Fun Math Games To Enhance Young Children's Mathematics Learning and Persistence
Pete the Cat is fun and loveable. At 8am, Pete puts on his favorite shirt with 4 groovy buttons. His buttons inspire him to sing, “My button, my buttons, my four groovy buttons, my buttons, my buttons, my four groovy buttons.” But as he goes about his day, one-by-one his…
This beautiful illustrated book invites children to look closely to find all the ways the illustrator has integrated number into the drawings. The first page is zero—an empty winter landscape—and nothing to count. The next page is 1—one tree, one bird, one house. The next page is 2—two buildings, two…
This fun book and song can be used to teach pattern, counting backwards, knowing one less, and understanding cardinality. For pattern, you can draw kids attention to the lines of the song that repeat each time and see if they know what changes—there is one less monkey jumping (rather than…
Jump to 10 describes a game that you can make with chalk on the sidewalk or with tape on the floor. Games like this are fun and great for practicing numbers, counting, and early addition and subtraction. While playing you can ask questions like, “How many more do you need…
Frog Jump explains how to play the game Jumping on the Lily Pads. Board games help children practice important number concepts like counting (or just knowing) how many dots on the die, counting one space at a time, and visualizing the number line. Frog Jump minibook
Roll Two explains the two-dice version of the Two Numbers game. Children roll two dice and can either turn over the cards that match the numbers they rolled or add the two numbers together and turn over the card that matches the sum. You can print out the cards and start playing…
Roll One explains a beginning version of the Two Numbers game. You can print out the cards and start playing this game at home with a 6-sided die. In this version of the game, you turn over the card that matches the number you roll. Children are practicing subitizing (knowing how many…
The book One More, One Less plays with children’s love of their special number—their age. Each page either shows one more, one less, or the correct number of fingers for the child’s age. They are written for 3, 4 and 5 year olds. Practicing one more and one less helps children move back and forth in the counting sequence and helps them develop a visual picture of number.
How Many Are Hiding? explains a fun game you can play anytime with any objects, fingers, or people you have available. This game also helps children construct a deeper understanding of number. They practice counting how many in the whole group, then they hide a portion (or sometimes all or…
Children love talking about their age, it’s their special number. The How Old Are You? books are specific to 3, 4, and 5 year olds. Each page shows a different way to make that number with your fingers. For example, you can make 5 on two hands with 1 finger plus 4 fingers, 2 fingers plus 3 fingers, or 5 fingers plus no fingers. This fun game helps children visualize numbers and understand that larger numbers can be broken into groups of smaller numbers.
The Can You Find? mini-book complements the Dot Card games. In this book, children practice counting or subitizing (knowing how many immediately) the dots on the cards to find the one they are looking for. The dots are arranged in different configurations to give children practice seeing quantities in different…
The seven ducklings in the books split into all the whole number combinations that make seven. First children count all seven ducks, then the ducks slide, hide, chase, splash, and quack in the combinations 6 + 1; 5 + 2; 4 + 3; 3 + 4; 2 + 5; 1…
Walking to the meadow, lake, library, park, bakery, toy store, and other stops, the author wonders ‘how many?’ about a variety of different objects and in different combinations; such as: “How many snails were there? How many snails had striped shells? How many snails had striped shells and stuck their…
This counting book is a pleasure to read aloud with beautiful, vivid illustrations. The narrator imagines she has turned into fish and to “flip down rivers and splash in the sea.” One each page, children can count the fish 1 to 10. The little narrator fish includes a simple addition…
The monkeys are back and out shopping where Mama is trying to keep track of all five of them. Mama knows she started with 5 monkeys, but then only counts four in the changing room, 5-4=1!
Children walk along the beach gathering up seashells one by one and adding them to the collection that gathers on one side of the page. After reading the book to the whole class, have book discussions in small groups. Turn to a page and ask children how many shells the…
Similar to an alphabet book, this book has a page for each number 0 to 20. It starts with the score is zero to zero; then one ball, one bat, and one call; then two teams; and at the end nineteen ice-cream cones to celebrate; and twenty baseball cards. After…
This popular book is great for talking to children about ‘how many in all’ (cardinality) and comparing numbers. After you have read the book to the whole group, have book discussions in small groups. Ask the children questions such as “How many apples did he eat through? Pears? Plums? Strawberries?”…
In this thrilling picture book a snake gathers up ten mice, counting them one-by-one, as he pops them into a jar to eat later. But, the mice outsmart him and free themselves counting back ten, nine, eight,… This book is great for practicing the counting sequence, talking about 4 mice…
Classic counting picture book: one black dot makes a sun, 2 black dots the eyes of a fox, and three black dots a snowman, etc. As you read, have the group count the dots on the page together. This book is a great compliment to the dot card games where…
Dot cards are a deck of fun cards with different numbers of dots organized in many ways. Dot cards help children practice important early math skills: reciting number words in the correct order, counting with one-to-one correspondence, cardinality, subitizing, and recognizing written numerals. There are lots of ways to play…
Our deck of shape cards and our set of shape card games helps children practice skills that lead to success in math! When playing shape card games, children pay attention to mathematical attributes, including shape, number, and color. They also practice their executive function skills by taking turns and remembering…
Building children’s number fluency is important in the early years and our Two Numbers games can help! When playing Two Numbers games, children are recognizing written numerals, arranging numbers in the correct order, and practicing early addition skills. To play, lay out a set of numeral cards and have children…
“How many do we have? Now close your eyes and I will hide some. Open your eyes! How many are hiding?” You can play How Many are Hiding? in many different ways! Use an assortment of items (fingers, pennies, stuffed animals, toys, or even people) and hide them with your…
Our Jumping on the Lily Pads number path game helps children develop a mental number line. In this game, children take turns rolling a dot cube and moving their frog (or any token or game piece) along a lily pad game board. The goal of the game is to have…
Articles, books, and toys that can serve as reference materials.