Count Space Objects

💡 About this activity

🎯 Learning objectives

• Find matching pictures among other pictures.
• Count up to 5, pointing to each picture once.
• Say or record how many pictures were found.

🧺 What you need

• Printed activity page
• Pencil or crayon

👣 How to do it

1. Print the page and place a pencil within the child's reach.
2. Look at the page together and name the pictures.
3. Choose one kind of picture and show how to point to each one while counting.
4. Invite the child to find and count each group.
5. Ask the child to record each number in the matching space, helping if needed.
6. Check the counts together and celebrate the child's effort.

🍎 Teaching suggestions

• Say, “Let's point to one picture at a time.”
• Cover part of the page with a sheet of paper if there is too much to look at at once.
• If writing is still difficult, accept a spoken answer and write the number for the child.
• Connect the activity to a time the child saw the moon or stars at night.
• In a group, give each child a page and invite everyone to share a discovery.

🔀 Variations

💬 Talk about it

• How did you find all the stars?
• What helped you remember which pictures you had already counted?
• Which group has more pictures? How did you find out?
• What do you imagine the astronaut sees in space?

👀 What to look for

• Notice whether the child identifies the pictures in each group.
• Watch whether the child points to each picture once while counting.
• See whether the child says or records the correct number, with or without help.