Number Rhyme

Four knocks upon the door
One loud, one soft and then two more
Four stamps upon the floor,
One hard and one soft and then two more.
Two owls sat in a tree
Wise they were like you and me
Two big eyes they had you see
Until I saw one wink at me,
Then there were only three
But all in all I am quite wise
I know two owls have four big brown eyes!

• 2D Shapes Make a collage or patterns out of coloured squares / rectangles / diamond / parallelograms. (The author has a large amount of small 3cmx3cm tiles purchased from the local DIY shop they can be laid out on any smooth surface to make lovely patterns and/or pictures )
• Paper folding – one piece folded in half to make two shapes then fold again to make four quarters.
• Make a windmill. Using card or similar material. Fold diagonally as shown by the dotted lines. Colour a circle in the middle, and the rest of the windmill. Reinforce the circle area on both sides with strong tape or card. Then cut down each fold between the corner and the centre circle. Finally fold one side of each corner down to the centre and pin through and onto a stick.

• Using four colours on the top and four numbers and four shapes on the inside. Every forfeit can be drawn as a picture which involves the number four e.g. pick 4 flowers, eat 4 nuts, clap your hands 4 times, draw four trees, stamp your feet four times etc.
• See if anyone can find a four leaf clover?
• Facilitate a project on four legged farm animals or pets.
• Grow some seedlings and observe when they get four leaves. [Draw the seedlings]
• Tell a story that includes a strong association with the number four such as the four wonderful characters in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ or the story of the mother fox moving her four cubs to safety when their woodland home was invaded by man and his earth moving machinery. The book Goodbye Candle light and other stories by Phyllis Flowerdew, has many stories that are associated with special letters such as L for lighthouse, but these stories can also be associated with the different number values such as ‘The Fox Story’ suggested above for three and ‘The Runaway Orange’ for one.

• Make a large floor compass with a specific colour allocated to each of the four directions. Then using a stack of corresponding coloured cards [or a blank dice coloured with one of the four colours on each side and the remaining two sides present a choice of two of the four colours on each side.] If the dice lands on a single coloured side the participants can only move in that colour compass direction, if the dice falls on a side with two colours then the player can choose one of the two directions for his/her move. The moves are directed by a normal 1 to 6 number dice. The participants are invited to position themselves on a starting point from anywhere on the compass edge. Then the compass and dice direct the participants moves until someone successfully reaches the outer perimeter of the game zone which could be indoors one or more of the outer walls or outside the edge of a field, or a specified object like a tree or a log or one or more cones placed in the play zone as a home base. Pigeon toe steps, hops or jumps can be used instead of strides, especially if the space is small or when stepping forward in a straight line is purposely avoided in order to reach a home base prematurely. When the dice falls on the optional choices this game can involve more advanced calculations for more able participants the game can also be played in pairs working together whereby either or both the team members can use the instructions presented on the dice in order to successfully get to a home base.
• North – South – East – West, Compass table game: A large table is covered with drawing paper. On the paper the players mark up a number of different coloured points (6-12) and in the centre of the paper a four pointed compass is drawn, using a different colour for each compass direction. One player has a thick pen and starts at the edge of the paper, this player is only allowed to draw straight lines under the instructions of the other player and s/he does not know which point has been chosen as the final destination. The second player secretly chooses a specific coloured mark and by giving compass directions and stop and start instructions to the player with the pen guides him/her to draw straight lines across the paper until the pen reaches the chosen coloured mark on the paper. The following picture illustrates this game being played with eight compass points which is more advanced than the simpler North – South – East – West compass directions used when this game is related to the number four. This game can be played again in relation to the number eight when the extra compass directions are added to the player’s previous simpler experience of the game.

• Play ‘Four in a Row. The board is four squares by four. One player has 7 counters of one colour and the second player has 7 counters of a different colour. Taking turns the counters are placed on the board as the two players try to get four of their own colour in a row. If all the counters are placed then each player is allowed to move one of his/her counters into an empty adjacent square, these moves continue until someone gets four in a row.

• Play ‘Ludo’ or ‘Sorry’ board games
• 3D Shapes A pyramid with a triangular base and three triangular sides has in total four sides. This is an exciting shape to build with and explore.
• Play the Boxes game as boxes (rather than as triangles described previously) using a suitably large grid of evenly placed dots to indicate where the lines can be placed in order to complete a square that can be claimed by the player who places the final fourth line of completion. Boxes can be played using oval nails that are placed on a suitable sized grid to complete the boxes.

Outdoor activities

• Make a natural picture about the number four; go out collecting four of each thing that is going to be put on the picture. Use four sticks to make the picture frame.
• Mark four trees in the woods with 1^st 2^nd 3^rd and 4^th prize rosettes and send participants out to find the four special trees. Ask participants to allocate their own 1^st 2^nd 3^rd and 4^th prize rosettes to their favourite trees.
• Using compasses direct a partner towards a previously chosen secret target of destination some distance from the starting point. Only the person giving the compass directions knows the proposed point of destination. The person following the given compass directions only discovers the point of destination when s/he gets to that point and the game is successfully completed.

Riddle

Our four is not like door
Our four is not like more
When the hour on the clock is four
Four thinks he has found a friend
But they do not speak in the same sounds
Lonely four listens to the hour chimes
And sadly accepts that he will always look different
Maybe I’m a bit special he thought to himself.

Key words for spelling – our four: [ followotters up river/follow Oliver up river ]
Sentences to repeat and/or write: Not one, not two, or even three, but four o’clock is the best hour to go and see my Nan/Nanny/Granny for tea.