Materials: cardboard box, marker, golf tees, toy hammer
- Determine what your child will learn or review (shapes, letters, numbers)
- On one side of the cardboard box, draw a shape (begin with basic shapes, i.e. circle, triangle, square, rectangle, only adding additional shapes once those have been mastered, i.e. rhombus, heart, star, oval), letter (begin with the letters in the child’s name and then additional letters once those are able to be identified) or number (begin with 1 and work up to 10, only continuing once the number is able to be identified)
- Use the golf tees to poke holes along the line/s (at least 3/4” apart)
- Place the golf tees in a pile near the shape
- Model for your child how to place one tee in a hole, leaving the majority of the tee sticking out of the box, and tap the tee down into the box using the hammer
- Let your child complete the shape/letter/number, while identifying what it is, by filling in each hole with a tee in the correct formation (i.e. for the number 1 a tee should be placed in the highest hole at the top of the number and go straight down, for the letter A the child should start at the top point, go straight down the left side until they reach the end of the line, start back at the top and repeat down the right side, then start on the left and cross the straight line in the middle until it end on the right side, rather than filling the holes in randomly) *This is a great time to discuss if the shape/letter/number is made up of straight lines, curved lines or both, how many lines it has (if applicable), how it is similar/different from other shapes/letters/numbers, how the letter/number is formed, etc.
- Have your child count how many tees were used to complete the shape/letter/number by pointing to each tee as they count aloud
- Your child can also experiment with pulling the tees out of the box
- To repeat the activity, new holes may need to be formed between the existing holes if the tees no longer stand upright on their own due to the hole being too large
- Enjoy!