Last month, January, several Preschool 2 children had birthdays and turned four years old. This month at RisingOaks | Saint John Paul II, the preschoolers continued to talk about how many friends turned four, who is still three, and how soon they would turn four. They have also been checking the printed copies on our board, which features their monthly learning story and dates of birth on their photos, helping them connect personal milestones to the passage of time. So, the preschoolers decided to explore numbers and had a wonderful opportunity to develop not only their math skills, including number sense, but also their fine motor skills while enjoying opening and closing the caps on plastic bottles. I introduced a portable board attached to five water bottles with caps and five clothespins, along with number cards. Before our exploration, we enjoyed counting by opening our fingers one by one. The children then eagerly opened the caps and closed them again. They placed circular number cards on top of each cap and matched the finger-count cards to the corresponding cards by attaching them to the cloth pins carefully. Evie, Leo, and Danilo placed the lids in front of the matched bottle necks, while some others stacked them in one spot or scattered them on the board. They also enjoyed counting from one to ten or folding and unfolding the Velcro fingers. This engaging number exploration brought great joy and offered an excellent opportunity to strengthen cognitive and fine motor skills while reinforcing counting techniques. It was truly delightful to watch their curiosity unfold, their collaboration grow, and their confidence in using numbers in meaningful, play-filled contexts.
