Market Day: Fill Each Basket

We're market sellers going to the orchard for fruit (balls) to fill the market baskets: each basket has a card showing how many pieces of fruit it wants, no more and no less. It builds matching numbers to quantities, counting and running while carrying something.

How to play

1. The teacher shows the market: five baskets in a row, each with a dot card (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), and across the playground, the orchard full of balls (1 min).
2. We count the dots on each basket out loud and say how many pieces of fruit it wants (1 min).
3. We run to the orchard, grab one piece of fruit, take it to a basket that isn't full yet and go back (5 min).
4. When they all look full, we sit down and check each basket: if there's an extra, it goes back to the orchard; if one is missing, we go get it (3 min).
5. The teacher swaps the cards between baskets, and we add or remove fruit so each has its number (3 min).
6. The market closes: we carry the fruit back to the orchard walking like tired old grandpas (2 min).

Rules

• One piece of fruit at a time.
• Before dropping my fruit, I check how many are already there.
• Run along the paths without running head-on into friends.

Variations

Adaptations

• Child with limited mobility: the orchard is closer, or they're the shopkeeper who counts and checks the baskets.
• Blind or low-vision child: cards with raised stickers, and baskets placed along a wall as a guide.
• Autistic child: is in charge of one basket of their own, with the same number all round.

Learning goals

• Match a number to its quantity.
• Count and check amounts.
• Run with control while carrying an object.

Equipment for a class of 25

• pelotas: 40
• cestas: 5
• tarjetas de puntos: 5

Teacher tip

Put more balls in the orchard than needed so there's always something to grab. The hard part is stopping when the basket is full: the last one to arrive counts out loud before letting go.

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