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Skills / Ages 5 to 8 / Math

Show seven on the ten-hole box

Showing seven on the box of ten holes as a full top row and a pair of extras underneath, five and two more, and matching it to the mark 7.

Why it matters

Seven is where your child starts seeing two parts at once, five on top and two below. That picture makes eight the very next hole, and later it helps with seven and three making ten.

What it looks like when your child can do it

  • Asked to show seven, your child fills the top row, then places two beans side by side at the left of the bottom row.
  • Your child says five and two more is seven while pointing at the full row and then the pair.
  • Your child touches one bean for each day of the week, Sunday through Saturday, and the box shows seven.

How to teach it at the kitchen table

  1. 01

    Count a week

    Say the days of the week together, putting up one finger for each day. Stop at Saturday. That whole set is seven, and the book uses a week as its picture of seven.

  2. 02

    Build five, then a pair

    Fill the top row and say five. Put two beans side by side at the left of the bottom row. The book calls those two a pair of extras. Five and two more is seven.

  3. 03

    Grow seven out of six

    Build six, then add one bean in the next empty hole. Ask what changed. The leftover bean now has a second bean beside it, and the two make a pair. Seven is the next hole after six.

  4. 04

    Match the box to the mark 7

    Write 7 on a card and set it beside the box. Point to the week, then the box, then the card, and say seven each time.

You will need: A dozen-egg carton cut down to two rows of five cups · Ten dried beans or buttons · Small counters like beans, buttons and pennies can choke a child, so stay at the table while they are out and put them away from younger children · A card with a big 7 on it

Try it together

  1. Try 1

    Build seven. Ask how many beans are in the bottom row.

    Listen for  Two. The top row is five and the bottom row holds a pair.

  2. Try 2

    Build six. Hand your child one bean and ask them to make seven.

    Listen for  The bean goes in the second hole of the bottom row, right beside the leftover one. Seven.

  3. Try 3

    Hold up five fingers on one hand and two on the other. Ask your child to build the same number on the box.

    Listen for  Seven: a full top row for the full hand, and a pair at the left of the bottom row for the two fingers.

  4. Try 4

    Say the days of the week slowly while your child drops one bean in the box for each day, filling it the book's way. Ask where Saturday's bean lands.

    Listen for  In the second hole of the bottom row, beside Friday's. Sunday through Thursday fill the top row, so a week is a full row and a pair.

Watch for

  • Placing the two extras apart, one at each end of the bottom row. Keep them side by side from the left so the box reads the same way every time.

If it is not there yet

  • Go back to six. Build it several times until a full top row plus one leftover feels settled.
  • Practice two as a pair with shoes, socks and hands, then set a pair of beans under a full row.

A few days of this is normal, and it is time well spent. The lesson will still be there, and it will go faster.

Where this skill comes up

  • Zig and Zag Count to Twenty · Lesson 11

    Eight

    Needs it because eight is the next hole after seven.