Simplicity Happens

Want to support and track your child’s counting and plural form skills? Now you can with this playful Night Sky Activity.

The contents of this activity, such as text, graphics, images, information, as well as other material and content contained in this activity are for informational purposes only. The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding your child’s development.

This activity features language and cognitive development concepts children learn throughout their early childhood years as a toddler, preschooler, and within their early elementary school years. Specific age milestone information can be found with a simple internet search!

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Now let’s PLAY!

Implementing commonly used toddler words, this activity includes picture matching, labeling, and plurals. This activity will support my son with counting and identifying the number concepts one and two. When toddlers/preschoolers count two items, they begin to understand and use plurals by adding an -s at the end of the word. This activity also supports matching and labeling. I’m also excited to be sharing it with you, too!

Awesome! Now that I have the research and evidence, let’s set up the activity.

First, let’s print and laminate (optional but recommended for multiple use) the outdoor background scene and picture cutouts.

Next, use scissors to cut out the picture cutouts:

Next, attach either dot adhesives (soft side) for use in your child’s interactive binder book or magnets for use on a magnet board to the back of the picture cutouts. Additionally, place dot adhesives (rough side) on the Night Time Activity background scene. If using on a magnet board, you will need to put magnets on the back of the background scene as well (as shown below).

Note: Adult Supervision is required. Use caution with the magnets, dot adhesives, and small pieces as they are not intended for use with children under the age of 3. Please use caution and supervise your child with the dot adhesives, magnets and small pieces when working on this activity. Only work on activities that you feel are safe for your child. Warning: Choking Hazard. Children under 3 should not participate in any activities that involve small pieces.

Is your child under 3? The Activity Garden includes a modified version of this activity available in bigger print for younger toddlers. Small pieces, magnets, and dot adhesives are not intended for use with the bigger print activities. Please remember that adult supervision is required with all activities shared on Simplicity Happens. Just a kind reminder to stay safe and have fun while learning with your little ones!

Only use magnets on the back of the background scene if you plan to use this activity on your child’s magnet board

Place dot adhesives (soft side) or magnets (as shown above) on the back of the picture cutouts.

Since I used magnets with this activity, I placed the Night Time background scene on this baking sheet that I found at the dollar store. I glued an envelope stand to it so that it stands upright. The background scene fits perfectly! To learn how to make your own magnetic board for approximately $2 dollars, click here (tutorial coming soon)!

Now that’s it’s all set up, it’s time to PLAY!

Matching

First, we’re going to have fun matching!

First, he matches the truck.
Next, he matches the frog.
Then, he matches the house.
He also matches the bunny.
Last, he matches the bee, flower, star, and bird. Great job!

Receptive Labeling

This activity can be used for receptively labeling the Night Time vocabulary.

First, my son and I go through the pictures together. I want to determine his ability to identify the Night Time vocabulary pictures when I name them. This demonstrates his ability to receptively label Night Time vocabulary.

First, we work on receptive labeling:

First, I ask him to, “Point to the truck.” Great job!
Next, I ask him to, “Point to the house.” Awesome!
Then, I ask him to, “Point to the flower.”
Also, I ask him to, “Point to the bee.
After receptively labeling the bunny, star, and frog, I ask him to, “Point to the bird.” Very good! If he needs support with receptive labeling, I point and say, “I am pointing to the bird. Now, you point to the bird.”

Then, I keep a record of his receptive labeling skills for this activity in my Activity Garden Tracking Sheets booklet.

This booklet includes over 30 tracking sheets for use with the activities in the Activity Garden. The booklet is available in the Simplicity Happens store.

Expressive Labeling

This activity can be used for expressively labeling the Night Time vocabulary.

First, my son and I go through the pictures together. I want to determine his ability to identify and name the Night Time vocabulary pictures when I point to a picture and ask, “What is this?”. This demonstrates his ability to expressively label Night Time vocabulary.

First, we work on expressive labeling:

I point to the frog and ask, “What is this?” My son replies, “a frog.” Great job!
I point to the bunny and ask, “What is this?” My son replies, “a bunny.” Awesome!
I point to the star and ask, “What is this?” My son replies, “a star.”
After he expressively labels the house, flower, bee, and bird, I point to the truck and ask him, “What is this?” My son replies, “a truck.” If my son needs support with expressive labeling, I point to the truck and say, “This is a truck. What is this?”
Then, I tell him what a great job he did telling me about the items!

I then keep a record of his expressive labeling with this activity in the Activity Garden Tracking Sheets booklet.

Understanding Plural Language

Now that he has matched and receptively and expressively labeled the pictures, it’s time to work on plural -s.

First, I make sure all of the items are shown with two of each.

The magic of plural -s happens when children learn to count and understand the number concepts of one and two. So, this activity incorporates pointing to more than one vocabulary item (i.e. stars, bunnies, houses, birds, etc.) to demonstrate understanding of plural -s. Additionally, this activity incorporates counting from 1-2 to answer the question of “how many” to demonstrate the use of plural -s. Read on to see it all in action!

First, my son works toward demonstrating understanding of more than one by listening and pointing to items when named.

I ask him to, “Point to the trucks.” He points to both trucks. Great job!
I ask him to, “Point to the stars.” He points to both stars! Awesome!
I ask him to, “Point to the bunnies.” He points to both bunnies! Great work! He continues to point to the remaining pictures when named. If he needs help, I point to both items and say, “Here are the flowers. Now, you point to the flowers.” I then tell him what a great job he is doing with pointing to the pictures!

I keep a record of his progress in my “Activity Garden Tracking Sheets” booklet.

Example of receptive plural form tracking sheet.

Using Plural Language

Now that my son demonstrates understanding of plurals by pointing to both of the items when named, it’s time to start working on using plural language by counting from 1-2 to answer the question when asked, “how many?”

First, my son works toward using plural language when asked, “how many _______ do you see?”

I point to each truck and say, “How many trucks do you see?” My son counts, “1, 2.” Then I say, “Great job! There are two trucks. Now say, ‘I see two trucks.’ My son replies, “I see two trucks.” Awesome!
I point to the birds and say, “How many birds do you see?” My son counts, “1, 2.” Then I say, “Awesome! So how many birds are there?” My son replies, “two birds.” Great job!
I point to the frogs and say, “How many frogs do you see?” My son counts, “1, 2.” Then I say, “Very good. So many frogs are there?” My son replies, “two frogs.” Great! If my son needs help, I just provide a model sentence and have him repeat. For example, I might say, “I see two houses.” Now you say, “I see two houses.” I then tell him what a great job he is doing with telling me about the pictures.

I can also keep a record of his learning to support his knowledge during future play activities in my Activity Garden: Goal Tracking Sheets booklet:

Example of expressive plural form tracking sheet.

A Sprinkle of Silly!

At one point while playing with this activity, my son decided to have some fun of his own by putting the truck on the other truck upside down, then up in the sky, and then up in the tree! I definitely enjoyed this part of the activity the most! We talked about what the silly truck was doing and really shared in the enjoyment together. That was perfect!

We had a great time! Once we were finished working on this activity, we stored the picture cut outs in a zip pouch for later use.

What did you and your little ones enjoy about this activity? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!

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