The Easiest (and Proven!) Way To Teach Cardinality
What Does Cardinality Look Like in Action?
Happy Girl’s Day (Hinamatsuri)! 
We previously shared how cardinality is the understanding that the last number counted is the total amount. Now let’s get into the scientifically proven (and surprisingly easy!) way to practice cardinality with your keiki:
After you count objects for them, REPEAT/EMPHASIZE the last number!
Dubbed the “count first” strategy, this method has been found to be the most efficacious way to teach cardinality because there’s only a brief lapse in time between the last number counted and the repeated cardinal value. (1)
You can repeat/emphasize the cardinal value in various ways like:
saying it in a higher pitch
saying it in a sing-songy way
drawing out the last sound of the number (i.e. There are twooo dolls!)Can you think of any other ways to emphasize the final number? Let us know in the comments! 
***The two dolls featured in our post are hina-ningyō, traditionally displayed during Hinamatsuri. Also known as Girls’ Day, this Japanese holiday celebrates the “health and happiness of female children and femininity in general.” (2) Mahalo nui to Bailey Onaga for drawing these special dolls for us!
Fun fact: The town of Katsuura in the Chiba prefecture holds the most famous Girls’ day event in Japan with around 30,000 dolls on display! Now that’s a big cardinal number! 
Sources:
1) "How to best teach the cardinality principle?", Paliwal and Barrody, 2018.
2) Hinamatsuri Doll Festival: Girls' Day in Japan, Japan Rail Pass, 2020.