Christmas Sticker Trees: Christmas One to One Correspondence Activities for Preschoolers

This is Day 2 of the 12 Days of Christmas Math Games and Activities for Homeschoolers! You can check out the other posts in the series to find easy, hands-on math lesson ideas for your homeschool this month! Today I’m excited to be sharing some fun Christmas one to one correspondence activities for preschoolers, including the Christmas Sticker Trees! This post also includes a free download so you can use these Christmas sticker trees in your homeschool!

This activity was designed for kids in preschool, who are learning about one-to-one correspondence in numbers and counting. One-to-one correspondence means that when kids are counting a group of objects, they count each object once and only once. This activity can be adapted for kids from preschool through 2nd grade using the suggestions included in this plan!

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What You Need:

• This Christmas tree counting free printable (get it below!)

• Several sheets of stickers. Christmas themed stickers are a lot of fun, or any stickers will work. Your child will need 55 stickers total to decorate all the trees
• Tape

Prepare:

• Gather your supplies.
• Print the Christmas tree pages and hang them up on the wall.

How to Use These Christmas One to One Correspondence Activities for Preschoolers

In this activity, your child will read the number that’s written on the star at the top of each Christmas tree. Then, they will add that number of stickers to the tree to decorate it. Each page also includes a ten frame that represents the number. Show your child that the number of dots in the ten frame matches the number of stickers on the tree. It is helpful for kids to start to recognize ten frames because they can be used for lots of math activities later on!

Adapt the Christmas One to One Correspondence Activities for Preschoolers For Your Kids:

For Younger Kids:

Use the ten frames instead of the numbers:

If your child can’t read numbers yet, they can count the number of dots in the ten frame and then decorate the tree with that number of stickers, instead of needing to read the number on the tree.

For Older Kids:

Make addition facts.

Give your child 2 different kinds or colors of stickers. Have your child decorate the tree with some of each kind. Then, work together to write an addition problem to represent the stickers on the tree. For example, if the tree says “7,” your child might choose to use 3 red stickers and 4 green stickers. They would write the addition equation: 4+3=7. Older kids can also make a tree like this, then write the whole fact family for that tree. In this example, with 3 red stickers and 4 green ones, the fact family would look like this: 4+3=7 3+4=7 7-4=3 7-3=4

Solve addition equations.

Another variation of this activity to practice addition uses the blank trees (included in the full 12 Days of Christmas Math printable). Give your child a blank tree and an addition equation. Your child can show the addition equation using 2 different kinds of stickers on the tree, and count the total number of stickers on the tree to solve the problem. For example, if you give your child “9+7=?” they will add 9 stickers of one color and 7 stickers of another to the tree. They can count all 16 stickers to find the answer.

Extensions: Make up word problems.

You can make up a word problem for your child to solve using a sticker tree. Or, your child can make up a word problem that can be solved using a sticker tree you have created! The ability to make up and solve word problems like this shows that kids understand how math operations work.

What Your Kids Will Learn in these Christmas One to One Correspondence Activities for Preschoolers:

In this activity, kids are practicing one-to-one correspondence of numbers when counting. When kids first learn to count, they memorize a sequence of number words and recite the sequence without really understanding the meaning. Over time kids will realize that those words represent quantities. They will also develop the ability to look at a group of objects and count each one, without skipping any or counting any more than once. This is one-to-one correspondence. Stickers are great for practicing one-to-one correspondence because kids have to take them off the sheet and stick them on the tree, which slows them down as they are counting.

This activity is also great for introducing kids to the ten frame. Make sure to help your child notice that the number of dots in the ten frame on each sheet and the number of stickers on the tree are the same. Being able to recognize that these quantities match is an important skill!

Ten frames are designed so that over time and with practice, kids will be able to look at a ten frame and know how many objects are there without counting them. This is the same skill that adults use when rolling dice. We don’t need to count the dots on the dice because we recognize the shape of the dots, and we know how many dots make up that shape. This skill is called subitizing, and it is an important skill for kids to develop! This activity is a great introduction to the ten frame, and it lays the framework for learning to subitize numbers on a ten frame in the future.

Get the Christmas Sticker Trees Free Printable!

Fill out the form below to get your copy of the Christmas sticker trees free printable. I’ll also send the other lessons in the Christmas Math games and activities series straight to your inbox. All your math plans for the month are done!

Get all the 12 Days of Christmas Math Games and Activities Lessons!

This huge 200+ page PDF is stuffed with hands-on activities and printables to complete 12 fun Christmas themed math lessons! Each day includes complete directions and printables, plus bonus tips, extension activities, and worksheets to reinforce the concepts your kids are learning. This huge bundle includes all the activities and printables you will need to complete the 12 Days of Christmas math games and activities, plus bonus worksheets and extension activities that won’t be included in the free downloads! Harness that Christmas excitement to make homeschooling fun this season with this easy-to-use resource!

These lessons were designed for kids in preschool through 1st grade. Each lesson includes adaptations to customize it for your child’s unique needs- or so that siblings can do the activities together!

Learn more about this amazing resource here!

Christmas STEM Bundle- Save 30%

Are you looking for hands-on science experiments for your homeschool too? I’ve combined my Christmas math and science resources into a huge STEM bundle! And when you purchase both resources together you can save 30%! Learn more here.

Check out the other posts in the 12 Days of Christmas Math Games and Activities series here to find more fun activity ideas for your homeschool!