What a fun way to make your little learners into mini-mathematicians!