Apple Drop Counting

Apple Drop Counting is a great game that focuses on simple one-to-one correspondence skills, but can be adapted to include skills like more and less, composing and decomposing, subitizing, and even addition and subtraction.

Materials:

• Apple tree mat (can be made of paper, felt, or foam)
• Apples (red pom poms, big red buttons, small wooden apples from craft store) The key is you must be able to drop, so some land on tree and tray.
• Tray to keep "apples" from rolling in the table, desk, or floor.
• Container to hold apples (small basket, cup, margarine tub, etc.)
• Paper and pencil (optional)

Directions: 

• Invite the student to grab a handful of apples, hold several inches above the mat, and drop them. (See why you need a tray!)
• The apples will scatter. Some will land on the tree and some off the tree onto the tray.
• Now invite the student to count the number of apples ON the tree.

Extending the Learning:

• One-to-One Correspondence: Give only a certain number of apples. Invite the student to count, pointing to each apple as the number is said.
• Number Values: After the student drops the apple onto the tree and counts them, ask him to identify if there are more apples on the tree or off. If he is unsure, have him line up the apples in two rows (a row of apples from the tree and a row of apples not on the tree) and have him compare length.
• Composing/Decomposing Numbers: Have the student count the exact number of apples to drop onto the tree. Let's say 10. Then, after each drop, ask her to count the number of apples on the tree and record it on a sheet of paper. Let's say 4. Then have her figure out how many apples must have fallen off the tree. Six. Together all the apples on the tree (4) and off the tree (6) equal 10 the number with which she began.
• Subitizing (Number Value Fluency): After the student has dropped the apples onto the tree, give only 3 - 5 seconds for him to look at the arrangement of apples on the tree and identify the number of apples. To make this game more challenging, after 3 seconds, cover the tree with a sheet of paper and invite him to identify how many. 
• Addition/Subtraction: Have the student count the number of apples on the tree. Then count the number of apples off the tree.Add the number of apples on and off the tree to determine how many apples all together.Invite the student to write the number sentence. The student can also use this game for subtraction.