As we read the story, when Miss 4 heard a number, she was delegated the job of finding the corresponding written number, numeral and dot cards. While she found the matching cards, Miss 20m and I counted out the same number of rainbow cubes.

I also continued to write “grown-up” songs and perform them in folk clubs and on the radio, and have recently released two CDs of these songs. Before Malcolm and I had our three sons we used to go busking together and I would write special songs for each country; the best one was in Italian about pasta. I grew up in a tall Victorian London house with my parents, grandmother, aunt, uncle, younger sister Mary and cat Geoffrey (who was really a prince in disguise. Mary and I would argue about which of us would marry him).My real breakthrough was THE GRUFFALO, again illustrated by Axel. We work separately - he’s in London and I’m in Glasgow - but he sends me letters with lovely funny pictures on the envelopes. I studied Drama and French at Bristol University, where I met Malcolm, a guitar-playing medic to whom I’m now married. As you read through my blog posts, you will see that I really don’t have a huge emphasis on teaching 123s and ABCs to young toddlers. I feel as though there is so much more for them to learn and discover in their early years and there is plenty of time for academics later in their learning journey. I read this to my little nephew and he really enjoyed. I also thoroughly enjoyed reading it to him as the lyrical rhyming creates an excellent flow to the story. In relation to child development, the rhyming and lyrical pattern in the book is very good for children’s language development. As the story is centred round counting up and down it is also a very good book for young children’s numeracy.

This being said, we love to include counting in our play… not just play but in every day tasks! We count everything! While 123s are not a dominant part of our play, they can be explored and taught passively in day to day happenings. One of my television songs, A SQUASH AND A SQUEEZE, was made into a book in 1993, with illustrations by the wonderful Axel Scheffler. It was great to hold the book in my hand without it vanishing in the air the way the songs did. This prompted me to unearth some plays I’d written for a school reading group, and since then I’ve had 20 plays published. Most children love acting and it’s a tremendous way to improve their reading. Funnily enough, I find it harder to write not in verse, though I feel I am now getting the hang of it! My novel THE GIANTS AND THE JONESES is going to be made into a film by the same team who made the Harry Potter movies, and I have written three books of stories about the anarchic PRINCESS MIRROR-BELLE who appears from the mirror and disrupts the life of an otherwise ordinary eight-year-old. I have just finished writing a novel for teenagers. I really enjoy writing verse, even though it can be fiendishly difficult. I used to memorise poems as a child and it means a lot to me when parents tell me their child can recite one of my books.

Customer reviews

This book is most suitable for children aged 2-6 and would be an excellent bedtime story. Currey's soft illustrations also match up with bedtime theme, helping to relax a sleepy child into slumber. To create a bit more of an emphasis on the numbers, we teamed up our rainbow cubes with our Letter Basics Number Matching Game. Letter Basics Number Math Game