Searching for an engaging, purposeful and low-prep play tray that will develop your students’ counting, subitising and number recognition skills? Our Teaching With Play Trays resource is just what you need to get started!   Students will love subitising, counting and ordering their collections of fish as they catch them with magnetic fishing poles! The action of ‘fishing’ will help to develop your students’ fine motor skills, including their hand-eye coordination, strength, control and spatial awareness. Simply print the included fish templates on coloured card, cut them out and add magnetic tape to the back. The fish will be ready to be ‘caught’ with magnetic fishing poles or a suitable alternative, such as tongs or long tweezers. Magnetic fishing pole toys can often be found in shops, such as Kmart and Target. Don’t forget to teach your students the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Once I Caught a Fish Alive song, which they will enjoy singing as they catch their collection of fish.   This versatile resource includes:

1. Detailed instructions (including a list of equipment, instructions for use, optional suggestions, question prompts and an example set up of the play tray).
2. Numbered fish templates (includes digits and frames from 1-10 and dice from 1-6).
3. Editable blank fish templates (for you to add your own numbers or images to).
4. Colourful signs for you to display alongside your play tray (includes a version with a learning intention).
5. Editable signs (for you to add your learning intention or instructions to).

  To set up your play tray or tuff tray, simply add blue sand, fabric or cellophane as water and add the cut-out fish on top. Adding other themed elements, such as rocks, sea plants or toy sea creatures will provide challenging obstacles and add to the fun!   The aim of the task is for students to collect fish that represent the numbers 1-5 by reading, subitising or counting the numbers on them (we have also included options for numbers to 6 or 10). Once students have caught their fish, they can count the collection and put the fish in order. We recommend asking the students meaningful questions throughout the activity to determine their understanding.   To extend your students, include all versions of the numbered fish templates, and have them collect the 3 representations of each number. Alternatively, allow students to collect as many fish as they can, and at the end, have them count the number of different coloured fish collected. Ask them to share which number they have the most or least of. Older students could be challenged to catch fish that are combinations of 10. Alternatively, they could catch two or more fish and add the numbers together. The possibilities are endless with this versatile resource!   Looking for a more realistic fishing experience? Lay blue tarp or fabric on the ground and scatter the fish, number side up. Create ’fishing boats’ with boxes or washing baskets for students to sit in. They will love pretending to be fishing from a boat on a lake!   We recommend printing all resources on thick card for longevity. Print each numbered fish on a different colour. For example, print all of the 1s on yellow, print al of the 2s on red etc.   It's time to go fishing!