Play Dough and Tin Foil Number Mobiles

During the first week of school with Kinders I like to focus on the numbers 1 to 5. Most children are familiar with these, at least in the sense of being able to count to 5 (although perhaps not using English). So while I am formally and informally assessing their general mathematical understandings our lessons concentrate on numbers. One of my teacher goals is always to get student work up in the classroom as quickly as possible, and hanging number mobiles from the ceiling is always a winner with the kids. If you are a stay at home mum or carer this is a great activity for home, too!

What you’ll need:

• play dough
• card stock (1 for each student + one extra sheet for every 4 students)
• tin foil
• coloured Sharpies or wet erase markers
• chopsticks
• wool or string
• hole puncher
• and maybe a ladder!

How it’s done:

1.  Cut card to size. I have students cut one piece of A4 (or letter-sized) card into four rectangular pieces and then pass them one more of the same small size to make 5 pieces. The card should not be too big or the play dough numbers will be too heavy.
2. Students roll their play dough into a snake and then form a number on their card.
3. Numbers can be glued onto the card with a glue stick – I do not always do this as the tin foil tends to hold up the play dough and keep it in place even without glue.
4. Students CAREFULLY push a piece of tin foil down onto their numbers, working the foil in around the edges of the numbers before flattening it on the card and folding the excess foil over.
5. Using Sharpies, students draw the correct number of objects on the foil and finish the decorating by writing numbers.
6. Punch a hole in the top.
7. Hang the numbers on the wall or make a mobile.
8. I use chopsticks for my mobiles, crossing them in the middle and tying them together with wool. I hang one number on each end of both chopsticks, and a final number from the middle crossed points.
9. I then hang the mobile using more wool. Fortunately the design of my ceiling allows this!
10. If they don’t hang straight (that is, one side seems too heavy) simply push the strings on the chopsticks closer to, or further away from, the central point.

You will have noticed:

My numbers are not hanging on chopsticks here! To be honest, the photos turned out terribly since the mobiles are 3D and my photography skills are not up to it yet – so I took the easier route and went with the numbers close to the wall.

Suggestions:

• Manipulating tin foil around the play dough numbers can be difficult and will slow down the process. Therefore, you may prefer each child to just make 1 or 2 numbers per day.
• The mobiles look great when they are back to back so only the front of the numbers are in view. However, you’ll need to make sure you use heavy card for this so the weight doesn’t get too much.

Click on this link to download a pdf for this post: Number Mobile

Do you have a great idea combining art or craft with numbers to help consolidate student learning? If so, please let me know and leave a link so we can check out any related posts.