Matching quantities 1-5 (concrete, pictorial)

Tips on how to use this exercise at home and at school.

Matching quantities 1-5 (concrete, pictorial)

Early math concepts


In this exercise, the child works with counting. The child starts with the first part, where he counts the number of objects, first by counting them one by one on his fingers (he puts his finger on each object just once), then he adds the number of symbols (fingers, lines, cubes, etc.) to this group and finally he assigns a word name (for example, he says aloud "two").


Why is this exercise important?
The exercise supports the development of early number ideas when the child begins to realize that symbols and fingers represent a specific number of objects. They realise that groups of objects have something in common that is not related to their visible properties and that is number.

Who is the exercise suitable for?
This form of exercise is suitable for children who have not 'caught on' during their natural development and need to be given these exercises. Again, this is the pre-school period.

Methodological recommendations
We, the app, read the instructions to the child or the child reads them to himself.

In the settings, we can customize the exercise:

  • chosing the combination of pictures, symbols or fingers
  • chosin the number range from 0-5 or 0-10

The child counts off the number of pictures and matches (by dragging and dropping) the symbols or fingers, in the right column, to the picture in the left column. Example: the picture of two ice creams in the first column would be in the row with the hand showing two fingers. 

Tips for similar activities outside the app
For this activity, we can use finger countdowns in natural situations. For example, physically matching a finger to an object or prompting the child to remember how many horses were in the paddock, for example. The child has to mentally recall the situation and use the fingers as symbols to express the number.