Present Line-up

What you need

• four or five empty boxes of different sizes
• wrapping paper or brown paper
• sticky tape
• a few gift tags or sticky notes

How to do it

1. Wrap the empty boxes together, or use boxes you wrapped before, and pile them on the floor.
2. Ask your child to find the smallest present, then the next one up, and line them up from smallest to biggest.
3. Count the presents along the line, then mix them up and line them up the other way.
4. Stick a tag on each with a little picture of who it is for: teddy, you, or someone else in the family.
5. Let them deliver each present to the right person or toy and hand it over.

Why it matters

Putting presents in size order is careful comparing, and delivering each one means matching and giving.

What they're learning

Ordering by size

Smallest to biggest asks them to compare each box with the next.

Counting

Touching each present as they count it keeps the counting honest.

Giving

Handing each present to the right person is thinking about others.

What to look for

Watch for them holding two boxes side by side to check which is bigger.

A tip

Empty boxes from the recycling are perfect, and the presents can be wrapped and unwrapped again and again.

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