Kindergarten maths activities

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!

Want more articles like this? Subscribe to our newsletters!

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

Math class in kindergarten in the middle group

Math class in kindergarten

Math class in the middle group

Tutor Khodeeva S.F.

consolidate the skills of quantitative and ordinal counting;
repeat knowledge about geometric shapes, about lines;
to consolidate the ability to navigate in space,
navigate on a sheet of paper;
consolidate knowledge about parts of the day, about temporary consequences;
develop attention, observation, establish similarities and differences.

Material:

toys (hare, duck, elephant, horse, kitten, dog, fox) ;
envelope with riddles, with numbers, with geometric shapes;
big bear cub;
black sheet of paper, circle, two drawings with balls, sheets - geometric figures on one side - numbers, on the other - lines;
model of parts of the day.

Lesson progress.

Today Mishka came to visit us. He slept for a long time, and woke up and can not understand what time of year it is? And what time of year did the bear sleep? What will happen after spring? And after the summer?

Mishka brought an envelope with him, and now we will see what is in this envelope. Here lies a leaf, and there are riddles on it:

Bears and elephants are sleeping,

A hare and a hedgehog are sleeping,

Everyone around should fall asleep

Our children too.

When does everyone sleep?

The bright sun is rising,

The cockerel is singing in the garden,

Our children are waking up

They are going to kindergarten.

When does this happen?

The sun is shining brightly in the sky

The children went for a walk.

When does this happen?

And what follows the day? When are the kids exercising?

Mishka also likes to do exercises and built his friends. Who is first? Last? Count how many Mishka's friends lined up for exercise. Who is fifth? Seventh? Third? Who stands between the kitten and the baby elephant? Who is behind the dog? For a horse? Who stands between the hare and the dog? Who is standing in front of the duck? Before the fox?

And now let's play the game "Continue counting". I start counting and you continue (the game is repeated 3-4 times) .

The bear loves to play football and wants to play with you. Take black cardboard, this will be a football field, and a yellow circle is a ball.

Tasks: put the ball in the middle of the field, in the upper right corner, in the lower left corner, in the lower right corner, in the upper left corner.

Bear brought you two drawings. He loves balloons and has drawn them on the sheets. He looks and does not understand something is wrong here: the drawings are similar and different. How are they similar and how are they different? (In one picture there are 5 circles of the same color and the same size, on the other - different sizes and different colors)

Bear brought geometric shapes for you and put them on a plate. Raise your hands those children who have circles, squares, triangles, ovals, rectangles.

You have a number written on the figure: you need to draw as many circles as the number shows.

Now let's play the game "Finish the drawing". Flip the geometry over to the other side. You have drawn lines. What line is drawn by Masha? at Vanya? etc. (straight lines, curves, broken lines) . The bear invites you to finish the drawing along these lines.

Abstract of a lesson in mathematics in the senior group "Mathematical journey into a fairy tale" | Plan-summary of a lesson in mathematics (senior group) on the topic:

Municipal state preschool educational institution "Kindergarten No. 5 of the general developmental type of the urban district of the city of Novovoronezh"

Mathematics lesson

“Mathematical Journey to a Fairy Tale”

for children of the senior group

Prepared by the teacher: Korablina A. V.

2018

Abstract of a lesson in mathematics in the senior group

"Mathematical journey into a fairy tale"

Purpose: To continue to form elementary mathematical representations.

Tasks:

Educational: Consolidate children's knowledge of the sequence of digits in forward and reverse order.
Exercise the ability to consistently name the seasons, months, days of the week, parts of the day
Consolidate knowledge of geometric shapes.
Strengthen the ability to navigate on a sheet of paper.

Developing:

Develop social skills, ability to work in a group, in pairs; find solutions and draw conclusions.
Develop attention, logical thinking, memory and speech.

Educational:

To cultivate restraint, perseverance, goodwill, feelings of mutual assistance, a desire to help.

Methods and techniques:

Visual: handout figures, illustrations.

Verbal: conversation, questions, riddles

Practical: physical education.

Equipment:

Illustrations, magnetic board, handout numbers from 1 to 10, sheet of A4 white paper, colored pencils.

GCD:

Educator: Guys, do you like fairy tales? Would you like to get into a fairy tale and help our heroes?

Today I want to tell you a fairy tale, a fairy tale is not simple, magical, with mathematical tasks.

And to get into a fairy tale, you need to close your eyes and say the magic words “1, 2, 3 turn around, find yourself in a fairy tale!”

Open your eyes. The story begins.

Once upon a time there was a king. And he had a beautiful daughter. Here the tsar somehow left on his royal affairs, but his daughter remained at home. She went out into the garden for a walk, and then the wind came up, picked up the princess and carried her away to the Far Far Away kingdom. The tsar became sad and asked Ivan, the tsarevich, to find the princess. There is Ivan - Tsarevich for a day, for two. Approaches the hut on chicken legs. And Baba Yaga lives there. Tsarevich Ivan told about his misfortune. Baba Yaga promised to help if Ivan Tsarevich answered her questions.

Listen carefully to Baba Yaga's questions:

Educator:

What day of the week is it today?
What was the day of the week yesterday?
What day of the week will it be tomorrow?
What day of the week is the day after tomorrow?
What seasons do you know? Name.
How many months are there in a year? Name.
What is the first month of the year?
Name the parts of the day.

Educator: We coped with the task of Baba Yaga.

Baba Yaga gave a ball and sent the prince to Kikimora. She has a map. The ball rolled, and the prince followed him. The ball rolled to the swamp. And Kikimora appeared before the prince. She listened to the prince and decided to help, and in order to get a card, you must complete her task.

Educator: Let's help Tsarevich Ivan.

To move on, we need to build a bridge across the swamp, but an unusual bridge, but from numbers. From 1 to 9 and vice versa.

(Children lay out the numbers in order from 1 to 9and vice versa)

Name the number greater than 2 by 1 (3)
The smallest digit (1), the largest digit (9)
The digit that is less than 7 by 1 (6) 7)
Show a number greater than 3 by 2. (5)
Name the neighbors of number 9. (8 and 10)

Educator: Well done! We coped with the task, and Kikimora gave a map to Ivan - the prince can go further. The ball rolled on and led Ivan Tsarevich into the fairy forest.

-So we ended up in a fairy forest.

Miracles happen in the forest. The forest dwellers prepared a quick wits task:

How many ears do two mice have? (4) Why?
How many tummies do 5 hippos have? (5)
Birds were flying over the river: dove, pike, two tits? How many birds? (3) Why?
How many hooves does a horse have when the horse lies in the grass? (4) Explain.
How many houses do 100 ants have? (1)
How many times a year does Ivan Tsarevich have a birthday? (1
And you? (1)

Problems - riddles:

I found in the hollow of a squirrel

Nine pieces of small nuts.

Here is another one,

carefully covered with moss.

Well, squirrel, here is the hostess!

Count all the nuts! (10) (How did the number 10 come about?)

-Children's answers.

Six merry little pigs,

Stand in a row at the trough!

Here one went to bed _

There are piglets left...(5)

Six puppies

Plus mother-like.

How much will it be?

Do the math! (7)

With his nose up high

Hare carried six carrots,

Stumbled and fell -

Lost two carrots. How many carrots does the hare have left? (4)

One day three chickens,

And with them three little mice,

Three merry ones with them,

Washed piglets

Did you run early and play in the clearing? (9)

Three hares, five hedgehogs

They go to kindergarten together.

We will ask you to count,

How many kids are in the kindergarten? (8)

Well done, guys! Done with the task!

Are you a little tired?

The inhabitants of the forest advised me to gain strength in order to move on.

Physical education

Ivan Tsarevich:

One - bent down, straightened out,

Two - bent down, straightened out,

Three - three claps of hands,

Three nods of the head,

Suddenly he saw a stump, sat down quietly and dozed off.

Educator: Children, open your eyes, you see, there is a castle in front of us, in which the princess is hidden. The gates of the castle are closed, there is a high stone wall around the castle! How to get there?

- I came up with it! And let's make a carpet - an airplane, and then Ivan Tsarevich will be able to fly over a high wall on it!

To do this, we need to sit down at the tables and start making magic carpets.

Pencils and paper in front of you. Get ready to listen to the task and draw (Graphic dictation):

Draw a red square in the upper left corner;
Draw a green rectangle in the lower right corner;
Draw a blue triangle in the lower left corner;
Draw a yellow circle in the upper right corner.
Draw an orange oval in the center;
To the right of the orange oval, draw a pink rhombus
To the left, a purple trapezoid

Educator: now let's check:

What geometric figure did Yegor draw

in the lower right corner?

Where did Polina draw the yellow circle?

In which corner did Dima draw an oval?

Etc.