“All children need to learn their phone number. If there’s an emergency, they need to know how to dial 911. If they need to call their parents, they need to know their mom or dad’s phone number. It’s not always easy knowing how to teach phone numbers, but I think this hands-on activity is a great one!” See the original blog here!

Speech and Language Connections

Language and Literacy - Children can follow directions to identify different numbers that you verbally label. Once they have a good understanding of which numbers are which, they can practice saying them while you point! Numbers are arranged differently on a phone than they are on a number strip or math worksheet. Understanding written numbers is an important skill for development of proficiency with math, as well as life skills (like dialing the phone)!.

Social Language - Practicing phone numbers is a great opportunity to discuss life events, emergencies, and why/how we use the telephone. You can practice social scenarios and discuss whether they qualify as emergent or not. You can discuss who will answer the phone depending on who you’ve called and what things are important to say when talking on the phone. Have your child make a list of people they may call and practice the phone numbers associated.