Another use for Playing Cards

I'm in the midst of de-cluttering and going through all the stuff we have and I came across a huge box of playing cards from back in the day of classroom teaching.

 Playing cards are a great teaching tool.

 There are so many games you can play to practice math facts.  In my third grade classroom, instead of lots of drill sheets, my students played multiplication war and baseball division using dice or cards.  I'll definitely be keeping this box of free (used) playing cards I picked up at the local casino.

But in my stash were also odds and ends of playing cards.  Fun circular sets from my sister's wedding and teeny tiny sets from airplanes (back when you actually got tons of free stuff when you flew).

These aren't so good for playing games, but I found them to be just right for practicing

one-to-one correspondence.

Arm your student with stickers (ones that go with the season or involve one of their favorite things works super well), preferably just the correct amount of stickers needed to put one on each of the suit pictures on the cards.

As a bonus, this activity develops fine motor skills.

Lastly, we punched holes in the cards and put a ring through them to make a little counting book.

Happy counting!