Make a Row: Using small toys in your home, line up a number of objects and ask your child to count them. Ask your child to explain how he or she knows that the last number represents all the objects counted. Use numbers from 1-10 and then from 11-20.  

Show Me How Many: State a number from 1 to 10 and ask your child to place a number of small objects from your home in a line to represent that number. Ask your child how he or she knows that the last number represents all the objects counted.  

How Many: Arrange up to 20 beans or other small objects in a structured arrangement (e.g., circle or in a rectangular array—beans in lines with the same number in each line). Ask your child to count the number of objects present and ask your child to explain how he or she knows that the last number represents all the objects counted. 

Treasure Hunt: Move about your house and look for objects where there are up to 10 items of any one thing (e.g., books, socks, dishes, toys) that can be organized in a scattered arrangement. Ask your child to count the number of objects present and explain how he or she knows that the last number represents the total number of objects counted.  

More than 30?: In a variety of settings, ask your child to count more than 30 objects. For example, in a walk through the neighborhood, your child might be able to count the number of cars or mailboxes on your street. Ask him to count the number of minute markers on a face clock or the number of days in a month shown on a calendar.Ask your child how he or she knows that the last number represents the total number of objects counted. 

At Quick Glance:  Using pictures or objects placed around the house, ask your child to quickly identify a number of objects. For example, in a picture of flowers for the newspaper, ask your child, without directly counting, to identify the number of pink flowers in a picture. Identify the number represented in a die or on a domino. 

What’s One More, One Less: When engaged in everyday activities, ask questions of your child about what number is one more or one less. For example, count the number of stop lights or stop signs on the way to school. Once you have a count, ask your child what is one more or one less. 

Operation Explorer: Take a walk through your neighborhood and ask your child to tell you how many of an object that they see (0-10) without having to count (e.g., number of cars in a driveway, dogs in a yard). Vary the activity by asking your child to state a number of objects with specific attributes (e.g., bushes in a yard instead of all plants/trees). ​

Give Me Five, Give Me Four: Ask your child to give you a high five, then ask them to give you a high four, a high three, etc. Keep going until you get to one or zero, then get a hug! 

The Helper: Ask your child to sort kitchen utensils after they have been washed. Count the number of forks as your child places them in their storage location. Ask how many would we have if we had one more.

On the 10s: State a number or point to a written number, then ask your child what is 10 more or 10 ten less without having to count. For example, in dealing 12 cards for a card game, ask your child what the total number of cards would be if you added 10 or took away 10. ​

Make a Match: Using small objects from your home, set out a number of objects and ask your child to match the same number of objects by the child placing his or her object one by one next to the objects you have set out. 

Same, More, or Less: Look for naturally occurring opportunities to compare and contrast sets of objects from 0-10. Children can compare piles of books, numbers of Legos, piles of toys, etc. 

Number Crunchers: Set up two sets of objects with the number of objects ranging from 0-10. Ask your child to count the objects in each set and describe which set is greater than (has more), less than (has fewer), or if the sets are the same as one another. 

Household Helper: Ask your child to solve simple problems that use comparison. For example, if your family needs to set four places at the dinner table, set out two. Have your child determine whether you have less than the number required for everyone to have a place to eat. Ask your child about the number of pencils she has in her book bag and whether there are fewer pencils in the book bag than needed.  

Same Numeral?: Using two sets of cards (from 1-10), have your child draw one card from each stack and compare the two numbers. Ask your child to describe the relationship between the two numbers. 

Everyday Math: Ask your child to solve real-world problems, comparing solutions. For example, when packing toys in a book bag, set out a number of toys and ask your child to predict how many toys might fit in the bag. Set out a second number of toys to fit in the book bag. Compare the prediction with the actual result. 

Make a Match: Use a deck of cards or cards with written numerals from 0-10 on them, ask your child to go on a treasure hunt to find the number of objects represented on the card. Repeat the task with numbers 11-20.  

Picture Sleuth: Using pictures that have between 11-20 objects on them, ask your child to identify an attribute of objects in the picture and select a card with the number written on it that represents the objects. (e.g., in a picture of flowers, ask your child to identify how many red flowers there are and select a card with that numeral to match the red flowers in the picture). 

Concentration: Create two sets of cards. One set has dots representing numbers from 21-30 and the second set has numerals written from 21-30. Have your child match the cards. For a fun twist, ask your child to help make the cards with dots by drawing them or applying stickers. 

Making Five: Ask your child to model how many more to make five or how many less from five to solve problems (e.g., “We have five cookies, and there are three children. How many cookies would we have left over?”). In this case, they are composing 5-3 = 2.  

How Many More? How Many Less?: When you and your child solve a problem, use phrases like let’s count on or count back to come to the solution. Say, "Let’s make a picture to show how many objects there are." Say, "Show me how many blocks I would have if I took two away." For example, your child might have drawn 8 flowers. If your child takes two away, the child should note that there are six left. 

What is the Number Pair?: Using cards numbered 11-19 and small objects such as buttons, coins, paperclips, etc. have your child represent the number as a group of ten and some ones. Ask her to draw the representation or write an equation. For example, 13 could be represented as 10 buttons and 3 leftovers or as 10 + 3 = 13. 

It’s All in a Number: As you encounter numbers in your environment, point out the number to your child. Ask your child how many tens are represented in a number and how many ones. For example, in a store, a candy bar might cost 79 cents. Ask your child what how many tens are in the number and how many ones.

What is the Number Pair?-Part II: Using cards that are numbered and small objects such as buttons, coins, paperclips, etc. have your child represent the number as groups of ten and leftovers. Ask him to draw the representation or write an equation. For example, 24 could be represented as 10 coins, 10 coins, and 4 leftovers or as 10+ 10 + 4 = 24. 

Let’s Draw It: As your child begins to understand adding and subtracting, model those processes using pictures to display the results. 

Let’s Solve It:  Use objects to help your child solve mathematics problems to ten. For example, “We have three books to read, how many more books until we read five?” or "I have eight Legos, how many more Legos do I need to make my tower 10 blocks tall?" 

To Add or Subtract?: Write the numbers 1-10 on sets of cards. Have your child draw two cards. Ask your child to model the number of each card with objects or by drawing a picture of objects to represent the number on the card. Ask your child what the two numbers added together or subtracted from one another equal. Repeat the task with numbers 1-20. Solve authentic problems with everyday tasks. For example, "How many more utensils do we need to set the table?" 

Be a Number Detective: Ask your child to help you solve simple, real-world problems.For example, when preparing birthday invitations, engage your child in addition by stating, “We have three envelopes, and we are sending out ten party invitations. How many more envelopes do we need to send the party invitations?” Then, ask your child to explain how they solved the problem.​​

What is the Number Pair?: Using cards numbered 1-10 and small objects such as buttons, coins, paperclips, etc. have your child represent the number as groups of ones and some more. Ask him to draw the representation or write an equation. For example,8 could be represented as 5 buttons + 3 coins.  ​

Daily Report: Ask your child to tell you what they did in school today. Ask about specific events that you know might have happened such as art class or a favorite food item on the lunch menu. Ask your child what he or she is looking forward to tomorrow when they go back to school. 

Make a Prediction: Ask specific questions to your child about the events of the day and include time words such as “morning,” “afternoon,” “evening,” “today,” or “tomorrow.” Ask your child to draw a picture of an event, then describe the event, and tell what might have happened before or after the event.​

Planning the Day: Provide opportunities to include your child in planning for their day or their week. Create a schedule and have a conversation using the words “now,” “earlier,” “later,” “before,” and “after” as you talk through the events with your child. 

Dear Diary: With your child, keep a daily diary where your child draws a picture about their day and makes a prediction about what might happen tomorrow. Review the entries from prior days to determine if the predictions came true. Incorporate words such as “yesterday,” “today,” and “tomorrow.” 

Advanced Organizer: Keep a family calendar and review it with regularity to examine events for the day, the week, the month, and the year. Ask your child specific questions about notable events for the week or month, etc. For example, ask "How many days until grandma’s birthday?" or "When are we headed to the zoo?"

Attribute Walk through Books: As you read your child’s favorite book, ask him to point to objects with a specific characteristic that might be included in the pictures within the text. For example, point out all the four-legged animals in the book.  

Clean Up Time: As you and your child clean up their toys or their bedrooms, ask your child to find all the objects that need to be put away by a specific attribute (e.g., toys with wheels, wooden toys) or sort their clothes (e.g., tops, shorts). 

Compare and Contrast:Using a number of objects in your home, ask your child to make some comparisons. Ask, "Which toy is longer, taller, wider, or heavier than another?"Ask your child to invite family members to the dinner table by their height from the tallest to the shortest. Ask your child how he or she has determined what aspects of the object were different. 

Scavenger Hunt: Have your child choose three to five common objects from your home and bring them to you. Ask them questions about length, height, width, or weight. Ask your child to place the objects in order based on that attribute.  

Grocery Helper: As you put away your groceries in their proper places in your home, ask your child to choose one thing to put away. Then ask your child to choose another product that is longer/shorter, taller, wider, or heavier. 

Let’s Measure It: As your child is playing with their toys, choose other objects as non-standard units of measure to see how long the initial object is. For example, if your child has a large truck, how many matchbox cars long is it? Is the length of the large truck in matchbox cars the same as two other trucks? ​

Guess the Attribute: Ask your child to gather a number of random objects and sort them. Then your child can ask you to identify how the objects are classified. You can tell your child which objects are heavier than others, wider or narrower than others, etc. 

The Junk Drawer: Periodically remove all the random items that end up in a “family junk drawer.” Ask your child to sort the objects by category and then count the number of objects in a category (e.g., menus, rubber bands, coupons, etc.) 

Coin Jars: As members of your family empty their pockets for the day, ask your child to sort and place loose coins into jars that are labeled for pennies, nickels, and dimes. Come up with a plan to use the coins over a period of time to participate in a family activity (e.g., go to the movies, get a special dessert from the store). 

Find a Penny, Nickel, or Dime, Pick It Up: In spaces where coins are found, ask your child to name a penny, nickel, or dime as the treasure is recovered.

What’s It Worth?: Ask your child to tell you the value of coins as you place the coins in front of them. 

Let’s Make a Trade: Ask your child to exchange coins for one another. For example, as your child gives you five of their pennies for a nickel, ask your child how they know that it takes five pennies to make a nickel, etc. ​