Fun Themed 20-Frames (math)

One of the math focuses for kindergarten is identifying the numbers between zero and twenty.  The 10-frame and 20-frame help children gain number sense and apply what they know to addition and subtraction.  A cheap, easy way to make 10-frames more fun is to change up the "theme" of the counters or the board.  I intend to use a lot of 3D objects, such as I spoke about in this post (and this one and this list).  However, 3D objects can take up a lot of room, so I decided to make some 2D printables.  And now, I'm going to share them with you.

Note: I'm going to be referring to 10 and 20 frames interchangabely.  The printable comes with a one-page 20-frame, which could be cut to make two 10-frames or four 5-frames.  I just don't want anyone getting confused.

If Africa, safari animals, or the zoo is in your lesson plans, then these printables are for you.  In this file, you'll find 10 and 20-frame boards and four kinds of animal counters (elephant, vulture, camel, and gorilla).  You can download the PDF here.  These "Good Luck Mini" elephants or mini monkeys would be really cute as counters as well.

I suppose that technically I could have put the camel and the vulture with the "desert" pack, but I decided to stick with "American Desert" animals for this printable.  The PDF includes a desert board and two types of counters (lizard and owls).  If 2D isn't your style, you could go 3D and use these owl buttons as counters.

And yes, owls probably belong in the woods as well, but I have my packets separated by the continent/habitat that we'll be studying as a unit.  Therefore, the "woods" printable contains only the fox and the rabbit.  Or you could use these adorable fox buttons to make your 10 and 20 values.

The ocean PDF contains four different counter themes: octopus, sharks, fish, and dolphins.  It would be really fun to use the Safari sharks toob animals as counters, too.

These Rainforest animals are the Great Panda and a tropical bird.  Additionally, you could use the 3D pandas from Safari Ltd or the animals from the rainforest toob.

For game play, I bought a set of polyhedral dice (I also found this jumbo set which would be great for kids).  I'm going to have the kids roll the 10-sided dice to decide how many to add for the 10-frame and the 20-sided dice for the 20-frame.  Alternatively, we can roll two dice together and add the numbers.  I also found a 30-sided dice that we can use for a 30-frame or for higher addition.  If technology is your game, you can also buy a number generator app.

Most of the graphics come from my favorite clip art producer, Educlips.  The spider and spider's web came from My Cute Graphics.

My 20-Frame Printables
Africa
Desert
Woods
Ocean
Rainforest

Ten 10-Frame Ideas from the Internet
- turkey cards (free)
- lego block frame and pieces (idea)
- giant 10-frames (idea)
- popcorn ($)
- bugs (free)
- eyeballs (idea)
- pumpkins (free)
- 3D container frame (idea)
- real people as counters (idea)
- snowballs (free and $)

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