Halloween Math

Aside from some pre-measuring and cooking activities, I haven't done too many math activities with my son.  With the possibility that he will begin Kindergarten next year (he'll be eligible but barley 5, so I may hold onto him one more year) I figured it was time we start.  Of course, as an advocate for play, I wanted it to be somewhat open ended, but I wanted a bit of structure as well.  

 I started with a chart sectioned into 4 distinct areas.  I'd purchased some Halloween foam stickers from the $0.99 store for such an occasion.  I placed one sticker in each section, then separated matching stickers into muffin tins.

I wasn't concerned with colors (although, I was secretly hoping for some sort of pattern!), simply shapes.  I told him he could peel the stickers and place them into the matching section, as many as he wanted, then we'd count them.   

 Peeling foam stickers is excellent fine motor practice!  

 Michael is extremely active with a short attention span.  He did match his shapes, but would only place 1 sticker in each column, so, I went with it.  After all, it's his first time and I did want this to be play-like and fun.

Once he placed his stickers, we counted how many he placed in each column.  I reminded him what a "1" looked like and let him write the number on his own.  

For some more Halloween math ideas check out:

Little Lucky: Halloween Activities (this site is in Romanian but she has Google Translate)

3 Jewels in my Crown: Pumpkin Seed Math