Learning Numbers with a Treasure Hunt

I've been teaching my son his numbers 1-10. The counting part he understands and does well, however he is still working on number recognition. So, as part of our little math lesson yesterday, I created a numbered treasure hunt to add some fun to the process. He really enjoyed learning the numbers this way, and he is already keen to do the same activity again today. 

Adding math  to a treasure hunt is such a simple way to make learning fun and get moving around at the same time (especially for my active 2 year old). Below I've shown how we did the treasure hunt activity to target the numbers 1-10.  This can easily be differentiated to suit other levels of learning. It can be done at home or adapted for the classroom (I've put a few notes as to how I would change this if implementing in the classroom). 

What you will need:

• Chocolate gold coins
  
• Cut up pieces of paper 
  
• a marker
  
• sticky tape
  
• a bucket for collection ​

First, number the pieces of paper 1-10, and then stick them on to the back of each gold coin.

• Differentiate by putting larger numbers. 
• If doing with a class you may want to double/triple the amount of coins and do two/three sets of the same numbers, or do a larger range of numbers to find. 

Then, hide the numbered coins around the garden, house, classroom or playground. Face the numbered sides down so that the shiny part of the coin is visible (makes them easier to find).

Let the hunt begin!

Every time we found a coin I asked him what number was on it. If he didn't know, I helped him out and then we counted to that number on our fingers. Before putting it in the bucket, I asked him to repeat the number on it to reinforce that number.
If doing with a class you could freeze stop every now and again to see who has found what.   

Sometimes we stopped to count how many coins he found so far. We did this with the numbers facing down so that he wouldn't get confused with the numbers labeled on them.

We spoke about how many he found and how many more he needed to find. This was completely guided on my part, and I just think aloud around him so that he gets used to the math language.  ​

 Once he found all ten coins, we put them with the numbers facing up on the table. (Please excuse the mess, we were doing some science mixing experiments before this activity).

Then I instructed him to look for the number 1, 2, 3 and so forth.  Once he identified the correct number, I instructed him to put the numbers in order (forming a line as in the photo above). Once he put all ten coins in order, we touched each number to count to ten. As we put them back in the bucket, I asked him to tell me the number on the coin to again reinforce what we learnt.

If doing this activity with a class, I would get students to work together in small groups to put the numbers they found in order (from least to greatest) , and then come together as a class to put the missing parts from each group in order to complete the sequence. Another option is to do the order line as a class and invite students to stick their coin on the board when it comes up in the sequence.  

 At the end he enjoyed eating a chocolate coin from his bucket. We had to race the rest to the fridge to save them from melting too much! 

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