Counting Eggs: A Springtime Preschool Activity

by MaryAnn Alderfer · March 21, 2016

I don’t know about you, but I’m a big fan of what I call “sneaky learning”. You know, when an activity is fun enough that kids don’t really notice that it’s educational too! And there’s an added bonus if you can make something that will look pretty on your wall at the same time. That’s what inspired me to set up this springtime counting craft with my nieces.

First, I cut out 10 brown “nests” for each of them. I numbered them 1-10 and drew an oval around the top so it looked like the opening of a nest.
Next, I cut out lots of lots of colored “eggs”, and a cut and taped together a long strip of paper for them to glue their nests to.

When I called the girls to the table, the first challenge they faced was to put their nests in order. It was pretty easy for my 4 year old niece, but her 3 year old sister had trouble. It was great though, because whenever my younger niece would get stuck, her sister would hold up the proper nest and then she would look at how the number was shaped and find her own matching nest. After the nests were in the right order and spaced so that they all fit on the strip of paper, the girls glued them down.

After the nests were glued down, the girls glued the correct number of eggs into each nest. I had them count the eggs out first before adding glue, to make sure they had the right number. It was especially fun to see my 3 year old niece, who still doesn’t recognize all the numbers, count up from one to figure out which number was on the nest she needed to fill.