BRIJBOX · COUNTING A SET · COUNTING MAT

One counter, one number.

Line your counters along the strip, moving each one as you say its number. The strip holds eight counters without them touching. No printer? Draw a line and two circles — that route is exactly equivalent.

Two plates

Use these for the zero question: one plate with three counters, one plate with nothing in it at all.

BRIJBOX · COUNTING A SET · SETS TO CUT AND COUNT

How many in each?

Cut out the three cards. Count each set — touch or cover each thing exactly once, and say the last number as the total. The empty frame is for the zero question: put nothing in it.

Counting these is rehearsal of the move taught at the table. It does not by itself show that your child counts a fresh set independently.

BRIJBOX · COUNTING A SET · GROWN-UP GUIDE

Tip it out. Line it up. Be sure.

Ten similar counters, two plates and a cloth. App 2–3 min → table 9–11 min → app practice 2–3 min. The table is the longest part, and these are estimates, not deadlines. The mat and cards work as the complete no-device fallback.

1. Tip the 8 counters into a pile. Ask “How many are there?” and let a losing-track attempt happen — it motivates the method.
2. Model moving the first three onto the line, one word per counter: “One. Two. Three.” Say “One counter, one number.” The child counts the rest across. Roles may swap (you voice, the child moves) — record supported.
3. Ask “So how many altogether?” Then rearrange the same 8 into a ring in full view and ask “How many now?”
4. Zero: an empty plate beside a 3-plate — “How many counters on this plate?”; supply the word zero once if it is new; then ask for a plate with zero counters.
5. Transfer: clear the 8 away; scatter the reserved 6. “How many counters are there? Be sure.” Watch the child’s own organisation; ask “How do you know you got them all?”
6. Sitting boundary: a coherent stop is after step 3; steps 4–5 then take a flexible sitting, re-entering with five counters on the line.

What did you notice?

The app voices each tapped count word, so practice here is rehearsal of one-to-one counting and the zero idea. It supports, but cannot itself supply, the table-observed rows below. Your paper card remains the evidence record.

• One-to-one count of 8: moves and says each exactly once, with unprompted organisation.
• Final word as total: answers “altogether” at once, or after one self-chosen recount — their own check is a strategy note, not support.
• Total survives rearrangement: states or checks eight in the ring, with a reason.
• Zero as empty set: says none or zero, and can make a zero plate.
• Scattered 6: organises and counts correctly, and can justify that nothing was missed.

Mark each row independent / supported / revisit / uncertain. Leave anything you did not observe uncertain. Nothing is scored or stored.

Trial notes — leave blank until observed