123s
Indoor Hopscotch
This is a twist on the traditional hopscotch for little ones learning their ABC's and 123's. First start by making squares or rectangles with letters and numbers on them. Then lay them out all over the floor. Have your child start at one end of the room and see if they can cross the room jumping from square to square. They must identify the letter or ...(read more)
Finger Painting with Table Salt
Pour a lot of salt onto a cookie sheet and have your child practice their numbers or ABCs with their finger.(read more)
Counting Beans
Keep a plastic container filled with different beans -- all colors and sizes. On a rainy afternoon, spread out a sheet or blanket on the floor and pour the beans out on a baking tray on the sheet. Give your toddler different cups, spoons, muffin tins to move, sort, count, and compare beans. You can make observations about numbers, sizes, textures, colors... the variations are ...(read more)
Pinto Bean Letters and Numbers
Give your child a handful of uncooked pinto beans and have them use the beans to make letters or numbers. They can develop fine motor skills as they carefully lay the beans in rows and curves.(read more)
M&M Math
Dump a bag of M&Ms on the table and ask your child to sort them into different piles, by color. Then ask her to create vertical lines to show, without counting, which color has the most M&M's. You can add to the game by asking other questions such as: Which line has more M&Ms, blue or red? Which line has the least? After she has ...(read more)
Bathtub ABCs and 123s
Squirt shaving cream on the sides of the bathtub and have your child use his or her pointer finger to practice writing numbers and letters. They can 'erase' by smearing the shaving cream and starting over again.(read more)
Button Collage
Try this fun activity to practice counting and sorting, and end up with 3 pieces of artwork! Collect an assortment of buttons before starting. You may find that you have extras around the house that came with clothes or you can buy some at a fabric store. Write the numbers 1, 2, and 4 on separate sheets of construction paper. Next, have your child sort the buttons by ...(read more)
The Magic Number
This is a fun way to entertain young ones on a walk around the block. Have your preschooler pick his favorite number or a letter. As you go on your walk, help him find the number or letter on house addresses, street signs, mailboxes, license plates, or anywhere else. You can even write down how many times you found the magic number or letter. Older kids like learning ...(read more)
Walk the Numbers
Trace each of your child's feet onto a piece of cardboard or construction paper and have him or her help you cut out a number of copies of both. Then write a number (1, 2, 3, etc.) on each one, and lay them out in different patterns on the floor. Challenge/teach your child to step on his/her own feet in numerical order, ascending or descending. This teaches ...(read more)
Counting Sticks
This is an activity to help your toddler with counting. Take large tongue depressors and glue different amounts of beans or fuzzy pom-poms onto them. Make enough sticks to show numbers 1-10. Let your child help you count each bean or pom-pom that is on the stick. You can write the number at one end of the stick, or even spell out the number on the back of the stick. ...(read more)
Number Plates
Practice counting with this easy activity. Draw lines on a plain paper plate to divide it into 4 or 8 wedges. Write consecutive numbers in the wedges (1 through 4 or 1 through 8). Have your child count out and glue the corresponding number of beans or buttons in each wedge. (read more)
Bean Math
Give your child 5 lima beans (or other similar item) and a piece of construction paper divided in half. (For a game on the road, you can also put the beans in a ziploc bag and put a piece of tape down the middle). Have child divide the beans into all the different combinations that can be used to make five. For example, two on one side, three ...(read more)
Candles on a Cake
Who doesn't love a birthday cake? Use this fun idea to help your little ones work on addition and quantity. Begin by making a cake out of playdough. Put candles in the cake and count them. Then place the cake on a plastic lid and make another one. See how many cakes with different numbers of candles you can make. Which cake is the one for ...(read more)
Sudoku for Kids
If you are a Sudoku fan, you will enjoy working on this project with your child. Make a mini Sudoku board -- 4 square boxes comprised of four smaller squares. Gather four each of four different kinds of coins (or cut out 4 different shaped pieces and make sure you have 4 of each shape). Now, show your child the 'object' of the game: Have each type ...(read more)
Domino Math
Use dominoes to help teach math to young children by adding the dots on two or more dominoes, or just adding the dots on one domino for younger kids. You can also use this activity to teach counting!(read more)
123 Clean Up
Here's an idea to help your child clean up and learn how to count at the same time. Say, "Let's put two things in the toy box" or "Let's put eight things in the toy box." Pick numbers that your child can count to. As they learn higher numbers, have them count more toys to help them learn (and have the clean up go faster).(read more)
What is a Dozen?
Help your preschooler learn what a dozen is and practice counting to 12. Let your child decorate an empty egg carton with crayons, markers, stickers, and/or paint. Then he can fill each compartment with any small item, such as marbles, small toy cars, crackers, or whatever he'd like, as he counts to 12. You can also use the egg carton to teach him about subtraction. If you take ...(read more)
Cereal Sorting
In a ziploc bag, put a handful of round Cheerios, square Chex, and rectangle Frosted Mini-Wheats. Divide a sheet of paper into 3 sections- circle, square, and rectangle. Have your child sort each piece of cereal onto the correct column of their paper. You can discuss which group has the most, least, fewer, more, or equal. You can count the cereal in each group. Older ...(read more)
Counting Cards
This is a very simple activity that reinforces numbers, both writing and counting. Using 3x5 cards, write the numerals 0-10 or if your child has mastered to 10, 0-20, one number per card. One the reverse side of the card, use small reward stickers and stick on the matching quantity. For 10-20, make a group of ten stickers and circle them, then a group of the quantity ...(read more)
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