visually counting to 10

my son S is three and can count past ten, but has no idea what the numbers are when he is looking at them. to help his number recognition, i'm always looking for things that will help. today i was about to throw away an old target ad when i had an idea. S loves target, scissors, and is obsessed with mod podge...so we grabbed those with some scratch paper and had an impromptu crafty math lesson!

we searched through the ad and he cut out the numbers, while i pointed out the ones he needed. after i helped him put them in order, he "glued it all by himself!" we got to count to ten at least five times and he loved every second. after he held the paper in front of the fan until the glue dried, he ran to his papa and nana to show them what he had made and then counted again...i loved hearing his little voice explain how he did each step :)

i think i will hang it on the wall and every time we see it, we can point to each number and count again...perfect...a project that keeps on teaching!