Learning about numbers and number formation using tin foil

Learning about numbers and number formation using tin foil is a wonderful fun activity for kids. It’s hard to believe, but all you need is tin foil! It’s amazingly simple and lots of fun.

Possum (aged 5 years) is very good at reading and we have focused quite a lot of learning letters and phonic blends throughout her first year at school. I realised we probably should work a little more on developing her confidence using numbers and so we did this fun activity at home.

I challenged her to make some tin foil numbers. This was such a great activity that I hope you find time for.

Recommended ages: 5 years +
(Strict and active supervision is required at all times)

Learning about numbers and number formation using tin foil

To make these tin foil numbers, you will need –

tin foil

That’s it! All you need to do is tear off some pieces of tin foil and ask your child to make a number 0 – 9. The pieces I tore off were probably about 30cm x 20cm pieces.

Number formation & Problem Solving

It was actually a little more challenging than Possum thought it would be. When a child is asked to form a number using the tin foil they have to really think about what that number looks like and how best they can use the tin foil to shape in that way.

Of course some numbers were easier to make than others. Possum really learn more about the formation of numbers and quickly recognised those numbers that can be made in one piece and other numbers that require more because they are created or drawn using more than one stroke.

Fine motor development

Tin foil is an amazing material for children to work with. It’s sensation for children to use in an activity that focuses on buidling fine motor skills. Tin foil really does what it’s told and you can shape it in whatever way you like! Of course the tighter the tin foil is held together, the harder it is to shape.

I also love that the tin foil can be shaped in such a way it can hold two ends together. Perfect for when you ask a child to create a zero or they are creating a number that is made using more than one stroke.

Learning to read numbers

These tin foil numbers were wonderful to use as a helpful teaching tool to learn to read numbers. You could make as many numbers as you liked and I challenged Possum to –

make two digit numbers
create three digit numbers
choose a four digit number and so on
make a number, now make a larger number
make a number, now make a smaller number
make a number, what number would come before it
make a number, what number would come after it
what is ten more than __ number

As you can see, there are so many ways to make and get your child to play and use these tin foil numbers. It was lots of fun and I feel like our conversation about numbers using these were very helpful. I hope they help you.