Number Pebbles for practicing numbers and counting
I’m not a fan of complexity for the sake of complexity – I like to do things the easy and simple way if the result will be just as good. These number pebbles are an example of this. They are very easy to make and take very little time, but they still look good and Eva and I have fun playing with them and practicing counting and recognizing numbers.
I made them the most simple way I could with black numbers on one side and the corresponding number of dots on the other side. But you could do colours and maybe drawings instead of dots if that’s what you like. In this case I just liked simplicity. Originally I wanted to make two set of stones with numbers on one set and dots on the other, but Eva also wanted to draw on stones, so we ran out, but the other way works aswell.
I used a pen from Posca and can highly recommend it – Eva could easily draw with it without getting the colour everywhere. We store the pebbles in a small cotton string bag.
You’ll need:
- Flat stones
- A pen to draw on stones with (I used this one from Posca)
How to:
You could either:
- Make one set of stones. Draw a number on one side of each stone and let it dry and then draw the corresponding number of dots on the other side of each stone and let dry.
- Play. Now just turn each stone to see how many dots fx the number 7 has or try to count how many dots there are on a stone and turn to see if you are right.
or
- Make two set of stones. Draw numbers on one set of stones and dots on another set of stones.
- Play. Now just match them up so fx the stone with the number 7 matches the stone with the 7 dots.
Some people seal the colour, but I don’t find that the colour smears or wears off – and I did try to crub some off in water, so I have tried my very best to rub it off.