I had been looking for a way to introduce addition that felt less like a worksheet and more like a game. A roll of heart-shaped washi tape and a pair of heart-shaped dice did the trick. With Valentine’s Day around the corner, the timing was right for a Love Heart Number Line.
The activity is for ages four to seven, the early-addition window where a number line still feels like a discovery and not an exam. Older children take the same setup through subtraction, skip counting, and number bonds, which I will get to at the end.
We have been using this number line off and on since Valentine’s a few years ago. A few small adjustments along the way have made a real difference, and they are folded into the version below.
Resources needed for the Love Heart Number Line
- Heart-shaped washi tape. A single roll lasts many sessions. The cheaper rolls work as well as the fancy ones for this activity.
- A small whiteboard with a dry-erase marker and an eraser pad. Around A4 size is right.
- Two heart-shaped dice. Standard six-sided dice work too. The heart shape is the theme, not the function.
- A washi tape dispenser is optional. The tape comes off the roll cleanly without one.
How to set up the Love Heart Number Line
- Cut twelve hearts from the washi tape and stick them in a row along the lower third of the whiteboard.
- Write the numbers 1 to 12 underneath each heart with the dry-erase marker.
That is it. The first time I made one I expected it to look rough. It did not. The hearts sit flatter than I had thought they would and the marker bleeds less than on plain card.
How to play the Love Heart Number Line
- Roll both dice. Write the two numbers as an addition sentence underneath the hearts. For a younger child, write the plus and equals signs in advance so they only need to fill in the digits.
- Place the marker tip on the heart that matches the first die. Hop along, one heart at a time, the number of hearts shown on the second die.
- Whatever heart you land on is the answer. Write it after the equals sign.
- Wipe the marker clean and roll again.
The first time I tried it, I had thought the washi tape would get dirty pretty quickly. The whole point of the dispenser was that the child would need to keep replacing it. Forty-five minutes in, the tape still looked like new. The marker wiped off every time, even after small fingers had pressed hard enough to dent the surface.
This kind of hands-on number line work is what early-math educators describe as concrete representation, the bridge between counting on fingers and abstract arithmetic. It is the stage where a child stops needing to picture the numbers and starts trusting them.
Where it goes next
The same number line carries through several years of math practice with small changes:
- Skip counting. Re-number the hearts in twos (2, 4, 6, 8…), fives, or tens. The hopping rule is identical, and the multiplication patterns reveal themselves without the word multiplication being said.
- Subtraction. Roll the dice, write the larger number first, hop backwards along the hearts. The kid who just mastered addition starts again at the other end of the line.
- Number bonds. Cover the answer heart with a small sticky note and have the child guess what it says before peeking. Same line, fewer cues.
- Past twelve. Once the child has outgrown 1-to-12, run a second strip above the first for 13-to-24. Two number lines, same rules, fresh challenge.
A few small things I have learned
The washi tape lasts much longer than I had expected. The same twelve hearts have done dozens of sessions and the dry-erase marker has not stained them once.
Heart-shaped dice are charming but optional. A pair of standard six-sided dice works exactly as well. If the child fixates on the heart shape, paint dots on a wooden cube or use a plastic spinner instead.
For a child who is not ready for the dice, write the two numbers down yourself or have the child pick from a small set of number cards. The hopping mechanic is the part that does the teaching, not the rolling.
Heart stickers, round stickers, or even small drawn hearts stand in for the tape if a roll is not on hand. The hops along the line are what teaches; the heart shape is the theme.