Count everything
Count out loud as you go through the day with your child. Count the stairs as you climb up or down; count the knives and forks as you get them out or put them away; count the steps as you dance

Hunt for a special number
Take a day to look for things that come in 1’s—1 nose; 1 mouth; 1 kid named “Franny”; 1 clown at the mall; 1 eagle in the sky; and so on. Don’t count anything else—just things that you only see 1 of. Another day, look for things that come in 2’s—2 eyes; 2 hands; 2 shoes; 2 socks; 2 dogs; 2 cups of tea; 2 wheels on a bicycle. Don’t count anything else—just things that you see 2 only of. Another day, look for things that come in 3’s—3 wheels on a tricycle; 3 crows; 3 kids; 3 legs on a stool. Don’t count anything else—just things that you only see 3 of. Another day, look for things that come in 4’s—4 wheels on a car; 4 pieces of apple; 4 flowers on a stem; 4 people waiting for a bus; 4 legs on a table. Another day, look for things that come in 5’s—5 fingers on a hand; 5 toes on a foot; 5 pennies; 5 ducks.
Read some of the counting books from the list on page 100.

For some ideas about how to make a book, see Appendix A.

• Collect pictures, either from magazines or photos. If you are using magazines, look for many different pictures of the same thing (for example, dogs or cars or houses or leaves or shoes). You will need pictures of at least 10 different things, with many pictures of each thing.
  
  
• On the first page of your book, make a large “1.” Let your child pick 1 picture to paste on this page.
  
  
• On the next page, make a large “2.” Let your child pick 2 pictures of the same thing and paste both pictures on the page (for example, 2 dogs).
  
  
• On the next page, paste 3 pictures of the same thing (for example, 3 salmon) and so on up to 10. Use the back of the previous page to give you more room for pictures if you need it.

An older child learning to read and write numbers could make this book for a
younger sibling just learning to count to 10.