Talk About It: The Number 8

The big idea: Eight means one more than seven: one whole hand and three more fingers.

We've counted up to 7. Today we add one more and get 8. Eight is five fingers on one hand plus three on the other. Remember last week's spiders? A spider has 8 legs! You can draw an 8 like a snowman: one circle on top of another.

Questions to ask

• "Can you show me five fingers? Now three more. How many is that?"

• "Here are seven crackers. If I add one more, how many now?"

• "Can you jump like a pumpkin rolling down a hill eight times?"

• "How many legs does a spider have? Let's count them."

Show it in one minute

Line up eight small things, like blocks, spoons or mini pumpkins, and touch each one as you count: "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight!" Then draw a big 8 in the air together: "Make an S, then go back up to the top."

Keep it going

Make it an eight count all day: eight steps to the car, eight bites of muffin and eight stars before bed. On a walk, count pumpkins on porches. "Can we find eight?"

Want to learn more?

• Help Your Child Develop Early Math Skills, from Zero to Three

• Math Talk with Infants and Toddlers, from NAEYC

• Helping Your Child See and Show Mathematical Ideas, from NAEYC

Shop these items

Find the books and supplies from this week in one place. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

• Today's book: Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin, Pie by Jill Esbaum

• Starter supplies: the basics we use most weeks

• See every week in our Amazon storefront

More for this week: see all our Pumpkin activities, Letter H activities and Number 8 activities.