Chapter II – From Digit to Number
Table of Contents:
- Digit as quantity – an introduction to understanding numerical value
- Activity 1: Block Counter
- Activity 2: Colorful Number
- Activity 3: Block Number Code – pair work activity
- Activity 4: Block Comparisons
- Activity 5: Block Number Builder
- Activity 6: Jumping Digit
- Activity 7: Spend as Much as You Have
- Activity 8: Tower with a Digit Inside
- Activity 9: How Many Steps to the Goal?
- Activity 10: Number Pairs
Digit as Quantity – An Introduction to Understanding Numerical Value
Introduction for the Teacher
During the preschool years, children encounter the concept of numbers for the first time not only in everyday life but also in intentionally organized educational situations. This is the period when they gradually begin to understand that a digit is not just a graphic symbol, but also represents a specific quantity. Learning to assign value to digits is the foundation of mathematical education. Without it, it will be difficult for a child to move on to further stages such as addition, subtraction, or understanding place value.
In this chapter, we focus on supporting children in linking a digit with its numerical meaning, that is, with the corresponding number of elements. Through concrete and active activities such as building, arranging, and comparing, children acquire knowledge through experience.
Activities using KORBO blocks perfectly support this process. The blocks are colorful, engaging, easy to manipulate, and enable multisensory learning. The child sees, touches, builds, counts, and compares.
Why is this so important?
Teaching children that each digit has its own value helps develop:
● understanding of the concept of number (for example, 3 = three objects),
● the ability to count real objects,
● the ability to compare numbers (more, less, the same),
● concrete-to-abstract thinking,
● a sense of agency and independence.
In the proposed activities, children not only learn digits, but above all work with them in practice. They count blocks, build structures, solve puzzles, make decisions, and draw conclusions.
This chapter includes 10 proven activities that can be flexibly adapted to the abilities of the group and specific classroom situations. Each of them supports children in developing an understanding of number as quantity through play, movement, and creative action.
Activity 1: Block Counter
Educational Objective:
The child connects the written digit with its numerical value.
Materials:
● 6 colorful KORBO gear wheels (for each child)
● Two KORBO platforms for each child
● Number cards with digits 1–6
Activity Procedure:
Give each child six KORBO gear wheels and two platforms. The children connect the platforms together.
Show the number cards one by one (for example 2, 5, 3).
The children’s task is to place as many blocks on the platform as the digit indicates and spin them.
Count together and check: “Are exactly five blocks spinning?”
Variation:
Instead of spinning the gear wheels on the platforms, the gear wheels can also be connected together to form a tower.
Activity 2: Colorful Number
Educational Objective:
The child understands that the value of a digit represents a quantity that can be counted.
Materials:
● Number cards with digits 1–6
● KORBO gear wheels in six selected colors (for example 3 red, 3 green, etc.)
Activity Procedure:
Place a number card in front of the children.
The child’s task is to find and place in front of themselves the correct number of blocks in a chosen color.
For example, for the digit “3,” the child selects 3 blue blocks.
The children count each block out loud while placing them.
Pair Version:
Children can also play this activity in pairs. Prepare a larger number of number cards and place them in a container. One child draws a card and gives it to the other child, who must show the quantity represented on the card.
Variation:
Turn the task into a movement-based activity. Children bring from another area of the room as many blocks as the digit indicates.
Activity 3: Block Number Code – Pair Work Activity
Educational Objective:
The child recognizes digits and matches them with the correct number of blocks.
Materials:
● Strips with three written digits with values from 1 to 4 (for example 1–4–2)
● KORBO gear wheels: 4 blocks of each color per pair
Activity Procedure:
The children draw a “code” consisting of three digits.
Their task is to build a tower made of three segments. Each segment of the tower should contain as many blocks as the digit indicates.
For example, the children build 1 block (red), 4 blocks (green), and 2 blocks (yellow). Each segment can be a different color.
Variation:
The children exchange their towers and try to guess the number code used.
Activity 4: Block Comparisons
Educational Objective:
The child compares numbers and understands the concepts of “more,” “less,” and “the same.”
Materials:
● KORBO gear wheels and cylinders
● Number cards (for individual work: digits 1–6; for pair work: as selected)
Activity Procedure:
The children draw two number cards each.
Next to each card, they place as many blocks as the digit indicates.
Then they place the cards one below the other and arrange the blocks to the right of the cards, laying them side by side.
The children compare the number of blocks next to the top and bottom cards.
They name the relationships, for example: “5 is more than 3,” “4 is the same as 4.”
Easier Version:
Pair work, digits 1–5, gear wheels only.
Each child draws one number card and builds a tower of gear wheels in the quantity shown by the digit. The children compare their towers and say, for example, “5 wheels are more than 3.”
Activity 5: Block Number Builder
Educational Objective:
The child orders numbers in increasing or decreasing order.
Materials:
● KORBO blocks
● Number cards with digits 1–6
Activity Procedure:
Lay number cards from 1 to 6 on the carpet.
Each child builds a construction next to each card using as many blocks as the digit indicates.
The constructions are placed next to the corresponding cards.
The result is a sequence of constructions built with the number of blocks shown on the cards, arranged in increasing or decreasing order.
Variation:
Detective game. One of the digits has a construction made of too few or too many blocks. The children must find the mistake and move the construction to the correct place.
Activity 6: Jumping Digit
Educational Objective:
The child associates a written digit with the number of movements or actions.
Materials:
● Number cards with digits 1–6
● 6 colorful KORBO blocks
Activity Procedure:
Each child draws a number card and places in front of themselves as many blocks as the digit indicates.
For each block, the child performs one jump, clap, or another simple movement.
In this way, the child “counts through movement” and physically experiences the numerical value.
Variations:
A construction can be built using as many blocks as the number of movements performed. This combines physical activity with building.
The teacher can also indicate the number of blocks by clapping or jumping. Each child listens to the number of claps, then selects the same number of blocks and shows them to the teacher (a version for younger children) or builds a construction from them.
Activity 7: Spend as Much as You Have
Educational Objective:
The child works with quantity according to its numerical value and practices concrete subtraction.
Materials:
● 6 KORBO blocks for each child
● Number cards with digits 1–6
● A container (“block bank”)
Activity Procedure:
Each child has 6 blocks as their “supplies.”
The child draws a number card, for example 3.
The child puts into the bank as many blocks as the digit indicates.
The remaining blocks are counted. How many are left?
Variation:
Role reversal. One child gives a number to a peer, who then performs the corresponding action.
Activity 8: Tower with a Digit Inside
Educational Objective:
The child recognizes a written digit among other symbols and relates it to a specific quantity.
Materials:
● KORBO cylinders (10 per child)
● Worksheets with digits, letters, and symbols
Activity Procedure:
Various symbols such as letters, digits, and graphic signs are written on blocks or cards.
The child’s task is to find a digit among them and build a tower using as many cylinders as the digit indicates. The cylinders can be stacked one on top of another or used to build a structure, for example a pyramid.
Next, ask the children how many red, blue, or green cylinders they have in their tower. They count them and can gradually form simple verbal calculations, for example: “I have three red cylinders and two blue ones, so that makes five.”
The activity develops the ability to select information and recognize digits in different contexts.
Variation:
Add a word-based activity. Children try to recognize other symbols and explain what they mean, for example letters, and then focus only on finding digits.
Activity 9: How Many Steps to the Goal?
Educational Objective:
The child counts blocks as steps and understands that a digit determines distance.
Materials:
● Number cards
● KORBO blocks (cylinders can be used to create a path)
● A toy or target (for example a figurine or a teddy bear)
Activity Procedure:
Using about 100 cylinders, the whole group builds a path (a line). A toy is placed at the end of the path. The path can be lengthened or shortened during the activity.
The child draws a digit (for example 4).
The child takes as many steps along the blocks as the digit indicates, stopping at or before the target.
Check together: Were the steps enough? Did the child need more steps? By how many steps was it too few or too many?
Activity 10: Number Pairs
Educational Objective:
The child learns to recognize number–quantity pairs (digit–number of blocks).
Materials:
● KORBO blocks
● Number cards
● Cards with drawings of towers (for example a tower made of 4 blocks)
Activity Procedure:
Lay out the number cards and the tower illustrations.
The children find the correct pairs: the digit and the picture of the tower that match.
After matching, the child builds the real tower using blocks and checks if it is correct.
Variation:
Add a drawing element. The child draws one part of the pair and searches for the matching half on the carpet.