Numbers at table

SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR CHILDREN

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

Dishes, glasses, cutlery or silverware, napkins, and anything else you use to lay your table.

HOW TO SET OUT MATERIALS

Close to where you are eating, but not on the table, put together plates and dishes, cutlery, glasses, and napkins in smaller or larger numbers than actually needed.

From here, children can take what they need to lay the table, realise things are missing, and ask for them (or not).

COUNTING AS WE LAY TABLE

In laying the table we are inviting children to try out counting (numbers of plates, numbers of glasses, numbers of forks etc.), spatial organisation (where things are placed, how far from each other etc.) and one-to-one correspondence between different elements, i.e. assigning a plate, a dish, a glass, a fork, and so on to each person at the table.  

Then when the table is laid you could comment on it together, or leave the comments for later when people sit down to eat.

There might be some fun or embarrassing situations, but they will be useful for reinforcing important mathematical concepts.

This suggestion is part of Playing with numbers

AT HOME WITH THE REGGIO APPROACH