Number Pocket Game for Toddlers and Preschoolers

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This month for our Virtual Book Club for Kids we are spotlighting books by Dr. Seuss!!

I think Dr. Seuss is fun and I especially enjoy reading his books to my kids. One of the books that we LOVE is One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. Usually we like to play ring around the gak or we drink pink ink when we read the book... but this week my kids wanted to focus on the first part of the book where they do some counting!

We decided to practice counting numbers and talking about numbers this week after we read One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish and the kids had a blast playing a number pocket game!

To get started all you need are a few materials...

• library card holders
• craft sticks
• painter's tape
• a copy of my printable circle numbers
• or a copy of my printable fish numbers

After you have all of your materials you'll want to... 

Write numbers 1-12 on your craft sticks

Stick your pockets on the wall using painter's tape.

Add the numbers to the outside of each pocket. You can use my free circle printable (or my number fish printable) and a 2.5 inch craft punch to make your circles super quickly or just cut them out with scissors.

Once your craft sticks and pockets are ready, encourage your child to pick up a stick, look at the number, and then match it to the number on the wall.

This is a seriously awesome visual discrimation exercise since most toddlers can't recognize their alphabet letters or numbers, but some can match shapes or designs they see... like written numbers.

I didn't expect much from my 2-year-old but I was pleasantly surprised. He was determined to do it "all by myself" and copied his older sister and was able to match both of the envelopes.

My preschooler joined in to work on simple number recognition and matching too. Next time we do this I'm going to need to figure out a way that we can in some addition or counting up for her since the number recognition piece was too simple.

Once kids finished matching all of the sticks then they gave another person a turn. It was neat to see how well they cooperated and took turns doing this activity.

Have you ever read One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish or any other books by Dr. Seuss? We love them!

Here are some other fun Dr. Seuss ideas shared by our Virtual Book Club for Kids co-hosts!

One fish two fish real and pseudo word game by Rainy Day Mum
Lorax Sensory Bottle by The Pleasantest Thing
Red Fish Blue Fish ABC Match by Growing Book by Book

Cat In The Hat Bracelet by Mama Miss
Kite Rhyming with the Cat in the Hat by Inspiration Laboratories
4 Dr. Seuss Inspired Slimes by Lalymom

The Lorax Number Match Up by Playdough to Plato
Truffula Tree Number Matching by 3 Dinosaurs
Letter Fun with the Cat in the Hat  by The Educators' Spin On It

The Lorax Truffula Trees Cutting Practice by Still Playing School
Make your own whisper-ma-phone by Science Sparks

Also, make sure you head on over to our Virtual Book Club Facebook page to check out the other activities that will be shared today.