Counting Jars:

Fill several small jars with different amounts of small items, like pom-poms, candy, beads, or buttons. Provide sticky notes with numbers that match the quantities in the jars. Ask your child to count the items in each jar and match the corresponding sticky note, or let them write the number themselves. This activity supports counting and one-to-one correspondence—an essential skill for kindergarten.

Counting the Skyline

Take a walk in a neighborhood with tall buildings. Pick a few buildings and count the windows from the ground level all the way to the top to estimate the number of floors in each one. Discuss which buildings have more or less windows or more or less floors.

Continue the lesson at home by having kids draw a few buildings with windows, labeling each building with the number of windows it features.

Stack 100 Plastic Cups:

Stacking plastic cups into towers and pyramids can be so much fun for kids, which makes them perfect, inexpensive math manipulatives.

For this activity, simply label cups clearly with the numbers 1 to 100. Then, challenge kids to stack them up, knock them down, and stack them again! Hands-on math activities for kindergarteners like this one from Kindergarten Smorgasboard also sneak in fine motor skill practice and even some early STEM skills.

Bonus Activity Idea: Have your child stack these cups in a variety of ways to practice even more concepts. Break the cups into groups of 5 or 10 for early exploration of skip counting and division.

Try counting and stacking backwards from 10 or even 100. Consider using different colors for the numbers 1-9, 10-19, 20-29, etc. to reinforce the idea of number groups. Or, for a real challenge, see if your child can fill each cup with enough small items to match the number written on it.

Shape Scavenger Hunt:

Go on a “shape hunt” around the house or yard. Ask your child to find objects that match basic shapes like circles, squares, and triangles.

As they find each item, encourage them to trace the shape with their finger, say its name out loud, and compare it to other shapes. This activity reinforces shape recognition and geometry basics. Try using our Shape Coloring Pages or Shape Worksheets to help reinforce shape learning.

Build a Number Train:

Using toy trains, cars, dolls, or any other toy your child prefers, write a number on a sticky note or plain sticker and place one on each item. Then, ask your child to line them up in the correct order, creating a “number train.” This can help your child understand ordering and counting in sequence.

Use Divided Plates to Learn Number Bonds:

Pick up divided plates with two smaller sections and one larger one, or make your own by marking paper plates into sections. Then, use small items like beans, candies, or mini erasers to explore number bonds.

Put a small number of erasers into one small section and ask your child to count them. Then, put more erasers into the other small section, and count them up too. Finally, put the total number of erasers all together into the big section, and count them up. You’ve just made a number bond! Head over to Just Teachy to see more ideas for teaching number bonds.

Bonus Activity Idea: These same plates can help kids learn about decomposing numbers, which is the opposite of number bonds. Start by placing a number of small items into the large section of the plate. Then, break those into two groups in the smaller sections.

Move on to placing a total number in the large section and a smaller number in one of the small sections, then asking your child to figure out how many items should go into the remaining section. Now you’re working on subtraction too.

Number Smash:

Write numbers on a sheet of paper, then roll small balls of playdough and place one under each number. Call out a number, and let your child smash the matching playdough ball flat! This activity makes practicing number recognition fun and interactive for kindergarteners.

Place Value with Building Bricks:

Try using building bricks in a similar way as the previous activity. You’ll need pieces with 10 studs (the raised circles on the top of the brick), either all in a row (10×1) or rectangular (5 x 2). Use small pieces with one stud for the ones. Or, hit the hardware store for long bolts and matching nuts, like The Measured Mom did.

Have a Shape Snack:

Make snack time a learning experience by looking for shapes in your treats. Chiêu Anh Urban Books has a simple printable template you can use, or simply ask children to describe the shapes of the foods in front of them. Use small cookie cutters for more detailed shapes like stars and hearts.

Bonus Activity Idea: Hold a shape hunt anytime, anywhere. Whether you’re at the grocery store, the library, or at home, ask your child to look around and find circles, triangles, squares, and more. You can even introduce 3D shapes like spheres and cubes. Have them draw the items they find for even more interactive fun.

Balloon Pop:

Inflate balloons and write a number or simple equation on each one. Call out a number and see how fast your child can find the right balloon and pop it by sitting on it! It’s a loud and exciting way to practice numbers.