Assign a target category and count every example seen before reaching a destination or time limit. Blue cars, motorcycles, yellow things, animals, church steeples. The count creates a shared goal and marginal cases create genuine debate.

How to do it

1Pick a category and a finish line: every red car until the motorway, or every dog until you park.
2Call them out together. The count is communal.
3Argue the edge cases. That van is clearly orange. The debate is the game.
4At the end, predict the next count before starting it.

Variations

If they resist, pick an obvious category yourself and count out loud without them — 'okay, I'm counting white cars' — curiosity usually pulls them in.
How it ends: stop at the announced landmark, announce the final count, and immediately pick a new category for the next section — the game restarts, not ends.

💡 Parent tip

Let children set the rules. 'Dark blue counts, light blue doesn't.' Inventing and enforcing the rule is more cognitively demanding than the counting itself.