Games with numbers for preschoolers
40 Counting Games And Number Activities For Preschoolers
The basic foundation of math is understanding numbers and quantities. One of the best ways to develop these understandings, or number sense, is through handling objects and counting them. We can listen to preschoolers recite numbers in order, but we want them to apply that to counting objects and understand that those numbers represent quantities of items. Counting games and activities encourage preschoolers to “play” with numbers and quantities and build math skills and number sense in natural ways. These ideas can help you build math and counting skills with preschoolers.
Counting Games and Activities
These 40 preschool math games include counting games and various number activities. They are perfect to help build counting skills and math skills in your preschoolers and kindergarten students.
1. Dog Bone Counting Game (Pre-K Pages) – This is a fun, hands-on counting game for students in your preschool, pre-k, or kindergarten classroom.
2. Farm Animal Counting Activity (Pre-K Pages) – What could be more fun than Counting Feet with farm animals?
3. Printable Counting Book (Pre-K Pages) – Identifying and naming numbers can be a difficult skill for young children in preschool and kindergarten.
4. Homemade Counting Board Game (Pre-K Pages) – This homemade game can help preschoolers develop math concepts while playing a game together.
5. Mouse Counts Game (Pre-K Pages) – Mouse Count inspired this activity that helps children practice counting to ten while also working on their fine motor skills – and it’s lots of fun too!
6. Fire Truck Counting Game (Pre-K Pages) – In this activity, children will explore fire trucks and firefighters with a counting game.
7. Penguin Counting Game (Pre-K Pages) – This Penguin Counting Game is the perfect addition to any winter theme, lots of fun for young children and great practice for counting, number sense, and one-to-one correspondence.
8. Ocean Theme Counting Activity (Pre-K Pages) – The best preschool activities allow children to be interactive and hands on while they explore new concepts. We’ve developed a fun, easy to prepare ocean theme counting activity to do just that.
9. Nursery Rhyme Number Game (Pre-K Pages) – This nursery rhyme activity relates to “Baa Baa Black Sheep” and encourage number recognition and counting, important math concepts.
10. Digital Counting Activities Using Google Slides (Teaching Mama) – This resource has digital counting activities, which is perfect for the preschool and kindergarten age.
11. Button Counting (Busy Toddler) – Grab a deck of cards for this fun button counting math activity.
12. Football Counting Game (Sunny Day Family) – With a die, football printable, and some yogurt Danimals it’s a fun counting game your preschoolers will love.
13. Snowman Hole Punch Counting (JDaniel4’s Mom) – Use your hole punch to create these snowmen and work in a fun counting activity to go along with it.
14. Ladybug Busy Bag (Preschool Inspirations) – Work on counting with your preschoolers with these adorable paper ladybugs.
15. Cookie Counting Game (Still Playing School) – Have your kids practice counting chocolate chips with these paper chocolate chip cookies.
16. Counting Snowballs (Fun-a-Day) – This easy counting cotton balls activity is a great math activity for your preschoolers.
17. Race to Fill the Cup (Mom Inspired Life) – Have fun filling a cup with these adorable erasers.
18. Count and Compare (Stir the Wonder) – Use these fun Farm Animal Rainbow Counters to inspire young children interested in animals or to go along with a farm theme!
19. Little Miss Muffet Path Game (Preschool Spot) – This fun activity is based on the nursery rhyme, Little Miss Muffet.
20. Tally Marks with Pencils (Munchkins and Moms) – Have fun practicing making tally marks with #2 pencils.
Counting Games and Number Activities For Preschoolers
More preschool math games to enjoy! These counting games and number activities will be definitely enjoyed by your preschoolers and build their math skills.
21. DIY Counting Boxes (Parenting Chaos) – Label containers with numbers and then have your preschooler fill each bucket with the labeled number of items.
22. Play Dough Numbers and Counting (Little Pinch of Perfect) – This activity is simple to set up and a great way to expose young kids to numbers and lets them visually see the difference in amounts. The activity can be adapted for different skill levels by making smaller or larger numbers.
23. Passing Car Count (Prekinders) – In this activity, we watched for red & blue cars as they passed by on the street. Children recorded the cars they saw by marking dots on their sheet with a corresponding color crayon.
24. Ways to Teach Counting (Prekinders) – Here are 15 ways to teach counting skills in Pre-K.
25. Ants on a Log Game (Teach Preschool) – DIY “ants on a log” counting game with the children then invite the children to draw their own ants on a log…
26. The Math Box (Teach Preschool) Create a simple math box and then watch as your preschoolers love filling it and practice their counting skills.
27. Counting and Addition Tray (Imagination Tree) – Set up an open-ended maths activity for kids using counting manipulatives, play dough and a dice, in a dip tray!
28. Simple Montessori Counting Activity (My Mundane and Miraculous Life) – This simple counting activity with rocks, your child can work on number recognition.
29. Things to Count With (Pre-K and K Sharing) – Repurpose what you have and count items with your preschooler!
30. How Many Blocks Long? (Brick by Brick) – This is a fun activity where your preschooler can see how many block longs they are and practice counting as they do it.
31. Make Groups of Numbers (Teach Me Mommy) – This simple counting activity is easy to setup, can be played with one or more children and it is fun too!
32. Count and Smash Activity (Stir the Wonder) – The great thing about play dough besides that it is just fun, is that it is also a great way to work on fine motor skills, work in some math skills, and get some sensory input and it can be used in many ways for hands-on learning!
33.
Activities with Counting Blocks (Educators’ Spin on It) – These are 8 math and counting activities for your preschooler to enjoy.
34. Where the Wild Things Are Game (Mom Inspired Life) – While playing, children practice counting, learn one to one correspondence and even get some fine motor practice.
35. Listen and Spray Game (Fantastic Fun and Learning) – This activity is great for counting practice but also for fine motor practice.
36. Race to Lose a Tooth Game (Toddler Approved) – This fun dental theme inspired activity with marshmallows is a fun counting game for your preschoolers to enjoy.
37. Roll and Count (Buggy and Buddy) – Here’s a counting math game for kids perfect for practicing one-to-one correspondence. It’s super easy to make and lots of fun for the kids!
38. Count Forward and Back Game (Fantastic Fun and Learning)- This preschool math game would be perfect during St. Patrick’s day and March in your classroom.
39. Build a City Game (Learning 4 Kids) If your preschooler loves playing with Legos then they will love this math game.
40. Mystery Mitten Tactile Counting Game (Preschool Toolbox) – Gather some real mittens and come play a tactile mystery mitten counting game to encourage early math intuition with tactile support!
Also check out the free Winter Play Dough Counting Mats and our other thematic counting mats.
Follow my Counting Pinterest Board for more great ideas!
Farm Animal Counting Activity For Preschoolers
I’ve found that if you want to engage children in a learning activity just add animals. Children are naturally drawn to animals and any time that I can include them in an activity I am sure it will be a success. Just like it will be with this farm activity!
With that in mind, what could be more fun than Counting Feet with farm animals?
Build Math Skills With This Farm Activity
This counting activity requires very little set up, but it can be used to reinforce a number of different skills while also being fun and engaging for young children.
While playing Counting Feet, preschoolers can practice:
- Counting up to 4
- Number recognition
- Animal names and characteristics
- Sorting and decision making
(See my math page for more activities for counting, sorting, and building math skills.)
Set Up the Farm Activity
Setup for this activity is simple and requires items already found in most preschool classrooms or at home. To play Counting Feet, you will need:
- An assortment of farm animal figures. Be sure to include several that have two legs, such as ducks, chickens, and barn owls. (We even included our farmer!)
- Two small bins or buckets
- Numbers 2 and 4 (We used foam numbers, but you can easily just print or write the numbers on card stock.)
- Clips or tape to attach numbers to your bins (We used clothespins.)
Attach a number 2 to one bin and a number 4 to the other. Place your animals in between the two bins.
Now you’re ready to play!
Play the Counting Feet Game
Invite a child to choose one of the animals. When they have chosen, take a moment to talk about what kind of animal it is, what color it is, and what sound it makes. Then ask the child to count its feet.
Point out the numbers on the two bins and ask them to decide which bin it goes in based on the number of feet it has.
Repeat the fun farm activity until all of the animals have been sorted into their proper bins. Then you can dump them out and play again! Maybe incorporate a fun farm song for them to sing as well!
You will likely find that you have more animals with four feet than have two. That’s OK! This is a great opportunity to ask the children what else the animals with two feet have, such as wings, and what they use their wings for. This allows the activity to cover a number of additional animal lessons in addition to counting, and to make it even more interactive and fun.
BIO: Laura is a mom to twin boys and author of Sunny Day Family, where she shares simple and engaging activities and crafts like her Bubble Wrap Road! Connect with her on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter.
More Farm Activities
- Farm Sensory Bin and I Spy Activity- Kids love to search for items hidden in pictures in a book or sensory bins. It is like finding hidden treasure! This farm themed sensory bin has a variety of farm animals tucked into birdseed. Your children will have a great time looking for them!
- Farm Activities for Preschoolers– Many preschoolers have little or no connection to a farm. Use these activities to plan explorations for your preschoolers to learn more about the farm and farm animals. A farm theme can be great for spring or fall learning.
- Farm Book Activity: Get Well Card Center- Exploring animals that live on the farm is a popular topic in many early childhood settings. Spring is the perfect opportunity for a farm preschool them for children to discover activities unique to farm life. Using great children’s books is a springboard for learning about a topic or theme. Here is a fun farm activity – a book and a writing center to help learn about language and a form of writing.
More Farm Ideas
90,000 development games Learn numbers for childrenContent
- Cards with “Learn numbers”
- Cose-ciphera
- Cover the correct numbers
- numbers
- of the game “Learn numbers” for children
- NASE!
- Make a number
- Numbers by numbers
- Finders
- Pantomime
- Laughter
- Gymnastics by numbers
- Find the mistake 900 with numbers 5 Memory 0005 Tangram “Figures”
- Coloring numbers
- Table games “Learn numbers” for children
- Mixed Domino
- Print tasks “Learn numbers” for children
- Digital Labyrinth
- We count on fingers up to 10
Developing games “Developing games” Learn numbers" for children: a selection of fun games and tasks. Print out children's tasks with numbers for preschoolers.
Children aged 2-5 usually do not yet know all the numbers, but only name or “recognize” some of them.
Kids confuse a number and a number, a number and a letter, they confuse numbers with each other: zero and the letter 0, G and 1, 2 and 5, 9and 6, 1 and 4, etc. Often violate the sequence between adjacent numbers from a series.
Certain difficulties arise in some children when the result of the count must be indicated by a number or the figure must be correlated with the required number of items.
Lessons "Learn numbers" for preschool children will allow you to easily and quickly eliminate such problems in a playful way.
Here: games for children "Let's learn letters".
Cards with sheep "Learn numbers"
Educational cards - visual material, convenient for explaining any topic. Therefore, it is successfully used in the study of numbers. nine0003
Copy-book numbers
Here: Print additional copy-book numbers for children.
Circle the correct numbers
Lego numbers
Learning numbers games for kids
Name it!
Numbers made from different materials are considered: paper, cardboard, fabric, printed on cards of different sizes and colors, written or printed, etc.
In the process of such a lesson, you can find out what numbers the child knows and where he saw them.
Make a number
It is proposed to lay out numbers from circles, sticks, cubes, triangles, mosaics, mold them from plasticine, clay. You can cut out numbers from velvet or plain paper, old newspapers or magazines, fabrics and stick them on.
For plasticine figures there is a wonderful manual - Plasticine account. It will teach a child to sculpt a number and help to remember it by creating an illustration for it from plasticine.
Numbers by cells
It is necessary to paint over the cells, as in the sample, and get numbers from 0 to 9.
Finders
Cards with numbers are laid out on the table. The child receives a card with a number. You have to find yours.
Pantomime
The adult draws a number in the air with his finger, and the child guesses it, then they switch roles.
Laughers
By drawing or drawing, the figures turn into "little men", "animals" or other funny figures.
Gymnastics by numbers
An adult offers (squat, jump) to a child as many times as the number indicates. nine0003
Find the mistake
The child is shown two cards. The kid needs to determine whether the image of the number on one card matches the number of circles, triangles or objects on the other card.
Memory with numbers
The child examines cards with numbers and memorizes them. The adult swaps them. The kid points out what has changed. If any card is removed, the child guesses which number is gone.
Tangram “Numbers”
Sensorics will help you remember writing numbers: write numbers, mold from plasticine, lay them out from buttons, pompons, figurines, sticks ... Here are the numbers from the tangram. nine0003
More tangram tasks here.
Coloring pages for numbers
You can take coloring pages with numbers and invite your child to color them. The child will be interested in creativity, and at the same time consolidate knowledge about the new figure.
Here: Print out the number coloring tasks.
So that the coloring process does not bore the child, you need to use various interesting techniques for this
- paint numbers not only with pencils, but also with paints, wax crayons, stamps; nine0006
- lay out numbers from sticks, cubes, mosaics, buttons, peas, pebbles;
- model numbers from plasticine,
- color with fingers using finger paints;
- use non-traditional drawing techniques: cotton buds, crumpled paper, blots, etc.
Board games "Learn numbers" for children
Any walking board games teach counting. Children must understand the number corresponding to the number of dots on the top face of the die that has fallen out, and make the corresponding number of moves forward. nine0003
When your child has learned to easily count up to 6, play with two dice at the same time, so you will train not only numbers and numbers up to 12, but also addition.
Download and print board games for free!
Mixed domino
The difference between this domino and the classical one is that the child must quickly analyze and correlate the written number and the number of dots.
It is difficult to play with paper dominoes; nine0003
Includes 36 dominoes.
Print tasks "Learning numbers" for children
Digital maze
Counting on fingers up to 10
And what tasks for children for learning numbers from the proposed did you like ?
Card file of games with numbers and numbers according to REMP for preschoolers
Card No. 1.
Confusion game.
Purpose. Strengthen your knowledge of numbers. Develop observation, attention. nine0003
Game in progress.
In the game, the numbers are laid out on the table or displayed on the board. At the moment when the children close their eyes, the numbers are reversed.
Children find these changes and return the numbers to their places. The facilitator comments on the actions of the children.
Card number 2.
Game "What number is gone?"
Purpose. To consolidate children's knowledge of numbers, the ability to name neighbors of a number. Develop memory, attention.
Game progress.
One or two numbers are also removed from the game. The players not only notice the changes, but also say where which number is and why. For example, the number 5 is now between 7 and 8. This is not correct. Its place is between the numbers 4 and 6, because the number 5 is more than 4 by one, 5 must come after 4.
Card #3.
Game "What has changed"
Purpose. It will consolidate the ability to count objects, designate their number with the corresponding number. Develop attention, memory.
Game progress.
Several groups of objects are placed on a board or flannelgraph, numbers are placed next to them. The host asks the players to close their eyes, and he swaps or removes one object from any group, leaving the numbers unchanged, i.e. violates the correspondence between the number of objects and the figure. Children open their eyes. They found an error and correct it in different ways: by “restoring” the number that will correspond to the number of items, they add or remove items, that is, they change the number of items in groups. The one who works at the blackboard accompanies his actions with an explanation. If he coped well with the task (find and correct the mistake), then he becomes the leader. nine0003
Card #4.
Miraculous bag game.
Purpose. Exercise children in counting with the help of various analyzers. To consolidate ideas about the quantitative relationships between numbers.
Develop logic, thinking, attention.
Game progress.
The wonderful bag contains: counting material, two or three kinds of small toys. The host chooses one of the children as the leader and asks to count as many objects as he hears the blows of a hammer, a tambourine, or as many objects as there are circles on the card. Children sitting at the tables count the number of strokes and show the corresponding figure. nine0003
Card #5.
How much game.
Purpose. Practice counting with kids. Develop hearing, attention.
Game progress.
6-8 cards with a different number of items are fixed on the board. The host says: “Now I will guess a riddle. The one who guesses it will count the items on the card and show the number. Listen to the riddle. The girl is sitting in a dungeon, and the scythe is on the street.
The players who guessed that it was a carrot count how many carrots are drawn on the card and show the number 4. Whoever raised the number faster becomes the leader. Instead of riddles, you can give a description of the subject. For example: “This animal is affectionate and kind, it does not talk, but knows its name, likes to play with a ball, a ball of thread, drinks milk and lives with people. Who is this? Count how many." nine0003
Card #6.
The game "Count - do not make a mistake."
Purpose. Fix the order of the numbers in the natural series, exercise in direct and backward counting. Develop thinking, attention.
Game progress.
The game is played with a ball. Children sit in a semicircle. Before the start of the game, the leader agrees in what order (forward or reverse) he will count. The leader throws the ball to one of the players and calls the number.
The one who caught the ball continues to count further. The game should be played at a fast pace, and the tasks are repeated many times in order to give the opportunity to as many children as possible to take part in it. nine0003
Card #7.
The game "Which toy is gone."
Purpose. Fix the ordinal count of objects, the concept of "how much". Develop attention, memory.
Game progress.
The presenter exposes several different toys. Children carefully examine them, remember where which toy is. Everyone closes their eyes, the leader removes one of the toys. Children open their eyes and determine which toy is gone. For example, a car hid, it was third from the right or second from the left. Correctly and fully answered becomes the leader. nine0003
Card #8.
Game “Where?”
Purpose.
