Work box: bug count

This task is one of my favorites.  I am actually using it with my preschoolers right now and they love it.  I have also used it with my K-2 population and it goes over just as well.

To make this I used a cute container that I found in the Target dollar section.  I then used foam bug beads from Oriental trading that we had ordered a few years ago and hot glued them to large craft sticks.  I also not glued erasers to the sticks, but they did not stay on well.  To make the clothes pins I added foam numbers to the clothespin.  The only one I do not really like how it turned out is the 10.

To use this students pick out a stick and count the bugs.  The student then finds the clothes pin with the correct number and clips it to the stick.  I love this because students are not only working on counting, 1:1 correspondence, and number recognition, but they are also working on their fine motor skills when squeezing the clothes pin.