As a stay at home mom-trepreneur of a two year old toddler we are starting to work in more structured learning activities during our day. Today I’m sharing this video of some NEW finds at Target’s Dollar Spot for fun, easy and inexpensive toddler learning activities for two year olds and preschoolers. Also, I am very excited to share this super interactive and fun learning activity from Education.com which is an amazing resource for all sorts of ideas like this! Check this out to see more:
https://www.education.com/resources/addition on our site
Because my son is just two we modified this slightly by coloring in fishes and talking about counting them.

And check out their current contest with amazing prizes! https://www.education.com/contests/

We had so much doing this and if your kids are ready to start talking about addition then check out the instructions below to see how the full activity can work:

Dr. Seuss One Fish Activity

Most young students are familiar with Dr. Seuss, and love listening to the rhyming and silly words in his books.

Because we know it is the process, not the product, when it comes to learning, this is a two-day activity. Students will get to listen to the book, do a painting, and then practice their addition. This multi-step approach will keep kids excited and looking forward to what they will do next!

What You Need:

One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss
White paper
Watercolors
Colored construction paper to cut out fish
Fish cookie cutter or Play-Doh fish cutter (optional)
Scissors

What You Do:

1. Trace the fish on the construction paper ahead of time.
2. Set up the watercolors and paper on a table.
3. Read the book to the student. You can begin practicing addition by asking targeted questions as you read. Questions can include: “How many fish do you see on the page?” or “How many small fish are on the page compared to big fish?”
4. After you read the book, tell your student that she will use the white paper to make a watercolor painting of the ocean.
5. While the painting dries, the student can begin cutting out the fish that you traced ahead of time. If you would like, instead of you tracing the fish ahead of time, you can have your student trace the fish. If you have a fish cookie cutter or Play-Doh fish cutter that will work. Or, you can make a fish stencil.
6. Once the watercolor painting is dry, the student can place his cut out fish on the painting, and begin the addition portion of the activity.
7.Work with your student to put various amounts of fish on the scene in order to show addition facts. For example, if you put 2 yellow fish plus 2 red fish, then your student can tell you the total amount of fish.
8. You can also have her write down the equations on a piece of paper.

Here’s are two other books that could work well:

Put Me in the Zoo by Robert Lopshire

Along with reading this fun classic, students can add or subtract colored circle shapes, such as counters or paper circles.

Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss

Both blocks and/or socks can be used to create fun addition and subtraction equations to go along with reading this book.