When The weather starts to change, it is a great time to expose children to the fact that there are different types of weather/seasons. Over the last few weeks, my girls have been welcoming the changes that are taking place outside. They are still attached to their flip-flops and are beginning to learn that when the weather/season is changing, we dress differently.

I decided that in order to help them transition from warm days to cooler days, we would focus on the weather.
Whatever we are learning about on a weekly basis, I try to incorporate it into all the areas of learning. Hence my reason for making this Umbrella counting craft for preschoolers.

Learning the critical math skill of one-to-one correspondence requires so much practice, so I am always trying to find creative ways to give my littles as much practice as I can. Our home environment provides many opportunities for our littles to practice this important math skill, but I love providing colourful visuals that are related to our theme because while they work, the discussions we have are endless and extends their vocabulary and language development in a fun way.

What you will need to recreate this activity:

This activity is functional and low prep. You only need a few materials that are probably already somewhere in your house.

All you need to make this fun counting craft for your little one are a few simple materials:

• White paper plates
• Blue pipe cleaners 
• Pencil
• Markers in various colours 
• scissors
• Glue gun 
• Blue beads – we used blue so they look like raindrops.

Simple Steps to creating this craft:

Step 1: Gather all the materials you will need. I used two paper plates in order to make four Umbrellas.

Step 2: Draw little scallops across the middle of each plate and cut along the scalloped line in the middle. Use a pencil to draw a

dot at the top and middle of each umbrella shape and use it as a guide to drawing the lines for each colour on the umbrellas.

Step3:Use a black marker to outline the edges and all other lines on each umbrella shape.

Step 4: Use the markers of your choice to start colouring in the spaces on your umbrellas. After colouring, write on the numbers you wish to have your little ones work on, one in each coloured space.

Step 5: Fold the Chenille stick into halves and use your scissors to cut them.

Step 6: Turn each umbrella shape over on the plain side, and use your glue gun to attach four pieces of pipe cleaners. one piece for each number/colour.

Step 7 Place the beads that you will be using to represent raindrops into a container of your choice.

 After you have completed all the steps, it is time for some learning fun. 

How we used this activity:

Even though I made four umbrellas, two for each twin, I presented them with one at a time because they are still pretty young and giving them too many moving parts can be a distraction.

Together we counted in sequence, touching the numbers on the umbrellas. We then worked on counting out the number of beads for each pipe cleaner. I encouraged the girls to take from the plastic containers only the amount of beads we would need as we worked on each number. We repeated this process to place the beads on the other umbrellas.

This activity will be on our shelf for a few days for the girls to work with.

Even though the aim of this activity was to practice the important skill of one-to-one correspondence, it had other educational and developmental benefits.

This activity was great for:

•Hand-eye coordination

•Fine motor skills

•Concentration

•Reviewing colours

•Numbers 

•Number names

•Tagging items in a group 

I do hope you find this simple educational craft useful. If you have any questions please feel free to contact us by sending us a message or visiting us @learning.stepbystep on Instagram, Learning Step By Step on Facebook and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for educational resources that will help you and your littles on their learning journey as they continue to Learn Step By Step!

Thank you for being here!

Kimberlee and the Learning Step By Step Team.