Maths Made Fun: 10 Fun Number Activities for Preschoolers
As a parent, you want your child to excel in every aspect of their life, including their maths skills.
But we all know how difficult it is to get young kids interested in maths, even if it is an essential life skill. They’d much rather be running around pretending to be dinosaurs than playing with numbers!
That’s why it is important to make your early maths lessons fun and interactive. Read on to learn 10 fun number activities for preschoolers that you can try at home yourself.
Who knows, you might even enjoy them!
What are Number Activities for Preschoolers?
Number activities for preschoolers focus on teaching children basic numeracy skills, such as counting, recognising numbers, and understanding mathematical concepts they’ll need later in their lives.
To overcome any boredom or disinterest, these activities are designed to be as fun and engaging as possible.
Why are Number Activities for Preschoolers Essential for Their Development?
Number activities for preschoolers are essential for their development.
From a cognitive perspective, they help children develop problem-solving, critical thinking, and logical reasoning skills.
From a ‘life’ perspective, we all know how important mathematics is when you’re an adult. From understanding your finances to checking prices at the supermarket, maths skills are involved in everything we do.
By starting early, when your child’s mind is most impressionable, you’re taking proactive steps to make sure maths is something that empowers them, rather than frightens them, as they enter their school years.
10 Number Activities for Preschoolers
Here are 10 fantastic number activities for preschoolers that you can try at home right now.
1. Fridge Magnets
Playing with fridge magnets is a great number activity for your preschooler.
Buy some colourful ones that your child won’t be able to resist playing with, and challenge them to count up each day.
So on day 1, ask them to put the number ‘1’ somewhere on the fridge, then number ‘2’ the following day etc. This is a fun way to teach them number sequencing.
2. Bingo!
Number bingo is a fun and exciting game that can help test your preschoolers ability to remember numbers.
Simply create your own bingo cards (drawing a grid on some paper is fine) and ask your child to match the numbers on their card with the numbers you call out. If you make sure there is a prize for them at the end you’ll soon find them begging to play ‘maths bingo’.
Don’t believe us? Try it!
3. Building Blocks
Number blocks are another fun number activity for preschoolers to learn their numbers.
All you need is a set of wooden or foam blocks with numbers on them. Then simply ask your child to stack the blocks in the right sequential order for some kind of reward.
The best thing about this activity is it can be paired with alphabet blocks to teach your child literacy skills as well.
4. Hopscotch
Hopscotch is a classic game that can help your preschooler learn their numbers. All you need is a set of chalk and you can quickly mark up a hopscotch course with numbered squares.
Then ask your child to cross the course, but call out the numbers they need to jump in. As they get better at understanding, you can make the game more challenging by asking them to jump in an even or odd-numbered square.
Just make sure you don’t call out numbers that are too far apart, preschoolers have short legs you know!
5. Hunt the Numbers
Number hunt is an awesome outdoor activity activity for preschoolers that combines a sense of adventure with some quality learning.
Hide some numbers throughout the house or the yard. These can be as simple as sticky notes with numbers written on them. Then tell your child to start hunting!
Once they’ve brought back their haul, sit down and ask them for their ‘help’ adding up their score. This can be a great way to test not just whether they can recognise which numbers are which, but whether they can also grasp their value.
6. Sing a Song
Number songs are a fun way to help your preschooler learn their numbers, and the best thing is you don’t even have to make them up!
There are plenty of songs you can either learn or play recordings of that incorporate numbers into silly lyrics that your child will love.
You’ll love seeing your child belt out a tune, and you might even have fun joining in yourself!
7. Math Games
Maths games are a great way to help your preschooler develop their maths skills. There is a huge variety, with the maths version of snakes and ladders being a great one!
Whether you play digitally or using a physical board game, these are a brilliant number activity for preschoolers because they are engaging, interactive and use applied maths all at the same time.
8. Dominoes
Similar to the benefits of maths games, dominoes are a fun and exciting way to help your preschooler learn numeracy skills.
Get them to build chains of dominoes, making sure the ends match. Then, to mix in some fine motor skill development as well, get your child to stand them all up and knock them down as reward!
9. Guess the Number
Guessing the number is a deceptively tricky number activity for a preschooler to play.
Let’s say you ask them to pick a number between 1 and 10. First, they need to know all the numbers between 1 and 10. Then, if they get it wrong, give them a hint that the correct answer is higher or lower than the one they guessed. This will test their ability to sequence all the numbers between 1 and 10.
Then all you need is some positive reinforcement for when they guess correctly and you have a fun, effective game that takes literally no time to prep!
10. Memory Test
Organising a memory test is a great way to teach numbers, as well as testing your child’s overall cognitive abilities.
Write a bunch of numbers on cards or pieces of paper and lay them face up on a table. They flip some over, wait a few moments, and ask your child to tell you what they were. If they guess correctly make sure to celebrate it! It won’t take long for this to become their favourite number activity.
Another great thing about this one is you can make it harder by increasing the amount of numbers. This means as your child gets better, this activity can scale with their ability level.
As a bonus, have your child help cut out the paper cards to make this a great cutting activity to test their fine motor skills as well!
Have You Considered a Childcare Centre?
At Little Miracles, we specialise in creating all different kinds of activities to keep your children engaged – including number activities!
Our main priority is to keep kids interested and their minds challenged – all in a fun, safe environment. We regularly change our activity routines, especially to match the seasons and for holidays like Christmas.
If you’d like to learn more about Little Miracles childcare centres, visit our website.
To enquire about child care centre vacancies, visit our contact page.
