Counting: Freddo Cupcakes

In everyday learning incorporate the language of mathematics through cooking. Freddo cupcakes can be used in incidental one-to-one opportunities, small group situations or whole group interactive sessions. Important number concepts to be developed when counting include: the stable order principle, one-to-one correspondence, cardinality, abstraction principle and order-irrelevance principle.  Children and educators demonstrate these principles when:

• Reciting the number names in order
• Oral counting while touching objects
• Counting the total in the set
• Counting, starting from any object
• Counting on
• Counting backwards

This Starting Point is contributed by Sharyn Livy. Go to the Starting Points Forum to discuss the use of number to develop an understanding of counting for Early Years' learning.