Activity
Odd and even with counters
Makes odd and even something your child sees in the arrangement rather than something they are told to remember.
- Ages
- 4–5, 5–6 years
- Prep
- 10 minutes
Put this to work this week
A week gives you what to gather, one change at home and one thing to observe. It starts with four short questions.
Readiness signs
Signs to look for, not a checklist to pass.
- Counts out quantities to ten reliably
- Matches a numeral to its quantity
- Notices patterns
What to gather
Cards numbered one to ten and fifty-five small counters — buttons, beans or stones
How to present it
Show it slowly and in silence. Your hands are the lesson.
- 1Lay the numeral cards in a row. Under the one, place a single counter.
- 2Under each other numeral, place the counters in pairs, side by side, top to bottom.
- 3Run a finger down each column: where a counter has no partner, that number is odd.
What to say — and what to avoid
Say
- This one has no partner.
- Every counter has a pair — that number is even.
Avoid
- Just remember, two four six eight
- No, seven is odd
Control of error
The lonely counter at the bottom of a column is the answer, visible without being told.
What to observe
Take these into the next cycle rather than judging the session.
- Do they lay the counters in true pairs?
- Do they predict odd or even before finishing a column?
- Do they check by looking rather than by asking?
Simplify or extend
If it's too hard
Work with one to five only.
Once it's mastered
Ask them to sort the numeral cards into two piles, odd and even, from memory of the pattern.
Sources and review
Nothing publishes here without a named reviewer and the sources it rests on.
- The Discovery of the Child — Maria Montessori. On the teaching of numeration