Counting to Ten With Ten Black Dots

Don’t miss out on these number practice sheets for preschool learners. They’re an easy way to tie in reading and counting!

Fun counting activities for preschool kids based on the color word book Ten Black Dots. Use the book to practice counting to ten. Then continue counting with numbered snacks, songs, and learning activities. Includes FREE printable counting mats that are the perfect number practice sheets.

Number Practice Sheets for Preschoolers

You’re going to love this simple preschool learning activity. It’s a lot of fun to watch your child learn and grow and this preschool activity is so great for building their confidence as well.

I love cute books that include counting in the text. Ten Black Dots is a favorite. Children can count from one to ten with easy rhymes and brightly colored pictures.

The book starts by asking the reader to imagine what they might do with ten black dots? And then answers the question beautifully with rhyming text and bright colorful pictures. Three dots can make a snowman’s face or beads for stringing on a lace. Seven dots can make the spots on a snake or stones turned up by a garden rake. In the book, the large black dots transform into different objects as you turn the page. The fun starts with one black moon and finishes with ten black balloons.

Counting to ten has never been more fun!

This is a very easy book to read. Younger children seem to enjoy the simple text and brightly colored pictures. It is a really good book for wriggly preschoolers as you can turn each page quickly. Ten Black Dots manages to combine counting and imagination in a very creative way. You can expect your kids to request this book repeatedly.

My kids and I loved to read this book and we did so quite often! We’re big fans of combining different ways to learn and read so we love to partner up number practice sheets as well.

Counting To Ten Counting Mats for Preschoolers

AS YOU READ THE STORY

Stop at each picture and count the black dots. Then ask,

How many dots do we have on this page?
What else could we make with (X) black dots?

AFTER THE STORY

Give your child ten black dots. You might use

Buttons
Pom poms
Use a circle punch to cut dots from construction paper

Read the story again and invite your child to place their dots over the dots in the pictures. Of course, you will count as you go.

Enjoy some fingerplays and songs that you can use with your number practice sheets:

Childhood 101 has a nice selection of counting rhymes. My favorite is

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Once I Caught a Fish Alive

1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
Once I caught a fish alive,
6, 7, 8, 9, 10,
Then I let it go again.
Why did you let it go?
Because it bit my finger so.
Which finger did it bite?
This little finger on my right.

Enjoy some more Counting books

Have a counting snack

Find some snacks that are easy to count. These would include

Goldfish crackers
Fruit pieces
Cheerios
Raisins

Say, “Let’s eat six goldfish.” Count them out together and enjoy the snack. Follow this up with another numbered instruction, “Now let’s eat four slices of banana.” Invite your child to take a turn choosing the number of bites. (it’s a great way to get them to eat something healthy, too!)

Alternately, make Ants on a Log and vary the number of ants for each log. If your child is helping, you can have them count out the raisins. Kids love to help in the kitchen so this is a great family activity.

COUNTING TO TEN WITH NUMBER PRACTICE MATS

Naturally, we need to have a fun counting activity to go with this book. We’ve made a set of free counting mats to help your child practice counting from one to ten.

These number practice sheets include a lot of learning, but they are still fun to play with. The mats will help your child with counting, 1:1 correspondence, and number recognition.

Supplies Needed

Black dots try pom poms, black buttons, or punched circles.

Pencil

Crayons

If you want to use the mats more than once, pop them into dry-erase sleeves and invite your kids to use dry erase markers.

Instructions to start using these Number Practice Sheets

Give your child a pile of dots. Then show them how to use the mats.

Point to the number word and read it aloud.

Point to the numeral and say it aloud. Invite your child to trace the number with their finger (this develops muscle memory of how each number is written).

Point to each dot in the ten-frame held by the child and count them as you go.

Help your child to count out the correct number of dots. Then show them place the dots on the empty ten frames.

Help your child count out more dots and place them on the numeral.

MATH TIP FOR PARENTS OF PRESCHOOLERS

Numbers are symbols that represent specific quantities. This means that numbers are an abstract concept. Your preschooler is a concrete thinker right now, so numbers are a difficult thing for them to grasp. Placing dots on the ten frame helps the children start to visualize and experience each number.

Don’t worry if your preschool child doesn’t seem to really understand numbers. It is that concrete thinking brain of theirs. They probably won’t grasp the whole idea of numbers until they have been in school a while.

At this stage, you are just building pathways in the brain. It takes children’s LOTS of practice to make the connection between the symbol and the quantity. It will click as their brain matures and they can start to grasp abstract concepts and symbols.

Some of our favorite math activities include Unifix Cubes For Preschool Math as well as Ladybug Playdoh Math Counting Mats.

I would encourage you to keep counting activities light and fun. Pressuring children to do the math before their brains are ready can cause unnecessary stress. We don’t want to put our kids off math for life.