On the Clouds - No Prep Number Game

by admin February 1, 2022

Today I want to share a fun little no-prep game with you called 'On the Clouds'. You just need a small white container (I used a muffin liner) and math counters!

Mother duck put her 5 babies under her two wings in the blog post I wrote earlier this week. This creates an addition math story for your students.

Here we are working towards a child being able to identify 2 as the missing number that would make up the total of 5.

A child not demonstrating this ability may:

lift the flap to see the missing counters
tap their fingers on the wing to ‘see’ or ‘feel’ the counters
count ‘from 1’

What can you do to support those students? Play something like 'On the clouds' along with other learning activities! It is no-prep. It encourages students to count sounds in their mind rather than replying on objects or pictures to touch.

Game: On the Clouds

Seat students in front of you.
Tell them the rainbow ducks have flown up into the clouds and are having a lovely day sitting in the sky looking down at all the wonderful students having fun at school.
Show them a little plastic container (or similar) that you have and some math counters.
Hold up the container and tell them this is the soft cloud (you may like to take time to cover it in cotton or similar but its not necessary) and that the counters are the ducks.
Tell them you want them to count how many ducks sit down - but they must count in their mind, soft and gentle like a cloud. Close your eyes and count the ducks as they sit down on the cloud.
Now drop a few counters into the container making sure it is a clear sound.
On your signal, the students can call out the number of ducks.
Repeat several times with various numbers.
Now extend on this by telling your students there are already some ducks up on the cloud. There are 3 ducks on the cloud already - but some more fly up. Let's find out how many altogether.
Students close their eyes. You say 3 clearly and then drop 2 more counters. The first time you do this you may like to whisper count, ….4, 5. Students open their eyes and tell you the total.
Repeat with more numbers.

Activities like these will help your students develop a deep and genuine feeling for the numbers. Playing and doing hands-on activities with 3 and 2 to make 5 in kindergarten will make learning about fifths when they do fractions in third grade so much easier!

This activity also links in well with our counting action rhyme The Rainbow Ducks!

If you or your students are having difficulty embracing a lighthearted sense of fun and imagination in your activities and thinking about such things as rainbow ducks and sitting on clouds - we highly recommend a reading of When Henry Caught Imaginaitis by Nick Bland!

Have a great week!