You will need:

• White paper or card
• Coloured dot stickers (optional)
• Black Sharpie
• Felt pens

Step 1: Write the numbers on coloured dots

Write the numbers 1-10 on colourful round stickers.

If you don’t have stickers you can also colour in circles directly onto white paper using marker pens.

Spread the circles out as in the step below. Write your numbers onto each circle using a black Sharpie pen.

Step 2: Stick down your numbers to make a trail

Stick the number stickers onto a large sheet of white card or paper.

Jumble the order and leave large spaces between each one.

Step 3: Can you order the numbers?

Your child can draw lines from the circle numbered 1 to the circle numbered 2, and from number 2 to number 3 and so on.

That way they make lines to join the dots.

They can use one coloured pen to do all the lines. Or they can change the colour between the numbers to make a rainbow line. (Just take care that the change of pen colours between each number doesn’t make them lose track of what numbers they’re on and which one comes next.)

You could ask your child to say each number out loud as they reach it with their pen.

Can they count from 1 to 10?

Extending the number ordering activity

You can extend this activity in a number of different ways:

1. You could make the numbered stickers go higher, up to 20.
2. You could leave one of the circles blank, for your child to figure out which number is missing in the order?
3. For older kids you could make them count in 10s (10, 20, 30) and put those numbers in order.
4. You could replay the game as a race, setting a timer to challenge your child to join the dots more quickly.
5. Your child to make their own number stickers and leave a number trail for you to complete.
6. You could also use the same idea to make an alphabet dot-to-dot challenge.