Lesson 1: The Magical Garden Picnic

Materials Needed:

• A picnic blanket or large towel
• 3-5 of Birdie's favourite soft toys or dolls
• Play food items (e.g., plastic fruit, blocks for 'cake') - at least 10 pieces
• Toy plates and cups (one for each toy)
• Large, clear number cards for numbers 1 to 5 (you can make these on paper or card)

Lesson Plan:

EYFS Focus: Cardinality and One-to-One Correspondence

This lesson helps Birdie understand that a number represents a specific amount of things (cardinality) and practises matching one object to one number (one-to-one correspondence).

1. The Warm-Up: Setting the Scene (5 minutes)

• Spread the blanket out inside or in the garden. Tell Birdie, "We are going to have a magical picnic for your friends! But first, we need to count them to make sure we have enough food."
• Line up the toys. As you point to each one, count them together slowly and clearly: "One... two... three..."
• After counting, ask: "So, how many friends are coming to our picnic?" This reinforces the idea that the last number you said is the total number of toys.

2. The Main Activity: Picnic Prep (10-15 minutes)

• Step 1: Plates and Cups. Say, "Every friend needs a plate!" Ask Birdie to give one plate to each toy. This is practising one-to-one correspondence without numbers. Do the same with cups.
• Step 2: Serving the Food. Place the number cards (1-5) face up. Pick a card, for example, the number '3'. Show it to Birdie and say, "This is the number three! Teddy is very hungry and would like three apples."
• Help Birdie count out three play apples and place them on Teddy's plate. Count them together as she places them: "One... two... three apples! Well done!"
• Step 3: Repeat! Choose another toy and another number card. You could say, "Bunny would like five carrots! Can you find the number five?" Let Birdie choose the card and then count out the food items. Continue this until each toy has some food.

3. The Cool-Down: The Picnic (5 minutes)

• Let Birdie enjoy the picnic she has created! You can chat about the toys.
• Ask gentle maths questions during the play, like: "Who has more cakes, Teddy or Bunny?" or "Oh dear, Teddy ate one of his apples! How many does he have left?" This introduces the idea of comparing amounts and simple subtraction in a playful context.

Differentiation Tips:

• To simplify: Start with only 1-3 toys and their corresponding number cards.
• To extend: Use number cards up to 10 if Birdie is confident. You could also ask her to combine foods, for example: "Can you give Teddy 2 apples and 1 banana? How many fruits does he have altogether?"

Lesson 2: Number Detectives

Materials Needed:

• A "magnifying glass" (a real one, a toy one, or one made from a cardboard tube)
• 5 small bowls or containers
• Paper with the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 written clearly on them, placed in front of each bowl
• A collection of small, similar items (e.g., buttons, pasta shapes, small colourful blocks, pom-poms)
• "Clue cards": Small cards with dots drawn on them in different arrangements (like on a dice) for numbers 1-5.

Lesson Plan:

EYFS Focus: Subitising and Matching Numeral to Quantity

This lesson helps Birdie to instantly recognise small quantities without counting (subitising) and to connect that quantity with the written number (numeral).

1. The Warm-Up: Detective Training (5 minutes)

• Give Birdie her special magnifying glass. Tell her, "Birdie, today you are a Number Detective! Your job is to find groups of things and figure out how many there are."
• Practise using the "magnifying glass" to look at things around the room.
• Hold up your fingers, one at a time. "Detective Birdie, how many fingers am I holding up?" Start with 1, 2, and 3. See if she can tell you without counting them each time. Praise her for her "super-fast detective eyes!"

2. The Main Activity: Solving the Case (10-15 minutes)

• Step 1: The Clues. Hide the dot "clue cards" around the room in easy-to-find spots. Tell Birdie, "Oh no! The numbers have been all mixed up! We need to find the clues to sort them."
• Step 2: Find and Identify. Encourage Birdie to go on a hunt for the first clue card. When she finds one (for example, the card with 2 dots), ask her to look at it with her magnifying glass. Ask, "How many dots can you see?" Encourage her to say "two" straight away if she can. If she needs to count, that's perfectly fine!
• Step 3: Sort the Treasure. Once she identifies the number of dots, say "Great! That's the number two. Now we need to put two special buttons into the bowl with the number '2' on it." Guide her to the bowls and help her find the matching numeral. Then, let her count out two buttons (or other small items) into the correct bowl.
• Step 4: Repeat! Continue the detective hunt until all the clue cards have been found and all the bowls have the correct number of items in them.

3. The Cool-Down: Checking the Evidence (5 minutes)

• Look together at the bowls. Point to the bowl with the number '4' and ask, "Did we solve the case? Is this the number four?"
• Tip the items out of one bowl and count them together to double-check. Celebrate your amazing detective work!

Differentiation Tips:

• To simplify: Use only numbers 1-3. Use dot patterns that are always in a line or simple dice formation to make recognition easier.
• To extend: Create clue cards with numbers up to 6. You could also make clues that involve two colours, e.g., "Find the card with 3 red dots and 1 blue dot. How many dots altogether?"

Lesson 3: The Hungry Caterpillar's Leaves

Materials Needed:

• A caterpillar sock puppet or a simple drawing/cut-out of a caterpillar
• About 15 "food" items (e.g., pom-poms for berries, green counters for leaves, or cut-out paper apples)
• Two "leaf" plates (pieces of green paper, or real, clean leaves from the garden)
• A simple dice (you can make one from a cube block and put dot stickers for 1, 2, and 3 on the sides)

Lesson Plan:

EYFS Focus: Comparing Quantities and "One More/One Less"

This lesson introduces the concepts of 'more', 'fewer', and 'the same', and helps Birdie understand what happens when you add one more item or take one away.

1. The Warm-Up: Waking Up the Caterpillar (5 minutes)

• Bring out the caterpillar puppet and make it yawn. "Hello Birdie! I'm a very, very hungry caterpillar and I've just woken up. I need some food!"
• Let Birdie "feed" the caterpillar one piece of food. Say, "Yum! One lovely leaf. But I'm still hungry! I need ONE MORE."
• Let her feed it another one. Count together: "Now I have one, two leaves! Thank you!" This introduces the "one more" concept in a natural way.

2. The Main Activity: Which Leaf has More? (10-15 minutes)

• Step 1: Setting the Plates. Place the two leaf plates in front of Birdie. Put a small number of food items on each, for example, 3 on one leaf and 5 on the other.
• Step 2: Comparing. Using the caterpillar puppet, say "Oh, look at these delicious leaves! Which leaf has more food on it? Which one should I eat first?" Encourage Birdie to point to the leaf with 5 items. You can count both piles together to confirm.
• Step 3: Using the Dice. Clear the leaves. Now, let Birdie roll the dice for the caterpillar. If she rolls a '2', she puts two food items on one leaf. Then you roll the dice (or she rolls again) for the second leaf. If you roll a '3', she puts three items on the other leaf.
• Step 4: Ask Again! Ask the key questions: "Which leaf has more? Which has fewer (or less)? Does the caterpillar want the leaf with more or fewer snacks?" Repeat this dice-rolling game a few times. If you happen to roll the same number, you can introduce the word "same".

3. The Cool-Down: One More, One Less (5 minutes)

• Put a pile of 4 food items on one leaf. Say, "The caterpillar has four snacks. What if we give him one more?" Let Birdie add one and count the new total together: "Five! Four and one more makes five!"
• Then say, "Oh no, a little ant came and took one away!" Remove one piece. "How many are left now?" Count the remaining three. "Five, and one less is four!" Repeat this a couple of times with different starting numbers.

Differentiation Tips:

• To simplify: Start with very small, obvious differences (e.g., 1 item vs 5 items) to make comparing easier. Focus only on the word "more" before introducing "fewer".
• To extend: Use two dice to get larger numbers. Ask questions like, "The caterpillar has 3 apples, but he wants 5. How many more does he need?"