Here is an EASY way to teach Tally Marks to children using Animal Crackers.
Purchase a bag of animal crackers. I used Stauffer’s Original. Pick out 5 animals that you believe are most recognizable.
I used this activity during my Circus themed unit, so I picked out circus animals.
If you want your young preschoolers to practice 1-5 tally marks, you will need to pick out the appropriate number of animals before this activity. Kindergarteners should be able to tally higher numbers, so you can increase the number of animal crackers you give them.
You can download the FREE Animal Cracker Tally Mark sheet here:
You can watch me complete this activity here:
Explain to children that tally marks is a way of counting quickly. In fact, once you can tally well, you can count by five’s and easily know how many are in a large set.
I usually say the number 5 line is “lazy” and want to lie down. The repetition of the l’s makes it a little bit easier to retain the rule.