• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Living Montessori Now

Montessori Inspiration for Parents and Teachers

  • HOME
  • About
    • About Me
    • Contact Me
    • PR/Advertise
    • Privacy Policy
    • Grab A Button
  • About Montessori
    • About Montessori
    • Resources
    • ABCs of Montessori
    • Overview
    • Principles
    • Free Printables
    • Materials
    • Homeschool Classroom and Materials
      • Circle Time Activities
    • Techniques
    • Training
      • Free Montessori Video Lessons
    • Inspiration
  • Activities
    • Circle Time Activities
    • Art
    • Cultural
    • Language
    • Math
    • Practical Life
    • Practical Life – Grace and Courtesy
    • Sensorial
    • Unit Studies
    • PreK + K Sharing
    • Monthly Themed Activities
    • Holidays and Celebrations
  • Homeschooling
    • Homeschooling
    • Homeschool High School
    • Montessori Homeschool Classroom and Materials
    • Unit Studies
    • PreK + K Sharing
    • Circle Time Activities
    • Monthly Themed Activities
    • Holidays and Celebrations
    • Free Montessori Video Lessons
  • Free Printables
    • Free Montessori Printables
    • Free Printables
    • More Than Ten Years’ Worth of Free Printables and Montessori-Inspired Activities
    • Sign up for the Living Montessori Now Newsletter & Get Monthly Subscriber Freebies!
    • Free Montessori Geography Album
  • Holidays
    • Resources for Upcoming Holidays
    • Holidays and Celebrations
  • Subscribe
    • Sign up for the Living Montessori Now Newsletter & Get Monthly Subscriber Freebies!
  • Shop
    • Shop
    • Products
    • My Products
    • Giveaway Linky

Free Counting Book Printable for Any Theme

April 17, 2012 By Deb Chitwood 14 Comments

Previous article: More Montessori-Inspired Earth Day Activities
Next article: Montessori-Inspired Poetry Activities
Butterfly Counting Book

Butterfly Counting Book

I have a free counting book printable for you! I love using unit studies, so I designed the printable to work with any theme. You can easily adjust the actual activity according to your child’s ability level, whether your child is a toddler or an older preschooler.

Small Hands Creating Hope

Small Hands Creating HopeOne of my main inspirations for creating the printable was MaryAnne from Mama Smiles, who will celebrate 30 years in May since she was diagnosed with cancer at 22 months. In honor of the occasion, MaryAnne is putting together a Small Hands Creating Hope book as a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.  The book will have activities from 30+ kid bloggers!

The counting book in my photo uses butterflies with the colors yellow for hope and purple for cancer survivorship. You’ll be able to find out more about my specific project, inspiration from my parents, and the projects and stories of many wonderful kid bloggers when the book is published in May.

Here’s the link to MaryAnne’s introductory post, which is being published at the same time as my post: Small Hands Creating Hope. UPDATE: Here’s the link to my latest Small Hands Creating Hope post which includes more information and a donation button: One Small Part of Small Hands Creating Hope.

Free Counting Book Printable

Counting Book Printable, PDF Page 1

Counting Book Printable, PDF Page 1

If you’d like to make a counting book for any theme, click here to download a counting book PDF file.  If you’d like to edit your counting book, click here to download an editable Word document. The PDF file is ready for printing.

Print out the book using the double-sided setting on your printer, or print out one page and turn the page over to print out the next page. Cut the pages in half. (The cover and “by” page are at the end of the printable instead of the beginning to allow for blank pages when printing on both sides of the cardstock.)

Suggestions for Making a Themed Counting Book

  • To make a 1-10 counting book, you only need 4 sheets of 8½” x 11” cardstock. You can use a themed sticker for the cover (or a number of stickers if you want to use different farm animals to represent a farm theme, for instance). Instead of a sticker, you could use a related craft or the name of the theme.
  • You can use smaller stickers, pictures from magazines, or Google images (if it’s only for your personal use) inside the book according to the theme you’re using. For a farm theme, you could have 1 horse, 2 sheep, 3 cows…. For a fish theme, you could have types of fish: 1 Sailfish, 2 Blue Martins, 3 Hammerhead Sharks…. You could also adjust the number of pages according to the topic you’re studying. For a study of the planets, you could have a planet counting book with 8 planets: 1 for Mercury, the planet nearest the sun; 2 for Mercury and Venus; 3 for Mercury, Venus, and Earth….
  • After printing out and cutting apart the pages, write your child’s name or have your child write his or her name on the “by” page.
  • Have your child count out and place the themed stickers or pictures on the correct pages. For a toddler (or any child who needs help counting), you can count out the stickers, handing each sticker to your child to place on the correct page.
  • If you’d like to make a textured book, use glitter glue on the numbers.
  • Punch holes and tie a 15″ ribbon for the book binding, or use another type of binding.

Extension Activities

  • Introduce sandpaper numerals (Inexpensive and DIY Sandpaper Numerals) before creating the book. Have your child match the numerals and book pages before binding the book.
  • Have a number scavenger hunt indoors or outdoors with your child bringing a specific number of objects to match the book pages.
  • Use the book pages as number cards for DIY cards and counters before binding the book.

(UPDATE) Examples of How the Counting Book Printable has been Used

Mama Smiles has counting books with hand-drawn objects.

Mud Hut Mama has a counting book with objects traced from a number puzzle.

I’d love to hear about your counting-book adventures! 🙂

Deb - Siganture

Montessori at Home or School - How to Teach Grace and Courtesy eBookLearn more about Montessori at Home or School: How to Teach Grace and Courtesy!

If this is your first time visiting Living Montessori Now, welcome! If you haven’t already, please join us on our Living Montessori Now Facebook page where you’ll find a Free Printable of the Day and lots of inspiration and ideas for parenting and teaching! And please follow me on Pinterest (lots of Montessori-, holiday-, and theme-related boards), Twitter (blog posts by me and others along with the Parent/Teacher Daily and other interesting information), and Google+ (post updates and Montessori Community). You can find me on bloglovin’ now, too. I’m also a Parenting Expert on Sulia. Thank you for following me there. And don’t forget one of the best ways to follow me by signing up for my weekly newsletter in the right sidebar. You’ll get two awesome freebies in the process!

May be linked to Afterschool Express, Thoughtful Spot, Tuesday Tots, The Mommy Club Resources and Solutions, Mom’s Library, The Weekly Kid’s Co-op, Homeschool Link-up, Learn & Link, TGIF Linky Party, Preschool Corner, Ultimate Homeschool Pinterest Party, Sharing Saturday, Saturday Show & Tell, Share It Saturday, Show-and-Share Saturday, The Sunday Showcase, Link & Learn.

 

 

Previous article: More Montessori-Inspired Earth Day Activities
Next article: Montessori-Inspired Poetry Activities

Filed Under: Activities - Math, Free Printables, Homeschooling Tagged With: 2nd blogiversary, blogiversary, free downloads, free materials, Homeschooling, making a difference, math activities, Montessori, Small Hands Creating Hope, unit studies

Previous Post: « More Montessori-Inspired Earth Day Activities
Next Post: Montessori-Inspired Poetry Activities »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. maryanne says

    April 17, 2012 at 5:48 am

    I’m so thrilled to have your book as part of this project, Deb! It’s very exciting to have a range of activities for kids of different ages and abilities!

    Reply
    • Deb says

      April 17, 2012 at 6:04 am

      Thanks so much, MaryAnne! I’m amazed at the variety of wonderful activities for the book, and I’m excited to be part of it! I really appreciate all you’ve done to organize everything! 🙂

      Reply
  2. Debbie says

    April 17, 2012 at 6:07 am

    Thanks for doing this! I did notice that the link for the editable document didn’t work, though.

    Reply
    • Deb says

      April 17, 2012 at 6:20 am

      Thanks for letting me know, Debbie! It should work now! 🙂

      Reply
  3. Liz says

    April 17, 2012 at 9:36 am

    I like the design of the Counting book. Thanks that you’ve shared.

    Reply
    • Deb says

      April 18, 2012 at 9:22 pm

      Thanks for your comment, Liz! I had fun deciding how to make it as adaptable as possible.

      Reply
  4. Locsin says

    April 18, 2012 at 3:03 pm

    This counting book design is beautiful, I love the butterfly and it’s very attractive in my eyes…

    Reply
    • Deb says

      April 18, 2012 at 9:23 pm

      Thanks, Locsin! It really can be as elaborate or simple as you wish. 🙂

      Reply
  5. Cassie says

    April 20, 2012 at 5:09 am

    I love the counting book idea. I can be used so many different ways!

    Reply
    • Deb says

      April 21, 2012 at 10:11 pm

      Thanks so much for your kind comment, Cassie! I love unit studies of all kinds, so I couldn’t just use one specific theme! 😉

      Reply
  6. Kelly at Little Wonders' Days says

    April 28, 2012 at 7:15 pm

    Thank you for sharing your expertise so freely! Not being at teacher myself, your blog is so helpful and inspirational in helping me teach my own kids. Thanks for sharing at AfterSchool.

    Reply
    • Deb says

      April 28, 2012 at 11:27 pm

      Thanks so much for your kind comment, Kelly! I think you do an awesome job … I always enjoy your posts! 🙂

      Reply
  7. Mud Hut Mama says

    July 2, 2012 at 12:31 am

    Thanks for linking to our puzzle tracing activity. We are having so much fun with your counting book! I love that when we finish one book we can just print out another one. There are so many ways to practice counting with your printable.

    Reply
    • Deb says

      July 15, 2012 at 4:10 pm

      I just found this … thanks so much for your kind comment! I’m so glad you’re having fun with the book! 🙂

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

What Are You Looking For?

...and get free geography album, monthly subscriber freebie, and access to the Living Montessori Now Resource Library! 

 I respect your privacy

Categories

Shop Living Montessori Now!

Living Montessori Now Sponsors

Montessori Print Shop

Alison's Montessori
Montessori for the Earth

Popular Posts

Categories

Archives

I Recommend (My Affiliates)

Montessori by Mom

Shop Montessori Services
Shop For Small Hands

How to Get Kids to Listen without Nagging, Reminding, or Yelling



Shop KiwiCo

Shop Little Passports for Award-Winning Adventure

Printed Alphabet Wood Tracing Board

Little Passports

Footer

Connect with LMN



Supervision

The activities shared on this blog require adult supervision at all times. You know which activities are appropriate for your children and/or the children under your care and are responsible for those children's safety.

You Can Also Find Me

Bits of Positivity PreK + K Sharing Spring Snow Publications

Subscribe by Email


Copyright © 2023 Deb Chitwood