Puff Counts the Pond

Puff is a little green frog who lives on a lily pond, and Puff has a happy job: waking up the sleepy lily-pads!

Here is how Puff does it. Puff rolls the little die - tumble, tumble, plop! - and then Puff COUNTS the dots on top. “One… two… three! Three dots!”

Then Puff hops along the pond looking for the lily-pad that has THAT many fish sitting on it. Not two fish. Not four fish. THREE fish - to match the three dots!

“There!” ribbits Puff, spotting a pad with three little fish. “Three dots on the die, three fish on the pad - they MATCH!” And when they match, the sleepy pad wakes right up, all bright and happy. Yaaawn - good morning, lily-pad!

Puff loves the counting best. “Count the dots,” says Puff, tapping each one, “then find the pad with the same amount. One dot, one fish. Two dots, two fish. Six dots, six fish! Count and match, count and match!”

Roll by roll, Puff counts the dots and wakes the matching pad, until the whole pond is awake and twinkling. Every pad woken by a careful count.

A grown-up can play too! Get a die, or draw some dots. Count them together - “one, two, three!” Then find the same number of toys, or fingers, or claps. Match the amount! Feel how nice it is when the dots and the things are the SAME number.

Count the dots on the die, then wake the lily-pad with THAT many fish - one, two, three, count and match! That’s Puff.