Number Activities For Kids

My three year old caught onto learning his letters very quickly, but numbers and counting have been a different story. He is definitely my son, math was always the subject I struggled with the most. My husband is also a very smart guy, but math is not his thing either. So basically, genetically, our kids are a bit doomed in the math department. This is why I think it’s especially important for us to find ways to make learning math and numbers fun. Here are a few of the counting and number activities for kids that we have been doing lately.

4 Number Activities For Kids:

Sunflower Seed Counting

This was a fun activity for both of my sons. It was great for my three year old to practice his number identification and counting skills. For my one year old, it was a fun way to practice fine motor skills (My one year old had to be watched closely so that he did not eat the seeds).

What You Will Need:

Cardboard, pencil, paint, paintbrush, hot glue gun, sunflower seeds, wooden numbers (we found ours at a local dollar store), small dish, empty duct tape roll (Or you can glue a piece of cardboard in a circular shape)

Directions:

Trace the empty duct tape roll to create a circle in the middle of the cardboard
Draw petals around the circle to create a flower
Paint the flower
Once the paint is dry, hot glue the empty duct tape roll to the middle of the flower
Draw a square in left, lower corner of the cardboard
Place the flower seeds in a small dish
Place the wooden numbers around the table
To play:
1. Pick a wooden number, place it in the square, and have your child place that many flower seeds in the middle of the flower.
2. Place a certain amount of flower seeds in the middle of the flower, and have your child count them and place the corresponding wooden number in the square.

If you do not have wooden numbers, another option is to place a small piece of packaging tape on the cardboard and use a dry erase marker to write and erase the numbers on the packaging tape.

Counting Ladybug Spots

We were recently gifted a Chalk With Me Board and we are so excited about all of the learning possibilities of it. Bonus is that it rolls up, which makes it easy to store and travel with. It also has a super cute pattern on it when it is folded up. My son could not wait to get to the store to grab some chalk when he saw this board.

What You Will Need:

Small chalkboard (We used a Chalk With Me Board), chalk, wooden numbers (we found ours at a local dollar store)

Directions:

Draw ladybugs with varying numbers of dots on them
Have your child count the dots on the ladybug
Have your child place the corresponding wooden number on the ladybug

Shark Attack Snacktivity

Who doesn’t love an activity that is also a snack?

I didn’t even get to finish taking pictures of the original activity before the little hands entered the shot.

What You Will Need:

Cardboard, scissors, paint, paintbrush, sharpie marker, goldfish crackers

Directions:

Cut triangular shark head shapes out of cardboard (I cut out 10 of them)
Paint the shark heads
Once the paint is dry, draw details on the shark heads with a sharpie marker
Use a sharpie marker to label the sharks with numbers: one through ten
Have your child place the corresponding number of goldfish on each shark head.

Inspired by: another_day_in_prek

Hidden Numbers

I’ll admit the numbers weren’t too hidden because you can see the paint a bit even before you color them, but to a three year old, this was still really cool.

Also, I’m a sucker for any project that involves cardboard and recycled salsa jars.