Learning Resources Friendly Farm Counters, Set of 144

Math is how children order their world, and these animals invite children to sort by color and/or animal type, mamas and babies. Besides using them to create addition and subtraction problems, begin understanding multiplication and division by sorting into groups or dividing amongst friends. As you set up three groups of 4, then four groups of 4, five groups of 4, etc.; write 4 + 4 + 4 = 12 OR THREE GROUPS OF FOUR is TWELVE, or 3 x 4 = 12, etc. With these animals, a preschooler can begin understanding the concepts of multiplication and division!

We use these animals to sort by color, size, and animal. We also have lined up the animals in rows to count by 10's to 100. They could easily be used to count by any other number. I used these with handwritten numbers and math symbols for beginning addition. The best part is the kids love to play with them! I use playing with the animals as a reward for good listening and participation in the lesson! The animals are small like all the other counters, so I would be careful with young children. My toddler puts the animals in her mouth, so I'm careful whenever she plays with them to watch her closely.