Reusing Christmas Bows - A Counting Activity

A couple of months ago I saw a post to create a counting activity using ghosts. At the time I thought it was a cute idea and something to do another year. But then I saw a similar activity using bows (Christmas Bow Counting Activity) and I thought now is the time to make it. 

While drawing the numbers of the poster board, I learned how important it is when doing any project for a toddler, who is sitting next to you, to not leave writing utensils in that toddler's reach. But I just have to laugh it off because the project is for him so who cares if it looks perfect as long as he's happy to play with it and can enjoy it and learn from it. 

I deliberated on what materials to use for this project for a while. Should I use poster board and have one big piece with the bows to put on to it? Or should I use card stock with smaller, individual pieces for him to put the bows on? I finally decided on using a piece of poster board putting the numbers at the top and the bottom and then allowing him to count out the bows on to it. This way we can use it for other holidays and can count out different objects like hearts for Valentine's Day, ghosts for Halloween or four leaf clovers for St Patrick's Day. 

I used numbers from an alphabet set purchased at the dollar store and traced them onto the poster board instead of gluing them to allow for extra creativity. I let my toddler pick out which color each number was going to be on the board. So even though it doesn't look perfect, since I was tracing the numbers and coloring them in, it is created with love. 

Looking for more fun math ideas?