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Tactile Numerals

Children will have hands-on one-to-one correspondence experiences as they embed small items into handcrafted numerals.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

Gather all the supplies needed to bring your craft ideas to life! From paints and markers to glue and scissors, our crafts section has everything to spark creativity and make every project truly special.

  • Craft Materials

Steps

  • Step 1

    Depending on the age and abilities of students, have them count from one to 100 (or to a developmentally appropriate number). Then have them try to count forwards by fives or tens and backwards from 20 to one.

  • Step 2

    Have children make numerals out of Crayola Dough. They can make any number of numerals from zero to nine or use them to form larger numbers that have special meaning for them. For example, if their birthday is on the 15th they might use a one and a five, or if there are six numerals in the school's address, find and use those by swapping other numerals with students who aren't using the ones they need.

  • Step 3

    While the dough is still soft have them press the appropriate number of craft items, perhaps buttons, beads, or dried beans, into the numeral. This hands-on tactile experience helps to embed the sense of number that each numeral stands on.

  • Step 4

    Ask children to present their significant number combinations, whether the numerals are used in a significant date on the calendar, the total number of students in the class or school, or other associations.

Standards

LA: Use the illustrations and details in a text to describe its key ideas.

LA: Demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of print.

LA: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.

LA: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade level topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.

MATH: Write numbers from 0 to 20. Represent a number of objects with a written numeral 0-20 (with 0 representing a count of no objects).

MATH: Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect counting to cardinality.

VA: Use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories.

VA: Use visual structures of art to communicate ideas.

Adaptations

Have children close their eyes and try to identify the numeral they or their classmates created by feeling it. They might note the shape or feel and count the embedded craft items in it. Explain that people who can't see can read by feeling a series of raised dots, and this system is called Braille.

Read a book such as "Mouse Count" by Ellen Stoll Walsh (which introduces the concept of counting forwards and backwards) or "Ten Black Dots" by Donald Crews (a counting book that introduces basic math concepts).