Sing the rhyme once with the two-finger actions, then take two or three hands-up answers to where do you have two? Listen for two eyes, two hands, two ears, two shoes. Give five seconds of quiet think-time before hands go up.

Drive the ten-frame in display mode. Place one counter first, count one, then place the second and count one, two. Have the whole class show two fingers each time. Point to the two counters and say two counters, that is a pair. Hold up a pair mat now so the class sees the mat they will use later, and say we will put our two things on a mat like this.

This round is for talking it through together; only one pupil is at the board at a time while the rest of the class watches, counts aloud and shows two fingers to agree or correct.

Call one pupil up to drag counters into the frame one at a time while the class counts one, two. After each build ask is that a pair? and have everyone show two fingers to check. Keep the turns brisk.

Hold up a pair mat and point to its two spaces so every child sees what a pair mat is before you hand them out. Then hand out pair mats and let each child collect pairs from the maths box: two cubes, two beads, two lolly sticks. Circulate asking show me your two and how many on your mat? Watch for children who grab a big handful, and slow them: just two, one and one more. Weaker children can lay their two things straight onto a two-space pair mat so the frame does the counting for them.