Fill the Cauldron Ten Frame Counting Game (Halloween Math Center)

This fill the cauldron counting game gives your little learners a witch’s cauldron with a ten frame across the front, plus a set of potion bottles numbered 1 to 10 to pull from and fill.

The way it works is simple. Spread the potion bottles out face down or put them in a pot or something, let a child pick one, read the number, then count that many counters into the cauldron. Pom-poms, mini erasers, glass gems, plastic spiders, little pumpkins – whatever manipulatives you have lying around will do the job! Perfect if your kiddos already enjoyed our witch’s potion counting game.

So why not grab these Halloween ten frames and help nurture their little mathematical minds?

And there’s plenty more printable math activities here you may want to check out.

Time to get brewing!

A Little On Ten Frames…

Ten frames are 2 by 5 rectangular grids, in which children can draw or use objects to show numbers that are lower than or equal to 10.

Showing what the numeral actually represents in this way can be great for developing number sense and counting skills.

And because the top row holds exactly five, children start to see numbers as chunks rather than just lots of ones. Four becomes “the top row nearly full – it’s almost five.” Eight becomes “five and three.” etc.

The Early Math Collaborative at Erikson Institute describes this as conceptual subitizing, where a child sees seven on a ten frame as five and two at the same time and recognizes the whole instantly. 

Ten frames can also be a very useful tool when it comes to adding and subtracting as children physically add or remove counters. 

These Halloween ten frames are also very simple to prepare, just print off, cut out (and laminate if you want).

What Skills Can Your Children Learn And Practice?

While using this ten frame counting game, your children will have the chance to practice and develop some early math skills such as:

• Counting skills – they’ll need to count carefully as they place each counter into the frame, making sure the amount matches the potion they pulled
• One-to-one correspondence – trickier than it sounds, this is the ability to touch and count each object exactly once
• Number recognition – reading the number on the potion bottle and knowing what it stands for before they start counting
• Subitizing – over time they’ll stop counting every square and start recognizing amounts at a glance
• Number sense and cardinality – seeing the quantity a numeral actually represents, and understanding that the last number counted tells you how many there are altogether
• Fine motor skills – picking up small counters and placing them neatly inside each square is great pincer grasp practice
• Hand-eye coordination – as they line the counters up within the frame

How To Prepare This Halloween Themed Math Center

This one’s pretty straightforward!

First you’re going to want to download the ten frame counting game by clicking on the download box at the bottom of the page.

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Once you’ve downloaded it, you’ll need to print them off onto paper or card and cut the pieces out.

There’s a cauldron base page you can cut out or leave as it is (print as many of these as you need) and then there’s the potions with the numbers 1-10 on them.

Once they’re all cut out, I’d strongly advise laminating them to keep them looking nice and so your little learners can use a whiteboard marker on them if they want.

After that you’re all done!

Just grab some counters, or a dry-erase marker marker, spread the potions out on a table and see if your children can place the correct amount onto the cauldrons!

Get Even More Out of This Cauldron Counting Game

Here’s a few ways you could use it:

Fish the Potions Out of a Sensory Bin

Tip some colored rice, shredded paper or other sensory material into a tub and bury the potion bottles in it. Children dig around, pull out a potion, then take it over to the cauldron mat to fill. Adding that sensory hunt at the start  jazzes up your math center and is a proper invitation to play!

Race to Fill the Cauldron

Give two children a cauldron mat each and a die. They take turns rolling, adding that many counters to their frame, and the first to fill all ten squares wins. It builds turn-taking and a bit of friendly competition.

Set Up a Potion Shop

Lay the mat out as a shop counter and let one child be the witch taking orders while another places them. “I’d like a potion of seven, please.” The order-taker fills the frame and hands it over. Dramatic play like this is brilliant for some social and language development. And our witch’s hat craft and apprentice ID badges could be awesome here!

Quick Peek Potions

Fill the ten frame while your little ones cover their eyes, then let them look for just two seconds before covering it again. How many? This is the subitizing version and it’s a great five-minute brain break or morning meeting warm-up. If they take to it, our Subitize and Say dice game is a super next step for practicing the same skill on a whiteboard or tablet.

Two-Color Brew

Give each child two different colored counters and ask for a potion of, say, eight made from those two ingredients. One child might do six orange and two green, another five and three. You could then line the different versions up next to each other and you’ve got a lovely visual of composing and decomposing numbers, which pairs neatly with our witch’s potion number bond worksheet if you want to take it onto paper afterwards.

Laminate and Write the Number

Once the mat is laminated, a color dry-erase marker turns it into number formation practice too. After filling the frame, children write the numeral on the black part of the cauldron above, wipe it off and go again.

However your little ones end up filling their cauldron, I hope it brings some spooky fun to your math corner – and there’s plenty more Halloween math activities where this came from.

Enjoy and let’s nurture those neurons!