Preschool Math:

Muffin Cup Count

 

Today's Snack: Mix a batch of your favorite muffins and eat while they're still warm with a glass of milk. Mmmmmm! Mmmmmmuffins!

 

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Supplies:

7 paper muffin cups

An assortment of small items: paper clips, pebbles, pop-tops, beads, cotton balls, pennies, puzzle pieces

 

            Here's a counting activity:

 

1. Line up the seven muffin cups in a row.

 

2. Put one item into the first cup, such as one paper clip.

 

3. Put two of another item, such as two pebbles, into the third cup.

 

4. Continue until you've gotten the seventh cup filled with seven items.

 

5. Now close your eyes, and carefully move the seven cups around so that they are completely out of order.

 

6. Open your eyes back up, look at the number of items in each cup, and put them back in order again, starting with the cup with one item and ending with the cup with seven items.

 

7. Next, you can make piles of the seven different items, and do a simple addition / subtraction game. An adult or another child could call out the two things to add, and the muffin counter should count up the total:

 

2 paper clips + 3 pennies = 5 things

 

4 pennies + 2 beads = 6 things

 

. . . and so on.