One of the best ways to teach kids any subject is by using themes they are interested in. Do you have a child interested in firefighters? this math counting free worksheet is one of our favorites to use.
We laminate our worksheets because we use them a lot during our playtime so it is a way to protect them and keep them safe. I would hate to have to reprint these over and over.
MATERIALS
- Printout Fireman Worksheets
- Foam Counting Blocks
To set up this math game, you will need the mats and some counters. Counters could be anything that you can manipulate to grab each time you say a number.
We often use foam cubes as our generic counters, but you can use mini erasers, legos, or even cheerios!
WHO IS THIS FOR:
Counting one-to-one can be done with toddlers as little as one-year-old.
Recognizing the numbers can be done at one as an exposure activity but you will see interest and attention-grabbing to numbers at two years old.
At three years old, you can practice tracing the number with a dry/erase marker over the card.
HOW TO PLAY | Fireman Counting
The goal of this game is to match up the number on the card and count on on one each object. You can count by pointing or by matching each item to the card.
You can use the firefighter mat as a base or create an invitation to play.
This is a sample of my invitation to play. I like to use a tray to present activities.
Presenting the activity in a tray with some visual elements makes him pay attention longer. We can use the elements to pretend play as we practice counting.
Remeber that all learning should be done through play so make it a point to have fun as you use the cards. 
Show your toddler the number shown in the card and together count how many fires or firetrucks are thereby pointing each one at a time.
see us playing with the cards and learning to count here (you will hear is counting in Spanish and English)
Repeat the counting and this time, place a counter over each fire/firetruck a few times.
EXTEND LEARNING THROUGH PLAY
Once you have done this a few times, you can create a sensory bin, use playdough, and other manipulative materials to continue practicing counting and recognizing the numbers.
This was my quick sensory bin set up. I used the same elements form the invitation to play for the bin using rice as my sensory bin base and I added some magnet numbers to the bin.
The goal was to hide the numbers in the rice and practice to identify And recognize each one. 
We love to sing this song when we are playing with this Fireman Counting, It just makes it a lot more fun!
Learning can be fun! If your toddler is into firefighters then they are going to love this set!