Doubling and halving

Counting

Mexican wave counting. Seat children in a circle. One child raises both arms as you all say ‘2’. The child puts them down again. The next child raises their arms as you all say ‘4’, and so on round the circle. Work towards increasing the pace as children learn the game and the number sequence…

Number bonds

Show children how to hold up both of their thumbs side by side. One add one is two. Ask children to hold up both thumbs and index fingers. Two add two is four.
Repeat, showing 3 + 3, 4 + 4 and 5 + 5. Record these on the flipchart. These are doubles! Double 1 is 2, double 2 is 4 …

Chants/Rhymes/Songs

Children act out each part of the rhyme with their fingers.

One and one are two,
One for me and one for you.

Two and two are four,
Standing knocking on the door.

Three and three are six,
Eating up their Weetabix.

Four and four are eight,
Two fat circles, that’s just great.

Five and five are ten,
All our fingers up again!

Story

Two of everything by Lily Toy Hong. Mr. and Mrs Haktak discover a mysterious brass pot that doubles whatever is placed inside…!

Exploring and Playing

Large ladybird/butterfly outlines, paint and brushes or gummed spots; hopscotch grid and bean bag; equal sized wooden bricks; rocker balance; number cards 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10; play foodstuffs, playdough, pairs of plates and plastic knives

Active Learning

Large 1 to 6 dice; cubes; biscuits and two plates; a selection of objects, quantities and collections of objects to halve, e.g. box of 4 cakes, 10 pennies, length of ribbon, bottle of water, square of paper

Creating and Thinking Critically

Doubles cards; dominoes; 1-20 number track; 1-10 cards; 1-6 dice; paper for each pair; 4, 6, 8 and 10 toys in baskets, e.g. cars, trains, play people and teddies; pennies; ‘yes’ and ‘no’ cards