It’s Summer Time! It’s Watermelon Time and these watermelons have gone digital! Your preschool kiddos are going to love helping the adorable Winnie Watermelon count and pick the correct number of watermelon seeds in this kid-friendly digital counting activity.
Have you ever had a watermelon seed spitting contest? Even though it may sound kind of gross, it’s a pretty friendly competition usually resulting in lots of giggles. I have many childhood memories of these summer competitions. These memories and my love for fresh, deliciously sweet watermelon, are the inspiration for this free digital watermelon seed math activity.
Let’s Count!
It’s exciting when you hear your children starting to count, “one, two, fwee, foh.” Or maybe they’re counting in what I like to call ‘binary’ counting, “one, two, one, two, one.” But counting is so much more than just saying the numbers in the correct order. There’s a lot of brain work your kiddos are doing to build a strong number sense foundation.
Number Sense
Wikipedia defines number sense number sense as “an intuitive understanding of numbers, their magnitude, relationships, and how they are affected by operations“. If you are like me, you’re probably scratching your head right now saying, “Um, WHAT?” Yeah that ‘technical’ definition just means that young children understand numbers and what numbers are all about.
It’s really easy for some youngsters learn and understand beginning number sense math concepts. Then there are children who really struggle understanding basic math skills. Whether number sense comes easy for your child or they have some difficulty, all children benefit from daily counting practice.
Children learn through play and repeated exposure to fun math activities. Your children are going to have so much fun learning while they’re playing with Winnie Watermelon and this colorful digital counting watermelon seed activity.
Preschool Math
There’s a group of key math abilities preschoolers need to really practice and master. Once these skills are mastered, children will be prepared for more difficult math concepts. See how important strong number sense is at a young age?
- Count from memory (rote counting/reciting numbers in order)
- Count a set of objects with one-to-one correspondence (counting one object while saying the corresponding number)
- Number recognition and understand the number represents a set of objects. (example: recognizes the symbol for number 3 AND understands that the symbol for 3 means three of something)
First Things First…MAKE A COPY!
The first thing you need to do to make the digital slides interactive is make a copy of the file for each child. If you have one child or 30 students (Bless You!), each child can have their own interactive counting packet!
How to Use the Digital Slides
After you have made a copy of the slides, open the file in ‘edit’ mode to make the slides interactive. Children are going to love counting the watermelon seeds and then using the mouse or touching the screen to choose the correct answer.
Additional Math Activities for Preschoolers
Take a preschool summer time screen time break! Extend the fun by printing the slides to use as math worksheets for additional hands on activities. I would make sure to laminate or slide the worksheets into sleeve protectors for longer user life.
Have your youngsters practice their counting skills with a dry erase marker–kids LOVE dry erase markers! Have them cross count the watermelon seeds and then circle or draw a line to the correct number answer.
Make a fun counting game by letting your children pick a bunch of small buttons, cute mini erasers, or pom-poms and have them cover the correct number answer.
Make a preschool math game with clothespins. Create a number line strip. Then, give children some clothespins and have them count the seeds and then ‘clip’ the correct number answer. This is an excellent fine-motor skill activity.
(*Tip: Using the bigger clothespins for younger children who need to develop and practice fine-motor skills. Opening and closing larger clothespins is also a fantastic fine-motor skill activity for toddlers. Use the smaller clothespins for children who need to strengthen fine-motor skills.)
Make watermelon snack time a delicious summer preschool activity teachable moment! After you and the kiddos enjoy some juicy sweet watermelon, have them use their seeds to cover and count the seeds to find the correct number answer on the cards–you’ll be glad you laminated the cards for this activity!
This math digital packet is so darn cute and is a perfect math game for fruit or food preschool themed lesson plans. This set is also a great addition to the printable watermelon counting cards for even more summer activities for preschoolers.
And then when you’re all done with your counting fun…make your own summertime memory by having a watermelon seed spitting contest!
More Counting Activities You Can Use Right Now!
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