Make the walk to school count . . .

ADVERTORIAL

In celebration of Walk to School Month, the Read, Write, Count initiative is encouraging families across Scotland to incorporate counting into their daily walk to school.

Counting doesn’t just mean maths.

It can be lots of things from working out the time, recognising numbers on the journey, spotting cars of different colours or counting the footsteps you take.

Read, Write, Count is a brand new campaign which offers parents tips, ideas and activities that will help get children off to a great start in life.

With increasing time pressures on families, Read, Write, Count has identified the walk to school as a precious time of the day families spend together and a great opportunity for parents (or carers or grandparents) to bring fun and learning into this everyday activity.

Ideas include:

• Read out the numbers on buses, or house numbers you spot.
• Count the yellow or red cars. Which were there more of?
• Check the time before you leave and work out how long it takes to walk to school.
• If you’re popping to the shops on the way home, read the prices on labels together, count coins out loud and ask your child to help pick out the correct coins.
• Read the shop opening and closing times and work out how long until closing time.
• Count your footsteps up or down in number sequences, see if you can count in twos, threes or fours.

Whether it’s going to the shops, travelling to school or at mealtimes, www.readwritecount.scot offers parents and carers simple ideas that will help children do their best at school.