Mission 18: The Numbertaker’s First Eleven Ideas • Get a small number (2 or 3) of blocks and count them.  Get another small number of blocks (1 or 2) and count them. Now count how many blocks there are altogether. Repeat with different numbers, slowly increasing the size of one or both groups. Don’t be surprised if, when you put the groups together, your child needs to count them all again, even when only 1 has been added to the first group. This is perfectly normal and it takes a while before a child will happily count on from the one group rather than counting all in both groups. • Count items of food on your plate - one, two beans here – one two three beans there - how many beans is that altogether? Count them all as you put them one by one into your mouth. • Use the Counter Machine to put a small number of yellow counters on screen, then a small number of red ones.  How many altogether? • If your child has started to count on when adding two groups, then you could try the following: Do and count a small number of steps – then some more steps – how many altogether?  Make a small number of noises - then some more – how many altogether? There is an alarming team of Numberjacks on the beach. This mission focuses on counting and adding.  It helps children develop their counting skills and early addition and calculation skills. Vocabulary: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, count, how many, altogether. .