Kindergarten math projects

7 Kindergarten Math Activities To Make Learning Fun

Young children are often eager to learn new skills and concepts. That’s why introducing kindergarten math activities can be so effective.

One thing to always remember, though, is to make learning at home fun and engaging because children learn best through play. And, luckily for you, our experts at HOMER know a thing or two about that!

This article will give you a detailed guideline to help your child get a solid mathematical foundation. These easy at-home activities are fun, engaging, and offer lots of learning opportunities.

Without further ado, let’s get started.

Kindergarten Math Concepts

Before we dive in, it’s important to understand which concepts your young learner will be tackling in kindergarten. That way, it’s easier to know which activities and math skills to focus on at home.

The following are the key math principles your child may know by the end of their kindergarten year:

Counting and cardinality
Recognizing numbers beyond 10
Adding and subtracting single-digit numbers
Recognizing shapes
Classifying objects by size

With the principles above in mind, we’ve compiled a list of activities that will help your child develop these essential skills.

7 Fun Kindergarten Math Activities

1) Shape Hunt

What You’ll Need:

Notebook
Crayons

What To Do:

Start by selecting any two objects around your house that look different but have the same shape. Then, give your child clues about one of the objects. For example, you might say, “It has a round shape.”

Your child will need to act as a detective and solve this shape mystery! When they are confident that they know what this object is, encourage them to take their detective notebook and draw the item.

Repeat this process for the second object.

Once your little detective has found and drawn the two objects, you can evaluate them and discuss other items with the same shape. So, for something that’s round, this can be plates, pizza, door handles, and so on.

Once you’re confident they understand the properties of the shape, you can play the game again with another shape (triangle, square, etc.).

You don’t have to limit yourselves to your indoor space. You can also head outside and search for many interesting shapes in your garden, local park, or neighborhood if you’d like.
Find out more about this interesting game from our blog.

2) Count The Beans

What You’ll Need:

Spoon
Dried kidney beans

What To Do:

For this fun activity, you will need to take a spoon and hold it outstretched. Your child will then proceed to put one dried kidney bean at a time onto the spoon.

When the first one falls off, you then count how many beans you managed to get on the spoon.

You can play this game with a larger spoon as well. For this, the numbers will get higher, so your child will need to be familiar with higher numbers before they’re ready for this one.

To help, a simple 10 frame should do the trick (a 10 frame is basically a rectangle with 10 equal spaces (five on top and five on the bottom).

If, when counting the beans, you end up with more than 10, you can put each set of 10 in a small paper cup, allocate the cups to each frame, and then add everything for the final tally.

This activity helps kindergarteners continue practicing their counting and gain an understanding of number sense.

3) Building Sets With Blocks

What You’ll Need:

Building blocks

What To Do:

This activity requires you to ask your young learner to build a color tower with a specific number of blocks. For example, “Build a blue tower with 10 blocks, a red tower with eight blocks, and a yellow tower with eleven blocks.”

All this information will need to be remembered by your child, so this can be a great way to help build memory. Children will also continue practicing colors and counting skills with this activity.

4) Number Guessing

What You’ll Need:

Magnetic numbers (0 – 9)

What To Do:

For this activity, your child will need to put their hands behind their back. You will then place one of the magnetic numbers in their hands for them to feel. Can they guess the number?

If this is a little challenging at first, it can help to have another set of magnetic numbers that they can see as they feel.

This is a great sensory activity that can help familiarize children with each number’s interesting shape and unique qualities.

5) Shape Hopscotch

What You’ll Need:

Different colored paper
Scissors
Painter’s tape

What To Do:

Hopscotch is one of our favorite games here at HOMER. If you’re looking to play the traditional game, you can check out this link, which includes other fun math-related activities in addition to Hopscotch.

For this article, we decided to switch things up a bit with shape hopscotch. All you need to do is cut out six different (but easily recognizable) shapes and give each shape its own color (for example, red circles, yellow triangles, blue squares, purple stars, etc.).

Once you have your shapes, tape them to the floor with painter’s tape. While taping, ensure that the spacing works for your child (the shapes aren’t too far apart).

You can encourage your child to jump, hop, or wiggle through the shapes. Here are a few ways they can make it through their shape maze:

Call out colors or shapes for your child to race and find
Have them hop from one side to the other side by only touching one shape or color
Give them directions as they go, and ask what they’ve landed on. For example, “Jump three shapes to the left, one shape up, and two shapes right. What color and shape are you on?”

This is an excellent and fun way for kids to continue working on their gross motor skills while incorporating shape and color recognition. Children will also work on the important skill of following directions.

6) Make A Number Line

What You’ll Need:

Chalk
Paved area outside
Deck of cards

What To Do:

On your paved area outside, draw a large number line with chalk. You can write numbers up to 10, 20, or even 30 as your child becomes familiar with those numbers.

Next, take five red playing cards (numbers 1 – 5) and five black playing cards (numbers 1 – 5). Then, you each get a token which you’ll place in the middle of the number line. Mix the cards and put them face down.

Next, take turns picking cards. A red card means you go up the number line based on the card’s value (for example, if you pull a red five of hearts, you move up five spaces). A black card, on the other hand, means you go down on the number line (red four of clubs = down four spaces).

If you end up below the number one or above the top number on the line, you’ll stay put until all players have had their turn.

After each player has picked four cards, whoever is highest on the number line wins!

7) Snowball Battle

What You’ll Need:

Paper
3 small buckets

What To Do:

Crumble your paper to make “snowballs.” Then, place your buckets at the end of the room. Challenge your child to toss the snowballs into any of the buckets until they reach a target number (e.g., 10).

If you have multiple kids, this can turn into some friendly competition with a timer. How many can you land in five minutes?

You can also vary the game a bit for older kids by having them toss all 10 snowballs into the three buckets and then write down how they got to 10 (for example, with 3 balls in one bucket, 4 balls in the next, and 3 balls in the last). How many ways can it be done?

Gross motor and counting skills come into play when engaging in this activity.

Tips For Helping Kindergarteners With Math

The above activities should help your child practice and understand their math skills. Additionally, here are a few key points to keep in mind.

Incorporate Math Into Everyday Life

Math is all around us! It is in the shapes of objects and buildings, the measurements we take when baking, and the sorting of patterns. This makes it easy to incorporate math into everyday activities.

Remember that the more practice your child gets, the easier it will be to grasp these foundational concepts.

Make It Enjoyable

When something seems too challenging, kids can quickly become overwhelmed and give up before starting. Help your child understand how much fun math is by regularly introducing them to math activities in a fun, relaxed way.

We recommend checking out the HOMER blog to see what other entertaining learning games your child can play to build their math skills.

Practice Positive Reinforcement

Positive feedback is one of the key components for your child to continue having a healthy relationship with mathematics. So, when they finally grasp a concept they’ve been struggling with, make a big deal out of it by praising them.

And, if there’s a math skill they haven’t grasped yet, be patient and continue practicing. Soon enough, they’ll get it!

Lay A Solid Foundation With Kindergarten Math Activities

Sometimes children (and adults) view math negatively. You’ll often hear them express how challenging it is. But kindergarten math activities can help build positivity and confidence!

While it can be a challenge, math is still one of the most important subjects children learn and can benefit them for the rest of their lives. That’s why building math skills early on matters.

Engaging in fun, entertaining, and educational kindergarten math activities can help children achieve just that. And our list above offers great ways to practice.

Check out the HOMER Learn & Grow app for even more math activities and to discover how we can help your young learner thrive!

Author

Kindergarten Math Games That Make Learning Fun from the Start

Looking for ways to make math fun for young learners? Check out these kindergarten math games! They teach all the basic math skills kindergartners need to master and are sure to engage every kid in the learning process.

(Just a heads up, WeAreTeachers may collect a share of sales from the links on this page. We only recommend items our team loves!)

1. Conquer cardinality with penguin dominoes

Kindergarten math students work to master cardinality, understanding that written numerals correspond to the number of items pictured. These free printable penguin dominoes make the concept fun to practice.

Learn more: Playdough to Plato

2. Put together puzzles to gain number sense

Kindergarten math students learn to understand that numbers can be represented in a variety of ways. These free printable puzzles help them practice those skills.

Learn more: Tickled Pink in Primary

3. Play teen-number bingo

This free printable game helps little ones master their numbers from 11 to 20, both as numerals and represented on ten-frames.

Learn more: The Measured Mom

4. Stack cups and count to 100

Kids love stacking things, so they’ll get a kick out of kindergarten math games that make use of stackable cups. This one has them doing it with 100 cups while they count! Turn it into a competition by putting them in teams and timing them to see who can finish the task the fastest.

Learn more: Kindergarten Smorgasboard/100 Cups

5. Visit the skip-counting store

How fun is this? Grab some toys and label them with price tags in increments of 10 cents. Give kids a handful of plastic dimes, and have them count out the amount needed for each “purchase.”

Learn more: Creative Family Fun/Skip Counting Store

6. Have a rubber duck race

In this game, kids race to see who can be the first to get their rubber duckies to 10 (or any number you choose). They roll a die and lay out tiles to move their duck. The twist? To get to 10 at the end, they must roll the exact number they need—no going over! Kindergarten math games like this one are terrific for practicing counting on, basic addition, and making 10.

Learn more: Happy Toddler Playtime

7. Practice counting on with cards and dice

Remove the face cards from a deck of playing cards and grab a pair of dice. The first player turns over a card and then rolls the dice. The number on the dice indicates how far they “count on” from the card. (For example, a player turns over a three and rolls a four. They say, “Three: four, five, six, seven.”) If the player gets it right, they keep the card, and the other player(s) get a turn.

Learn more: Creative Family Fun/Counting On

8. Skip-count with craft sticks

There are endless ways to use craft sticks in the classroom. For this game, number a series of colorful sticks by fives, as shown. Kids can practice by putting them in order first. Then, have a student draw a stick and count on by fives from that number to 100—if they draw 75, they then count 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 100. If they get it right, they keep the stick, and the next player takes a turn.

Learn more: Simply Kinder

9. Match teen numbers

Once they’ve mastered the numbers 1 to 10, it’s time to understand how those numerals add up to make bigger numbers. These free printable cards show numerals and matching bundles of sticks that deconstruct each teen number into tens and ones.

Learn more: The Kindergarten Connection

10. Compare numbers with dominoes

Kindergartners learn to compare numbers to determine which is larger and which smaller. Stacking math cubes based on the numbers on dominoes is a fun, hands-on way to compare the two numbers side by side, making it easier to see the difference.

Learn more: My Fabulous Class

11. Face off and compare numbers

You’ll need some small toys for this game, as well as polyhedral dice. Kids roll and place the number of items on their side. Then, they compare the two to see which is bigger.

Learn more: Natalie Lynn Kindergarten

12. Make 10 with two-sided chips

You’ll need counting chips that are a different color on each side for this activity. Kids shake up 10 chips in a cup and pour them out on the table. Then they see how many they have of each color and write that number bond to make 10.

Learn more: First Grade Fairytales

13. Throw snowballs to make 10

Make “snowballs” from paper (or any way you like), then place them in a bucket at one end of the room. Start kids out by having them toss snowballs into another bucket until they reach 10 (or any target number). Then, up the challenge by placing some snowballs in each bucket and have kids figure out how many more they need to toss in to make 10.

Learn more: Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls—Snowball Math Games

14. Use Uno cards to play addition war

In the card game War, players each flip an Uno card, and the one whose card is greatest takes them both. In this twist on one of our favorite kindergarten games, players each flip two cards. They then use counting blocks to represent the numbers and count on or add to find the sum. The largest sum wins the hand, and play continues.

Learn more: Planning Playtime—Addition Game

15. Roll and add for fluency within 5

Kindergarten math students work to become fluent in adding and subtracting within 5. This free printable board game makes it fun!

Learn more: Liz’s Early Learning Spot

16. Get four in a row and learn place value

This customizable game helps teach the early place-value concept of tens plus ones. Get it for free at the link.

Learn more: Two Boys and a Dad

17. Bowl and subtract within 10

Set up a toy bowling pin set (or make one from plastic bottles or toilet-paper tubes). Kids bowl and see how many pins they knock down, subtracting that number from 10. Then they repeat, this time subtracting from the previous answer. First to get to zero wins!

Learn more: Planning Playtime—Subtraction Worksheets

18. Get off my boat!

So simple, so engaging, so fun! Use tape to outline a boat shape on the floor (or try this outside with sidewalk chalk). Let some kids board the “boat,” then make some get off. Use those numbers to write a subtraction number sentence and solve the equation!

Learn more: Kindergarten Smorgasboard—Get Off My Boat!

19. Drive and compare numbers to music

Prep for this game by using dot markers on paper plates as shown (visit the link below for more examples). Each kid takes a plate then uses it to “drive” around the room as you play music. When the music stops, they find a nearby partner and compare what they see on each other’s plates (e.g., “8 dots is more than 4 dots. 1 green dot is less than 4 green dots.” Then start the music up and repeat!

20. Build a weigh station

Use a hanger and plastic cups to build a super-simple weigh station. Kids will love dropping items into the cups to see which weighs more or less. Turn it into a game by having them try to guess which object weighs more first or how many of one item equals another.

21. Battle it out in ribbon war

Looking for kindergarten math games that teach non-standard measurement? This idea is fun and easy. Cut colorful ribbons into a variety of lengths and place them in a bag. Each student pulls a ribbon from the bag. Then, put students in pairs and have them compare their ribbons to identify the longer one. The student with the longer ribbon keeps both, and the game continues.

22. Hold a shape scavenger hunt

Kindergarten math students are learning to recognize shapes in their environment and also to categorize and sort. This scavenger hunt does it all! Send them out to find objects in the room that match the shapes. Then count and compare to see how many you have in each category.

Learn more: Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls—Shape Scavenger Hunt

23. Hop along a shapes maze

Use sidewalk chalk to lay out a shape maze on the playground or driveway. Choose a shape and hop from one to the next, or call out a different shape for every jump!

Learn more: Creative Family Fun—Shape Maze

24. Make a match to learn shapes

Grab these free printable memory cards at the link. Then play and learn the basic shapes.

Learn more: Life Over C’s

25. Guess the mystery shapes

Work on geometry terms like “sides” and “vertices” when you sort shapes using these attributes. Start by placing 3D shapes into paper bags and asking students questions like “The shape in this bag has 4 sides. What could it be?”

Learn more: Susan Jones Teaching

Love these kindergarten math games? You’ll also enjoy these 50 Kindergarten Math Word Problems of the Day!

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Entertaining Mathematics Project | Project in mathematics (senior group):

Municipal budgetary preschool educational institution Kindergarten "Berezka"

Cognitive project on the topic:

"Entertaining Mathematics"

In the senior group

Project manager:

SITDIKOV teacher ZC . N.

Igrim, 2017

Relevance.

Mathematics is one of the most difficult subjects in the school cycle, therefore, in order to successfully teach a child at school already in kindergarten, it is necessary to promote the mathematical development of a preschooler, expand their mathematical horizons, and improve the quality of mathematical preparation for school. This will allow children to more confidently navigate the simplest patterns of the reality around them and actively use mathematical knowledge in everyday life.

Mathematical representations should be mastered by a preschooler consistently, evenly and systematically. To this end, it is necessary to organize educational activities carried out both in the process of organizing various types of activities (game, communication, labor, cognitive research, productive, musical and artistic, reading fiction), and during regime moments; as well as independent activities of children using a variety of gaming tools. Also, the mathematical development of children will be more effective when interacting with the families of children.

Didactic game and game exercises using visual material (using diagrams, cards, models, objects) arouse interest in children, facilitate and speed up the process of memorization, form techniques for working with memory and thinking, which in a visual and accessible form help children remember complex material.

Entertaining mathematical material is given by the game elements contained in each task, logical exercise, entertainment, whether it be checkers or the most elementary puzzle. The inclusion of entertaining material in the GCD for FEMP allows you to keep children's interest in the lesson, and this creates the conditions for increasing the emotional attitude to the content of the educational material, ensures its accessibility and awareness. The mathematical techniques used, the combination of practical and gaming activities, the solution of problem-playing and search situations contribute to the development of elementary mathematical concepts in children.

In order to teach preschool children to love mathematics, to maintain interest in intellectual activity, to encourage them to solve search problems, it is necessary to approach the organization of the learning process creatively and with interest, use the variety and variability of educational games with mathematical content.

Type of project: cognitive-playing.

Implementation period: short-term (1 month).

Composition of participants: group (teacher, children of the older group, parents).

The purpose of the project: the formation of elementary mathematical concepts in children of senior preschool age through entertaining material in the organized and independent activities of children.

Tasks:

To create conditions for the assimilation of mathematical concepts by preschoolers, to ensure the successful development of children's abilities and thinking.
To promote the development of the ability to count forward and backward within 10, to use ordinal and cardinal numbers correctly.
Help to consolidate the ability to recognize and name geometric shapes.
To help improve the ability to identify sets of objects or figures that have a common property.
To promote the development of mental operations: logical thinking, ingenuity, visual memory, imagination, the ability to compare and analyze.
Promote the development of interest in games that require mental effort, intellectual effort.
To promote independence, the ability to understand the learning task and perform it independently.
Help improve the readiness of preschool children for schooling.
Encourage parents to participate in the project and work with children at home.

Expected results:

Raising the level of mathematical concepts in children of senior preschool age.
Children have developed an interest in the very process of learning mathematics.
Children independently find ways to solve cognitive problems, strive to achieve the set goal, overcome difficulties, and are able to transfer the acquired experience to new situations.
Activation of parents' interest in the use of mathematical games and exercises.
Parents' awareness of the importance of forming elementary mathematical concepts in children with the help of entertaining material, expanding parents' knowledge of entertaining material.

Preparatory phase:

Definition of the project topic.
Setting goals and objectives of the project.
Selection of methodical, fiction literature on the topic of the project.
Selection of didactic, outdoor games, physical education sessions on the topic of the project.
Production of educational games in mathematics.
Drawing up a plan for the main stage of the project.
Development of summaries of proposed educational activities, quizzes.
Involving parents in joint work on the project:

- creative task: pick up mathematical riddles, tasks, rebuses and colorfully arrange this material;

- help of parents in making didactic games on FEMP.

Parent survey.
Making a folder - sliding "Mathematics for preschoolers".
Conversation with parents "How to organize children's games at home using entertaining material"

Main stage:

GCD according to the calendar-forward planning in the senior group:

- GCD for FEMP "Letters of the Queen of Mathematics", "Cities of the Queen of Mathematics" mathematics";

- GCD for fine arts: drawing "Funny Figures", pea appliqué "Magic Numbers", modeling "Funny Figures".

Reading mathematical fairy tales, fairy tales with counting elements: "Three Bears", "Two Bear Cubs", "Twelve Months" by S. Marshak, "Flower - Seven-Colored" by V. Kataev; K. Ushinsky's story "Four Desires".
Learning poems about numbers, counting rhymes, riddles about geometric shapes and numbers.
Viewing a computer presentation "Flight to the planet Mathematics", "Funny figures".
Mathematical coloring, number drawing.
Design.
Working with counting sticks.
Drawing geometric figures on a semolina
Didactic games with mathematical content: "Tic-tac-toe", "Mathematical loto", "Ladybugs and daisies", "Labyrinths", "What numbers are lost", "Funny numbers", "Mathematical houses”, “Mosaic from caps”, “Tangram”, “Mathematical tablet “Geometric”, “Magic circles”, “Domino”, “Wonderful bag”, “simulator “Ladybugs”.
Guessing riddles, entertaining questions, comic puzzles, puzzles.
Outdoor games: "Make a figure", "The sea is worried."
Finger exercises.
Physical education minutes "Exercise", "Make a figure".

Final stage:

Exhibition of educational games made together with children and parents.
Conversation "Why I'm interested in mathematical games."
Exhibition of baby books with mathematical tasks.
Independent activity of children in the mathematical corner.
Use of didactic games on FEMP at GCD.
The final event - the quiz "Clever and clever".
Processing and design of project materials.

Project progress.

The work on the project took place in several stages. At the preparatory stage, a plan for the implementation of the main stage of the project was drawn up, methodological and fiction literature, illustrative material, computer presentations "Flight to the Planet Mathematics", "Funny Figures", didactic games, physical exercises, finger gymnastics were selected. Developing games of mathematical content were made.

Parents were involved in the preparation of the project implementation: a survey was conducted with them, a folder was made for them - the “Mathematics for Preschoolers” movement. Parents also helped in the production of educational games in mathematics. Parents were given a task: to pick up entertaining mathematical material (problems, riddles, puzzles, rebuses) and colorfully arrange it.

At the main stage of the project, many lessons were related to the topic of the project. In the classes on the development of speech and reading fiction, we with children:

- read mathematical stories and fairy tales with mathematical content: "Three Bears", "Two Bear Cubs", "Twelve Months" by S. Marshak, "Flower - Seven-Flower" by V. Kataev; K. Ushinsky's story "Four Desires";

- memorized poems about numbers, counting rhymes, mathematical riddles.

During the art classes, children created drawings using geometric shapes, made “magic” numbers from peas and plasticine.

During math classes and during free activities, children worked with mathematical prescriptions - coloring pages, made constructions from construction kits, mosaics, Gyönysh blocks. The children also worked with counting sticks: they assembled figures according to the model and according to the plan. The children really enjoyed drawing geometric shapes on the semolina.

We played a lot of homemade didactic games of mathematical content:

Tic Tac Toe. Tasks: to promote the development of attention, memory, the ability to focus on a particular subject for a long time, to promote the development of the ability to distinguish between concepts such as "diagonally", "vertically", "horizontally".
"Mathematical Lotto". Tasks: to promote the assimilation of the sequence of numbers from 1 to 9; consolidate knowledge of geometric shapes.
Ladybugs and Daisies. Purpose: the formation of the ability to compare, compare numbers and figures, arrange them in forward and reverse order.
"Labyrinths". Tasks: to promote the development of logical and spatial thinking, multivariance, the ability to achieve goals, to promote the development of perseverance and patience.
"Which numbers are missing?". Purpose: development of the ability to determine the place of a particular number in a series and the relationship to the previous and subsequent number.
Math Houses. Purpose: the formation of knowledge about the composition of the number of two smaller ones.
Tangram puzzle. Purpose: to develop the ability of children to analyze images, to highlight geometric shapes in them, to break the whole object into parts, and vice versa - to compose a given model from elements.
Mathematical tablet Geometric. Purpose: formation of the ability to create images, development of figurative thinking, concentration,
"Magic Circles". Purpose: development of counting skills and consolidation of the composition of the number.
Ladybug Trainer. Purpose: formation of the ability to navigate the playing field with cells, move the ladybug in the indicated direction, determine the spatial arrangement of objects: “above”, “below”, “right - left”, “left - right”.
"Funny numbers". Purpose: the formation of the ability to lay out numbers from various materials at hand, the development of fine motor skills.

Solved comic problems, puzzles, guessed mathematical riddles. In this work, we used baby books made by parents. Together with the children, we learned and mastered new outdoor games, physical exercises and finger gymnastics of mathematical content.

At the final stage of the project, the following were arranged: a corner of entertaining mathematics, an exhibition of joint creative works of parents and children.