Pomegranate Seed Count & Transfer

My kindergartner (and the toddler too!) has been loving transfer activities so this simple Pomegranate Seed Count & Transfer was such an easy and fun way to let them practice this skill while learning about another symbol of Rosh Hashanah. And of course practicing counting too! We’ve been working a lot with these tongs because they are kind of stiff and really help strengthen his hand and further prepare him for his kindergarten writing.

What You’ll Need

10 pieces of red paper (cardstock or construction)
Scissors or cricut
Black sharpie
Black pom poms or black beans
Tongs

Putting It Together

Cut a pomegranate shape on each of your ten pieces of red paper. I used my cricut to make them but you can easily use scissors!
Use a black sharpie to write a number 1 through 10 on each of the pomegranates. I made my numbers large and in the middle.
Set out the black pom poms and/or black beans.
Invite your child to use the tongs to transfer the number of pom pom or black bean “seeds” one at a time to correspond with the number on the pomegranate.

Finished & Loving It!

Pomegranates are a special symbol of Rosh Hashanah. Jewish tradition says that there are 613 seeds in a pomegranate, just like the number of mitzvot (commandments) in the Torah. We eat pomegranates at Rosh Hashanah to remind us to do as many mitzvot as we can in the next year. This is a simple, hands-on way to talk about this symbol and discuss the mitzvot you plan to do in the upcoming year!

My kindergartner is now writing everyday in school. Using tongs helps strengthen his hands to better control his pencil. The fine motor skill practice of transferring the “seeds” helps with this too. And of course the one to one correspondence, counting, and numeral identification are super valuable practices for him.

We found that the tongs were just too hard to manipulate to pick up the tiny black beans but worked well for the pom poms. I was fine when my kindergartener wanted to use his hands to practice the counting instead of feel frustrated that the tongs weren’t working the way he wanted.

I also invited my toddler to do this activity. The fine motor skill practice is amazing for him as well. And even if he wasn’t ready to do the one to one counting himself, this is where it starts—exposure to written numbers and modeling counting and seeing the tangible manipulatives in front of him.

I think you could totally modify this activity with real pomegranates and seeds too if you’d like some messy counting fun! But for us, it was so simple to set up and they really enjoyed doing it. And it will be easy to bring out again and again to explore and practice!