Printable At The Doctor’s Counting Clip Cards (Community Helpers Math Center)

Doctor’s orders: count carefully and clip steadily! This printable pack of At the Doctor’s count and clip cards is a super math activity for community helpers themes or a the math center. 

Your little learners will count the doctor-themed items on each card, then squeeze a clothespin onto the correct number from one to ten.

And let’s face it, children love to count – it’s just so natural to want to quantify and make sense of the world around them. And it’s one of the main preschool math skills and an essential skill for them to develop.

Not only do they get to practice counting and number recognition, the squeezing of clothespins are also a wonderful way to develop their fine motor skills (and maybe to get in a bit of practice for helping to hang out the washing!)

These clip cards are also very simple to prepare, just print off, cut out (and laminate if you want) then spread out on a table with some clothespins – done!

So why not grab these counting clip cards and help nurture their little mathematical minds?

You can explore some other awesome printable math activities here.

Or you can check out more construction themed activities here!

What Skills Can Your Little Ones Learn And Develop?

While using these doctor themed count and clip cards your children will have the chance to practice and develop some early math skills such as:

• Counting skills – they’ll have to count the objects carefully to ensure they clip the clothespin on to the correct number
• Number recognition – they’ll need to be able to recognize the numbers to make sure they are clipping the right one
• One to one correspondence – this important skill (trickier than you may think) is the ability to only touch and count an object of a set once
• Fine motor skills – they will have to be able to pick up and squeeze the pegs and align it it with the correct number whilst holding the card
• Hand Strength – squeezing those pegs is great for developing hand and finger strength

How To Prepare These Community Helper Clip Cards

This one’s pretty straight forward!

First you’re going to want to download the clip cards by clicking on the  download box at the bottom of the page.

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Once you’ve downloaded them, you’ll need to print them off onto paper or card.

Then, you can cut them out.

Once they’re all cut out, I’d strongly advise laminating them to keep them looking nice and so your little learners can use them again and so they are strong enough for the pegs to clip to without ripping them.

After that you’re all done!

Just grab some pegs, spread the cards out on a table and see if your children can carefully count the tools then clip a clothespin onto the correct number!

Get Even More Out of These At The Doctor’s Counting Clip Cards

Here are a few lovely ways to stretch it further once the first round of clipping is done.

Quick Subitize Flash

Flash a card to your kiddo for just a second, then turn it face-down before they have time to count one by one. Ask, “How many?” then flip and check together. It’s a brilliant subitizing workout but might be best with the lower-number cards (one to five) to start. If you want some more subitizing practice, be sure to check out this Subitize and Say game!

Swap the Clothespin for a Dry-Erase Marker

Once the cards are laminated, your little ones can circle, or trace over the correct number with a dry-erase marker instead of clipping. 

Order Them One to Ten

Once your little learner has clipped all the cards, ask them to lay the cards out in order from one to ten, making the activity include some number sequencing as well! No extra prep!

Mark National Doctors Day

If you’re marking National Doctors Day on March 30th, this is a lovely quiet activity to weave into the day. 

However your little doctors-in-training use these cards, I hope they bring lots of focused counting fun.

Enjoy and let’s nurture those neurons!