Kindergarten Activities

Posted on by SCEOC

These activities will help SC Kindergarten students reinforce their math skills outside of the classroom.

  • Draw and label a picture of your family from tallest to shortest.
  •  Count the number of steps it takes to get from your front door to the refrigerator. Represent this number.
  • A full case of juice boxes has 10 boxes. There are only 3 boxes in this case. How many juice boxes are missing? Write your answer in a complete sentence. There are 7 juice boxes missing.
  • Three dogs were playing in the park. One more dog came to play. How many dogs are playing in the park? There are 4 dogs playing in the park.
  • Read Shape, Shape, Shapes by Tana Hoban. Walk outside. What shapes do you see? Draw all the shapes you see.
  • Look at some of your toys. Try to sort them into groups. How many are in each group?
  • Play Compare. How did you decide which number is greater?
  • How long is your room? Measure with blocks or toys. Measure with your feet. Which was more? Which is less?
  • Use sidewalk chalk to write all the numbers (in order) that you can. (Use paper and pencil if you do not have chalk.)
  • Toss ten pennies. How many heads? How many tails? Try again! Did you get the same result?
  • Go to the grocery store. In your shopping cart, practice counting what you see. How many pieces of fruit? How many eggs in a carton?
  • Hop on your right foot and count how many hops you can do. Hop on your left foot and count how many hops you can do. Which foot could you hop more? Which foot could you hop less? Compare.
  • Ask your family which food they would like at a cookout. Which food did people want the most? Which food did people want the least?
  • Count backwards how long it will take you to put on your shoes. For example 20 seconds. 20, 19, 18…
  • Grab a handful of objects. (Pennies, beads, marbles…) Guess how many there are. Count your objects. Were you close to your estimate?
  • Keep track of the weather for one week. How many sunny days? Rainy days? How many more rainy days than sunny days?
  • Count the people that live in your house with you. How many toes do they have altogether? How many fingers?
  • Write your name on a piece of paper. How many letters are there in your name? How many letters are there in the names of all your family?
  • Walk around the house. How many steps does it take you to get around your house? Then try giant steps. Which used more steps?
  • How many jumping jacks can you do in one minute? Is it more or less than 20? How do you know?
  • Read a counting book and then make one of your own. Did you decide to make it counting forward or backwards?
    Make a picture using 2 circles, 3 triangles, and some rectangles. Explain how you made it to someone!
  • Explore http://playkidsgames.com/ What math did you learn?
  • Count backwards starting at 25…20…15…10…
  • Make numbers or shapes out of play dough.
  • Read The Button Box by Margarette Reid.
  • Find a collection in your house to sort. How many in each group?
  • Name five different places you see numbers outside (on street signs, stores, license plates…). Draw a picture of the places.
  • Bobby Bear is missing 5 buttons on his jacket. How many ways can you use blue and red buttons to finish his jacket? Draw a picture of all your idea. Students could draw pictures of: 4 blue and 1 red button; 3 blue and 2 red buttons; 2 blue and 3 red buttons; and 1 blue and 4 red buttons
  • Draw what you are doing at 2 different times today when the minute hand of the clock is on the “12”.
  • Do a yes/no survey asking the people in your house, “Do you like the rain?” Circle which side has the most answers.
  • Play Double Compare (see directions). What number facts are easy for you?
  • Roll two number cubes or dice and add the two numbers together. How many times did you have to roll to get a 12? Try again.
  • Play a strategy game. Connect 4 or Checkers. Did your strategy work? Will you try a different strategy the next time you play?
  • Estimate how many spoonfuls it will take to finish your cereal. Count each spoonful as you eat. How close were you to your estimate?
  • Go around your house and count the windows and doors. Are there more windows or doors? Draw the one with more.
  • Pick a number from 1-12. Find that number around your house! Look at clocks, phones, books, magazines, etc… Pick another number.
  • Read Ten Black Dots by Donald Crews. Name different objects that come in groups of 1,2,3,… Make your own book.
  • I am thinking of a number. It has 1 ten and 5 ones. What number am I thinking of? Make up some riddles using tens and ones. The number is 15.
  • Play Close to 10 (see directions) How does this help you to practice your facts
  • Practice “counting” on from numbers other than 1. Example: Start at 4,5,6… Start at 17, … Start at 32, …
  • Build something with 20 blocks or Legos. Describe your structure and the shapes you used.
  • Play with bubbles. How many can you blow in one minute?
  • Set the table for dinner! How many plates do you need to put out? How many forks? How many glasses? Make sure everyone has a place!
  • Describe 2 different ways to make the number 10. Students could make the ten in the following ways: 10 and 0; 9 and 1; 8 and 2; 7 and 3; 6 and 4; 5 and 5; 4 and 6; 3 and 7; 2 and 8; 1 and 9; and 0 and 10
  • Play Memory