Counting to ten by rote is one thing, but this game really gets tots thinking about the idea that numbers come in a sequential order. Thanks to Hands on As We Grow for the cute idea!

Make a tape road with masking tape on your floor, making lots of detours and turns. Wherever two pieces of tape intersect, add a number (I went as high as 12, since Travis is dabbling into numbers up to 20 now).

He couldn’t wait to start driving his toy cars along the road, but first I gave him a task. The car had to hunt for number 1 to begin with, and once that destination was reached, I asked him, “What’s next?”

He knew the answer was 2, but seemed so surprised and proud that he now had to find a way to drive to the next number, instead of following the road any which way. We continued all the way up to 12, and by the end Travis was joining in on every “what’s next?”

Very simple but very educational and very enjoyable – a triple win!