Kids Reading and Math: Ten Dots

Ten Black Dots by Donald Crews is a great book!!!  I heard it recommended in a few different places so I grabbed it one day when we were at the library.  We read it while we were there and had a blast.  Both my son and I were interested to see what the next picture was going to look like as well as counting the number of dots on the page just to make sure it was the right number.

Each page gives a different number with a picture drawn around that number of dots.  There is one dot that makes a sun or a moon.  Two dots makes the eyes of a fox or the eyes of keys that open locks.  It goes from one to ten which my son was interested in around 2-3 years old.  It has a good rhythm to the writing as well as simple pictures that the kids enjoy.  Amazon recommends the book for ages 4-8 years old but I would say that it is good for a much younger audience too for first exposures to numbers.  Great for parents or teachers to introduce the numbers, counting and the pictures that correspond.  It is much better then some other bedtime books that we get to read every night at our child's request so introduce this book and see what your child thinks.

There are a bunch of different things that you can do after reading this book to follow up with all of the learning that it provides. The main suggestion that I have found is to put a number of dots on the page and have your child draw a picture with it but my son immediately went and got the book and only wanted to copy the pictures in the book instead of coming up with other pictures.  I suggested other pictures to draw and he said that it wasn't right.  I hope that this is something that might come with a little more maturity but it might be a different type of child who loves the artistic creativity that activity allows.

My little guy loves numbers and math so we started with the chart at the end of the book and made our own.  It was super fast for me to make up with a marker and a ruler on a regular 8 1/2 x 11 piece of copy paper.  I drew the line and wrote in the numbers and my four year old used the Bingo "dotters" to make the dots.  He counted and re-counted each line to make sure that there were the right number on each line.  He had a little trouble fitting in 10 on the last line but made the last one squeeze in.  If you don't have the bingo markers, use stickers for the same effect.

If you don't have any of the bingo or dot markers already at home, I highly recommend checking your local dollar store because there are millions of uses for these great tools and they are only a dollar each.  We have three colors and use them all the time for different crafts.   They are great for doing adding and subtracting as well as the bingo pictures.  They can be used as markers that are easier for little hands.  I am sure that once you have them in your house, you will come up with a million different crafts just as I have to use them!

After we finished this, my little guy wanted to continue with the dots to see what else we could do.  We made patterns by holding three dots together and putting them on the page.  Then, my son decided that it looked like a dot to dot picture and connected all of the dots.  Then, he wanted another one so we made a second one.  It is a good activity even if it doesn't make a picture because you can tell them to connect just one color dot or other instructions to make them stop and think.  

What crafts can you think of using dots??  I hope that you check out the book and do a few crafts with your kids because they will really enjoy reading this creative book which practices their counting.  I know that I enjoyed it too!!