Counting Outdoors: Memory Match 

Math is everywhere… including outdoors. As they observe the world around them, children often love to count things they see, whether it’s ladybugs on a tree trunk or birds in flight.  

Help children play this memory matching game in which they try to match each number card with the group of plants or animals that represent that number. Later, you might extend the learning: 

• Next time you see a group of things outdoors—buds on a bush, leaves blown across a doorstep, umbrellas on a rainy day—count them together.  

• Help children make their own “Nature Numbers” counting books, with one page and illustration for each numeral (one moon, two stars, three birds, and so on). Staple the pages together to create a book.  

• When you’re out and about, play “I Spy” using numbers (“I spy two tall trees with white trunks—birch trees” or “I spy four squirrels looking for food on the grass”). 

• During and after playing, you might ask questions such as “Do you know what sound a frog makes?” or “What is one thing you know about snails?”