Concept of Addition Preschool Learning Video

What's Concept of Addition About?

Your child joins a fun jungle treasure hunt where lost apples become the perfect way to understand "one more." By the end, they'll confidently add one to any number from 1 to 9!

9 minutes
Ages 3-6
Skill: Understanding addition as "one more"

Your kid watches friendly animals find apples while learning to add. You get 9 minutes to enjoy your coffee while it's still warm.

Mr. Rocko's bag has a hole, and his ten apples have scattered along a jungle path! The Kokotree Class helps him find each apple one by one, counting as they go. Every time someone spots an apple, the class figures out the new total together.

What your child learns:

This video introduces addition in the most intuitive way possible—by adding one item at a time. Children see that when you have a group and add one more, you get the next number in the counting sequence.

• Understanding that addition means combining groups
• Recognizing that "one more" equals the next number
• Counting objects from 1 to 10 with confidence
• Connecting visual representations to number equations
• Predicting sums before counting to verify

They'll use these skills when:

• Counting crackers at snack time and asking for "one more"
• Figuring out how many toys they have when a friend shares
• Understanding "you can have two more bites" at dinner
• Playing games that involve collecting items or keeping score

The Story (what keeps them watching)

Mr. Rocko arrives with a problem—his bag has a hole and his apples have escaped! The Kokotree Class springs into action, turning the search into a learning adventure. Ruby finds one behind a tree, Gina spots one by a rock, and Maddy discovers one under dry leaves. Each discovery becomes a mini math lesson as Mr. Rocko shows how the total grows. They journey past a pond, across a bridge, and finally to an apple tree farm. By the time they find all ten apples, the class has mastered "one more" and celebrates with a catchy counting song about monkeys!

How We Teach It (the clever part)

• First 3 minutes: Mr. Rocko introduces the problem and the concept begins with 1+1=2. Children see real apples on screen alongside the equation, making the abstract concrete.
• Minutes 3-7: Each apple discovery reinforces the pattern. Kids start predicting answers before Mr. Rocko reveals them, building confidence through repetition with variety.
• Final 2 minutes: The class counts all ten apples together, Mr. Rocko summarizes the "one more" concept, and a memorable song cements the learning with monkeys joining one by one.

Teaching trick: Every addition is shown three ways—spoken words, visual apple illustrations, and written equations. This triple reinforcement helps different learning styles all click with the concept.

After Watching: Quick Wins to Reinforce Learning

• Mealtime activity: "You have three grapes on your plate. I'm adding one more—how many now?" Let them count and eat their way through addition with real food.
• Car/travel activity: "I see two red cars. Oh look, one more! How many red cars now?" Turn any drive into a moving math lesson with things you spot outside.
• Bedtime activity: "You have four stuffed animals on your bed. Let's add one more from the shelf. Count them all!" Physical objects make bedtime math cozy and concrete.
• Anytime activity: Sing the monkey song from the video together! "One little monkey going to the zoo, one more joins in, makes them two..." Music makes math memorable.

When Kids Get Stuck. And How to Help.

• "My child just guesses random numbers instead of adding." - Totally normal! Go back to using physical objects they can touch and move. Having them physically add one block to a pile makes the concept click faster than abstract numbers.
• "They can count but don't understand what 'plus' means." - The word "plus" is just fancy talk for "and one more." Use that phrase instead, and point out when you're adding things in daily life: "You have two socks AND one more makes three!"
• "The equations on screen seem too advanced for my preschooler." - Don't worry if they ignore the written numbers! The visual apples and counting are doing the heavy lifting. Written equations plant seeds for later—no pressure to read them now.

What Your Child Will Learn

Prerequisites and Building Blocks

Children watching this video should be comfortable counting objects from 1 to 10 and recognizing these numerals. This lesson builds on Kokotree's counting and number recognition content, serving as a bridge between rote counting and mathematical operations. It's positioned early in the addition sequence, focusing exclusively on "+1" problems before introducing larger addends. This foundational understanding of "one more" prepares children for more complex addition concepts and eventually subtraction.

Cognitive Development and Teaching Methodology

This video leverages concrete-to-abstract progression, a cornerstone of early math instruction. Preschoolers are concrete operational thinkers—they need to see and manipulate objects before understanding symbols. The video shows real apples, then apple illustrations, then equations, scaffolding comprehension. Repetition with slight variation (different characters finding apples in different locations) maintains engagement while reinforcing the pattern. The call-and-response format activates participation, and the closing song adds kinesthetic and musical learning modalities.

Alignment with Educational Standards

This video addresses Common Core Math Standard K.OA.A.1 (represent addition with objects) and K.OA.A.5 (fluently add within 5). It also supports K.CC.B.4 (understanding that each successive number refers to a quantity one larger). Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework goals for mathematics are met through the counting and quantity comparison activities. Kindergarten teachers expect entering students to understand that adding means "putting together"—this video builds exactly that foundation.

Extended Learning Opportunities

Pair this video with Kokotree's printable "One More" counting worksheets featuring apple illustrations. The app's interactive counting games reinforce these skills through touch-based adding activities. Parents can extend learning with a real apple counting activity—use actual fruit to recreate the video's scenarios. Drawing activities where children add one more object to a picture strengthen fine motor skills while practicing addition. Follow up with Kokotree's "Adding Two More" video when ready.

Transcript Highlights

• "One and one more, makes two." - Mr. Rocko introduces the core concept with the simplest possible example.
• "We have three apples and Maddy found one more. So now we have a total of four apples. Because three and one more make four." - Demonstrates the consistent language pattern used throughout.
• "Did you observe, children, that when we add one more to a number that we are actually increasing that number by one count?" - Mr. Rocko explicitly states the mathematical principle for metacognitive awareness.
• "Keep adding one more and create your own song!" - Encourages transfer of learning beyond the video.

Character Development and Story Arc

The Kokotree Class models collaborative problem-solving beautifully in this episode. When Mr. Rocko presents his problem, Tiki immediately suggests they can help AND learn simultaneously—demonstrating that learning happens everywhere. Each character takes turns finding apples, showing cooperation and shared success. Bobby initially questions how they can search and learn at the same time, voicing what young viewers might think, then discovers it's actually fun. By the end, characters like Ronnie and Gina confidently state addition facts independently, modeling the growth from confusion to mastery.

Mathematical Foundations: Understanding Addition Through "One More"

The concept of "one more" is arguably the most important building block in early mathematics. Before children can add 3+4, they must internalize that each number in our counting sequence is exactly one more than the previous number. This video teaches the "successor function"—the mathematical principle that for any natural number n, there exists a next number n+1.

Research in mathematical cognition shows that children who deeply understand "one more" develop stronger number sense and more flexible mathematical thinking. This video's approach of starting with 1+1 and systematically progressing through 9+1 creates a complete mental model of single-digit addition by one.

The visual representation strategy—showing grouped apples, then the addition, then the result—mirrors the concrete-representational-abstract (CRA) instructional sequence recommended by mathematics educators. Children see the physical reality (apples), connect it to a picture (illustrated apples), and finally link both to symbols (equations).

The deliberate pacing with pauses allows processing time, crucial for working memory development in young children. By asking "How many do we have now?" before revealing answers, the video promotes active prediction rather than passive watching. This engagement strategy transforms viewers into participants, dramatically improving retention.

The closing song serves a specific pedagogical purpose: musical encoding creates stronger memory traces than spoken instruction alone. Children who learn math facts through song often retain them longer and recall them faster—that catchy monkey tune is actually sophisticated learning technology!