Steam Puff Number Train

All aboard the number train!

I saw this idea shared over at BookWorms BookNook, and thought it was just the thing for my train loving littles. It is a perfect activity to help teach numbers and counting.

The printable train I used can be found here.

I printed out 10 trains and Laura colored them the same for me. I wanted them the same because I didn't want tricky Kim and Luke remembering the order of colors as opposed to recognizing the numbers.

I labeled each train 1-10.
The first job for the kids is to line the trains up in numerical order. Kimberly used the 1-5 trains and Luke used all 10 trains.

The next step is to put the matching number of puffs of smoke over the smokestacks of the trains. Our puffs of smoke are cottonballs.

Kimberly did such a good job working with the 1-5 number trains,

she did a little victory dance,

and more dancing,

and still more dancing.

She knew how much it made us laugh the first time, she now does her dance after everytime she works with her trains successfully.

Luke has a much bigger task, using all 10 of the trains. He was perfect with the numbers 1-5 and now he is quickly learning 6-10.

He did a perfect job counting out the cottonballs, but he still needs help recognizing those larger numbers.

Success!!