"French Fried Counting"- An order of these fries adds up to counting fun.  Ask a local fast-food restaurant for a donation of french-fry boxes.  Program each box with a different numeral.  Make fries by cutting yellow sponges into strips.  Place the boxes and fries in a center.  To do this activity a child places the appropriate number of fries in each box.

Jumping Beans- To prepare, count out 10 large, dried lima beans.  Color one side of each bean with a permanent marker.  Then put all ten beans in a plastic cup.  Gather students in a circle and give the cup to one child.  Have her shake the cup and spill the beans onto the floor in the center of the circle.  Ask students to count the number of beans that land color side up.  Then have them jump once for each colored bean.  When the jumping's over, gather the beans.  Then have the next child in the circle shake and spill for another round of Jumping Beans.                                (Linda Masternak Justice-MO)

Shop-a-Lot for Numbers- A trip to the grocer's always ends with packing the grocery bags.  Your little ones will practice reading numerals and making matching sets as they fill orders with this activity.  Use a permanent marker to label a supply of paper or plastic grocery bags each with a different numeral from 1 to 10.  Have each youngster choose a bag and read the number on the outside.  Then instruct him to count as he places that number of items in the bag.  Have him count again as he returns the items to the shelves.  Then invite him to choose another bag and repeat the activity.  Paper or plastic?  (Randi Austin and Suzanne Moore)