# Play Dough Fingers > Cover each finger with play dough, then sing a finger-number song and stick the matching number on each finger as it comes up. It's a playful mix of music, play dough and number recognition for toddlers. - URL: https://www.funlittles.com/math-activity-play-dough-fingers-for-toddlers/ - Ages: 2–4 yrs · Difficulty: easy · Mess: low - Time: prep 5 min, activity 15 min - Works for: one-on-one, small group, whole class - Skills: number-recognition, counting, fine-motor, music, finger-names - Cautions: wheat-gluten, ingestion-risk ## Materials (one batch) - Play dough - 5 piece Magnetic or plastic numbers 1-5 - 1 piece Palette or small divided tray (optional) (household) ## Substitutions - Instead of magnetic numbers: Smaller plastic number pieces (The author recommends smaller numbers than the ones she used, so they stay on the play dough fingers.) ## Safety - Magnetic numbers may contain small magnets. Check that none are loose or broken, because swallowed magnets are dangerous. - Small number pieces and bits of play dough can be mouthed by toddlers. Supervise closely the whole time. - Many play doughs contain wheat. Check the label or recipe if a child has a wheat or gluten allergy. ## Before you start - Learn the finger-number song (lyrics in the tips and in the story below). - Sort out number pieces 1-5 for each child or pair. ## Steps 1. Set out the play dough and the numbers 1 to 5. 2. Take a small piece of play dough and wrap it around one finger without making any breaks. 3. Keep going until all five fingers are covered. 4. Sing the finger-number song together, starting with Thumbkin. 5. Each time the song calls a new finger number, find that number and stick it on that finger. 6. At the end, wiggle all your fingers and say goodbye. 7. Swap: the grown-up wears the play dough fingers while the child picks the numbers and sticks them on. Sing again. 8. Slip the play dough fingers off and stand them up with their numbers for a few more minutes of number recognition. ## Tips - Covering each finger without causing any breaks in the play dough takes serious effort from a toddler. - The song: 'Thumbkin is finger number one, number one, number one / Thumbkin is finger number one, but where is finger number two?' Continue with Pointer (two), Tall man (three) and Ring man (four). Finish with Pinky (five), ending 'now wiggle them all and say goodbye.' - It's better to have a smaller plastic number than pictured. The ones I had were too large and kept falling off. - We did the song twice and took turns having the play dough fingers on. ## The original post by TurkeyMom (2013) This toddler **learning math activ****ity** combines music, play dough and math. My toddler is trying *really* hard to keep with her pre school age sister. I mean she loves to bring me books and have me read them to her, she loves to learn and all, but..the thought stops there. It is just the idea of learning like her sister which entices her not the actual sit down and focus learning. Of course she can’t, she is 2! To feed her interests we are coming up with cool ways to ensure her need for learning is satisfied while having fun. Today’s math activity post is about learning numbers with playful little toddlers. You will need 2 things. Play dough and magnetic numbers. Ohh and little/big fingers. This is what we did. First we both made play dough fingers. We took small amounts of play dough and started covering our fingers with it. This takes serious effort from a toddler, to cover each finger without causing any breaks on the play dough. Once we have all the fingers covered we “SING” Which song? You could sing“Where is Thumbkin?” but since I wanted to combine numbers and fingers we sang this cool song taught at kids music classes for beginning piano students. My older one attends a music class along with my younger one . So both the girls know this song very well and love it enough to keep singing. **Here are the lyrics to the song.** Thumbkin is finger number one, number one, number one Thumbkin is finger number one, but where is finger number two? Pointer is finger number two, number two, number two Pointer is finger number two, but where is finger number three? Tall man is finger number three, number three, number three Tall man is finger number three, but where is finger number four? Ring man is finger number four, number four, number four Ring man is finger number four, but where is finger number five? Pinky is finger number five, number five, number five; Pinky is finger number five, now wiggle them all and say goodbye. You see how the **song lends itself to numbers and finger pla****y** – perfect for toddlers. While we sang our song, each time the new finger number came on, we pick up our magnetic number and stick it on our finger. For this activity it is better to have a smaller plastic number than pictured. The ones I had were too large and kept falling off. Here are our hands with our finger numbers. We did the song twice and took turns having the play dough fingers on. While I had the play dough fingers, she picked out the numbers and stuck them on. This was so much fun for my toddler as we sang and played with play dough while learning numbers.Once we were done, we put the play dough fingers back with the plastic numbers on it for a few more minutes of number recognition. Hope you all try this activity with the song and have fun being silly with your kids, especially toddlers. Music, play dough and math = fun! We have shared many math activities here before. Here is our [**Math Category Page.**](https://www.funlittles.com/category/math-play/) Thanks for stopping by our little space here. We encourage you to stick around and take a look at [**couple of**](https://www.funlittles.com/paint-with-spaghetti-brooms/) our [**popular posts.**](https://www.funlittles.com/animal-resist-painting/) --- --- We have shared many math activities on the blog before.