Other Suggestions

Consistency of colour for early counting activities.

Using a magnifying glass to explore the patterns on shells.

 Little objects are hidden in the split peas, the child then rummages around to try to find all the items.

Smelly playdough: add essential oils to homemade playdough to make
an interesting sensorial activity, or just to add an extra dimension to
the creative area.

Sorting natural objects

Threading a short bead stair
onto coloured embroidery thread makes subtraction with the beads much
easier for the child to see clearly. Make sure you make really decent
knots at the ends or tie a small bead into the knot! Alternatively
thread them onto longer pieces of wire.
6-2=4 shown here.

A negative number strip board

Avoid queues by having a Help Board. When children need help they
velcro their name on the list. They then go back to their activity and
often solve the problem themselves before the teacher reaches them!