Print various pictures of license plates from states across the country. Each student recognizes the numerals on the license plates and writes the word form of the numbers onto a piece of paper. To adapt the activity to more advanced children, use two- or three-digit plate numbers for recognition. Challenge students to find addends that when combined equal the numbers on each license plate. Children can create their own license plate with letters and numbers and decorate it with the state logo using various arts-and-crafts supplies.
Integrate a dramatic play activity into the existing numeracy lesson by creating a restaurant environment. Arrange students into groups of three or four and instruct them to create a simple restaurant menu that designates food choices and their whole-number prices. Student desks are used as restaurant tables and one student from the group acts as the wait staff, takes the orders of the remaining group members. The students work together as a group to calculate the food check.
In preschool-aged classrooms, use plastic shopping carts and plastic foods to reinforce numeracy. Label various play foods with removable price stickers with numbers between one and 10. Students gather foods according to a picture shopping list and recognize the numeral prices. Adapt the activity to more advanced students; give each pair of students a budget to adhere to when choosing food choices from a list of items. The goal is to come as close to the budget limit as possible when choosing foods. The activity requires each pair to perform number recognition as well as basic operations of whole numbers.
Following recipes is an example of numeracy that can be integrated into a classroom setting. Every recipe calls for various measurements of ingredients to be combined together to create a culinary masterpiece. Prepare a recipe with the students, allowing each student to measure the ingredients with various cooking tools such as tablespoons, teaspoons, dry ingredient measuring cups and a liquid measuring cup. Students recognize fractions and baking temperatures in the activity while carefully following directions. Adapt the activity to a non-baking recipe for younger students such as a pudding pie with a graham cracker crust.