We are so glad to find this very useful math resource and its done by a local Singaporean artist mummy!
And its not simply a Math resource, the pictures on these cards are so beautiful and that children take to them so quickly– and it can quickly transform into a animal figure matching/ vocabulary lesson =) Vocab lesson ideas off my head are charades, animal actions, animal homes, animal movement etc etc!
This entry will focus on Math (suitable for 2.5 years and up) and Animal figurine matching (suitable for 18months and up) =)
What’s inside?
26 cards consisting of:
-10 animal cards
-10 numeral cards with dots
-5 math symbols cards (+ – x ÷ and =)
-1 intro card
The dots are the really ingenious part. They transform an abstract number 7, to a more concrete-pictorial understanding (child can see 7 dots below 7, helps make sense of the quantity of 7)
10 Math Ideas
Progressing in difficulty
- Match the animal cards to the correct numeral card
I wish we had this earlier!
2. Counting the dots on the numeral card.
Ideas of play can include placing the correct number of objects on the shown numeral card. For e.g. place 2 buttons/ 2 honey stars / 2 quantity of a similar object on the numeral card 2
3. Adding up the number of animals (pictorial addition)
Give them a context (for e.g how many animals are there in mummy’s zoo?) and Kids will find it easy to count the total number of animals. Easy success! Your kids’ confidence in addition will also get a boost. It is observed that kids who are confident in their own abilities are more willing to practice and persevere longer at a task — thus getting better at it =)
4. Combination of abstract and pictorial addition
When you think your child is ready to tackle the abstract, you can introduce the addition of one numeral card and one picture card. Eli & Levi numeral cards have black dots placed below the numbers so its such a natural intermediate step for young learners.
5. Adding two numerals
Its not hard to proceed on to this step as there are black dots beneath the numeral cards. Be sure that your child has lots practice and experienced success in adding pictorially/concretely first.
6. Our current practice — Counting on instead of restarting from 1. This is an essential step to addition of bigger numbers — the ability to hold a quantity in their head and add on the next instead of counting everything from 1 again. Don’t rush into this. We spent a good 7 months prior! This is also more easily picked up from ages 5 =)
I would rather my son be accurate in counting on from 1, then him only scratching the surface for both! We are still practicing the most basic way of adding (counting on from 1) all the time!
7. Putting the bigger number in his head (He chose to put the smaller number in his head)
8. Obstacle course can be included =)
Both attempts were wrong — its ok for them to make mistakes! Practice makes perfect =)
9. Mental addition
This is a chance discovery =) I believe the dots beneath the numerals helped Shalem reached his answer faster! What a great resource for an introduction and aid to mental calculation!
Do check out my previous posts on early numeracy –
On counting: https://shalemshekinah.school.blog/2020/02/10/teaching-numeracy/
On addition: https://shalemshekinah.school.blog/2020/07/04/many-roads-to-addition/
10) Animal Figurines Matching
For Shekinah who is hardly counting — I am still counting 1-10 daily w her when she plays with pom poms/ when we eat etc (check out my first numeracy post in this blog) , I decided to let have a go at animal figurine matching instead.
And she loves them!
Look at how happy she is being able to find the animals on the cards.
A lot of brain work is going on in this simple task:
- Observation of the animal on the card (this is big fat grey animal)
- Scanning her memory and matched what she saw (oh I know this, Mummy has shown me this animal many times, and I have many toys of this . And we acted as one before. This is an ele!)
- Hearing me speak the vocabulary (Oh mummy did say elephant, exactly what I thought!)
- Processing my request ( Mummy ask me to look for another elephant)
- Retaining this info in her brain ( I need to find elephant)
- Searching for a match in the bunch of figurines for the info she has in her brain. (Where is this big fat grey animal?)
Over excited that my cognitive psychology concepts are flashing up =) But ya, its no easy feat and a multi step process even for simple matching such as these. CELEBRATE these small successes mummy!
How to buy a copy of the flashcards
For local Sg buyers
Eli and Levi cards retail at $20 each.
Search @eliandlevi.sg on Instagram or Facebook https://www.instagram.com/eliandlevi.sg and DM your orders =)
For overseas buyers
Do search @eliandlevi.sg on Instagram or Facebook https://www.instagram.com/eliandlevi.sg and DM your orders =)
HAVE FUN! #supportlocalsg
Shalem and Shekinah 