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Coloured Counting Tubes

July 14, 2014 by Kate 6 Comments

Coloured counting tubes. Great for learning about colours and numbers, as well as matching and one to one correspondence.

It is absolutely true to say that before learning to count a child needs to understand ‘one to one correspondence‘, which is having the skills to be able to match an object with a number or object. Keep in mind that children may not master this skill until well after 5 years of age.

Little Possum (aged 2.5 years) has recently shown a keen interest in counting objects and matching colours. Inspired by this post by an unknown author, I decided to make this cool counting tubes activity using toilet rolls. Makes a wonderful busy bag idea too!

Toilet Rolls with PomPoms for teaching and learning numbers and coloursTo make coloured counting tubes you will need –

  • 3 x toilet rolls
  • Pencil
  • Scissors
  • Coloured paper
  • Glue stick
  • Matching coloured pompoms

Thie activity looks to need a whole lot more toilet rolls than what is really required. If you are able to measure, mark and cut your toilet rolls as shown above you will create all that you need. Check to see what (and how many) pom poms you have available as this will help you determine what colour to make each of the tubes. I only had one green pom pom so that made me decide the smallest toilet counting tube would need to be green.

Covering toilet rolls with colours

Once you have the colours decided on for each tube, rub them with a glue stick and wrap them in coloured paper (as shown above). It’s a great idea to have enough overhang of paper at the top so you can simply tuck it down into the tube.

one to one correspondence toddler counting

 Counting 1,2,3

We decided to do a little bit of playing with the pompoms beforehand and practice our counting and matching skills. Possum still has some difficulty in counting with one to one correspondence, which is absolutely fine, however we do try and practice this whenever we get the opportunity to.

Coloured number counting tubes for kids

I really like these counting tubes because they only allow for children to count up (or down) to a small number. Sometimes I think we can expect too much from children and make 10 a goal. I personally prefer to start small and consolidate counting skills and building from there.

Beyond Possum but for your interest, I added numbers to each of the coloured tubes we had a light hearted chat about what each of them represented. She was familiar with the number one and two and with future exposure will get to know the other numbers in good time.

Colour matching game for kids

 Matching Colours

Possum loved the challenge of matching the coloured pom poms with the coloured tubes, which she did over and over and over again. She just loved it and it was so easy for her to do and set up again for herself. Matching colours is a great way for children to engage in the early stages of one to one correspondence.

Colour matching and counting

We had lots of fun with this activity. Regardless of what stage your child is at, they will be able to get something out of it. I feel really pleased to have made an activity that helps support Possum’s learning of colours, counting, number recognition and one to one correspondence. This activity engages her now and will continue to as her skills in these areas grow and develop! It also makes a fabulous little busy bag.

Would your child enjoy this learning tool?

Other learning tools you’d like –

Learning colours with chalk and water. Great for toddlers    tool for teaching emotions in kids of all ages   How to grow a carrot top

Ebooks available featuring Laughing Kids Learn
Zero to Two: Book of Play    Three to Five Playful Preschool ad

Filed Under: 1 - 3 years, 3 - 5 years, 5 - 10 years, busy bag, Numeracy Tagged With: colours, matching, math, one to one correspondence

Comments

  1. katepickle says

    July 14, 2014 at 9:31 pm

    Oh I know a small person who would love this!
    For some reason my four year old just can’t figure out numbers so something hands on like this is great!

    Reply
  2. Kylie @ Octavia and Vicky says

    July 15, 2014 at 1:44 pm

    Great idea, so much learning and fun 🙂

    Reply
  3. Sara says

    July 16, 2014 at 8:53 pm

    Love it! SO many uses for toilet rolls! Very colourful and engaging.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Numbers Workbox - Line upon Line Learning says:
    October 29, 2014 at 11:48 pm

    […] (1-5) tubes. I found this activity on Pinterest (see the blog post here) and I loved it! I was able to replicate it without too many difficulties, and Strawberry enjoys […]

    Reply
  2. Numbers Busy Box (Workbox Wednesday) - Line upon Line Learning says:
    October 29, 2014 at 11:50 pm

    […] (1-5) tubes. I found this activity on Pinterest (see the blog post here) and I loved it! I was able to replicate it without too many difficulties, and Strawberry enjoys […]

    Reply
  3. Debora Adjei says:
    May 4, 2021 at 5:48 pm

    […] Colour Counting tubehttps://laughingkidslearn.com/coloured-counting-tubes/ […]

    Reply

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Welcome
Hello and welcome!
My name is Kate and I am a mum to two little girls, Possum and Boo. We have lots of fun together learning with play at home and are pleased to share some of what we do with you.
Read my about page to find out more.

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