The Big Summer Scene
Counting out a number of things, and where they go: in, on, up
How it plays
A summer scene with water, sand and a tree, and a tray of your child's own animals: the ones collected in My animal friends. The voice asks for a number of animals in one place ("Put three animals in the water!"). Your child drags them in, or taps an animal then a place, and each one is counted out loud as it lands. Animals put anywhere else simply stay where they were put: it's their picture. It starts at one or two and asks for more as your child gets the hang of it, up to six.
What it's for
Counting out a number of things, and where they go: in, on, up. It adapts as your child plays: after a few rounds that go well it steps up a little, and after a couple of hard ones it quietly steps back. The level number only ever goes up.
There is no score to lose and no way to fail. A wrong move is met with a gentle nudge, and a level ends when it's won.
Away from the screen: Bath-time counting
About two minutes, with things most homes have.
- Gather a few bath toys or spoons.
- Ask for a number in a place: "Put three in the water!" Count each one out loud as it goes in.
- Swap: your child asks, and you count (get it wrong now and then, so they can fix it).
Three questions to ask while they play
- How many are in the water now?
- If one more climbs the tree, how many will be up there?
- Where is your favourite animal: in, on or up?
Play together
Things to say or ask
- How many do we need? Let's count them in together.
- Point and count: one, two, three.
- Is that too many, or just right?
Taking turns on one device: Take turns adding one animal each, counting aloud together, until the number is right.
Talk-about cards: a question a day for a week, for the car or the dinner table. Print them, or read them from your phone.
If they find it hard
Count together, touching each animal as you say its number. Saying one number for each animal is the big idea. Or try Ten in the Den first: seeing how many, with the dots already there.
A sheet to print
Print the The Big Summer Scene sheet
One A4 page, in black and white or colour.
From two to eight
Tiny Steps: made for two- and three-year-olds too. With Tiny Steps on, it stays on its gentlest level, a not-yet tap is never counted, and there's nothing to read.
Switch Tiny Steps or Big Steps on in Who's playing?, on the grown-ups' page.
What it practises
- Seeing how many. Knowing how many without counting, using ten-frames.
AC9MFN02 (Mathematics, Foundation); AC9MFN04 (Mathematics, Foundation) - Reading numbers. Knowing numerals and what they're called.
AC9MFN01 (Mathematics, Foundation) - New words. Meeting and using everyday words.
AC9EFLA08 (English, Foundation); EYLF 5.1 (Early Years Learning Framework V2.0)
The codes are from the Early Years Learning Framework V2.0 (for children from birth to five) and the Australian Curriculum v9 (Foundation to Year 2). Each links to the official wording. Every skill, and the games for it.
What it costs, and what we collect
Nothing, and nothing. There is no account, no advertising and no tracking of any kind. Which games have been played is remembered on your own device and is never sent anywhere. The full version is here, and it's short.
Where it lives
The Big Summer Scene lives in The Bright Spot — shapes, colours and noticing. It works on a phone, a tablet or a classroom screen, and once it's been opened it keeps working with no signal at all.
Updated