Making numbers 20-40 in tens and ones

I mentioned here that Lovely LOVES math, but has hit her first struggle. For a girl who loves hands on math and visualizing, she is having trouble with grouping concepts. We are working on making numbers 20-40, grouping them into tens and ones and she struggles with both remembering the correct vocabulary (when I ask how many groups of 10 do you have...she'll say "30" which is all the blocks together - not the groups of 10) and then making the correct number together out of the tens and ones (20 tens + 7 ones ='s 27). So, this week we're walking away from the problems and just playing with the blocks and making groups of ten. We're going to work on how that feels, and how that sounds so she makes the connection on what is being asked of her.

As you can see...she likes having her animal friends around. Below is a little bird toy "helping" and the 2nd picture has her trusty horsey lovey and frog lol! Gotta love these classmates!

Any tips for me? :) As always, thanks! Chime in ANYTIME!!!