Kindergarten Math Games

Games are a great way to help your kindergartners learn basic math skills. The Dingo's, a homeschooling family of three and creators of The Homeschool Den, use these fantastic games to strengthen number recognition, counting, basic addition skills, odd-even concepts, less-more concepts, and many other early math skills!

Paper Clip Addition

Armed with a pile of paper clips and colorful construction paper number cards (the Dingo's were working on 5 and 6), invite your kindergartners to find how many ways they can "make" the number on the card using the flash cards. This may seem a bit intimidating for those new to the concept, so you might consider creating a "prequel' to the game - providing students with "addition training wheels", so to speak, using a modified version of these number cards.

All you'll need to do is add a few "guide dots" on each card (like the cards shown below):Using these "training" cards, students will not only learn their math facts, but revisit the concept that addition problems are really just two sets of items (one before the plus sign and one after the plus sign - here one on either side of the number) that are put together to make one large group or set.

Paper clips still make great game markers, but you might also consider other options - clothespins, craft gems, buttons, pom pons, list could go on and on - to add a little variety to the game!

More-Less & Odd-Even Game

In this game of opposites, students learn/reinforce the following concepts:

• Number recognition as they read the number on the die.
• Counting as they collect the appropriate number of butterflies (or other items) based on their roll of the die.
• Fine motor skills as they learn to roll the die and properly work the spinner.
• Odd-Even/Less-More as they work the spinner and decide who wins the round.

Extension: Have your students keep a simple tally of each player's wins. This will introduce them to data collection, data collection tools (i.e. charts, etc.), keeping accurate records, and later, you can help them graph the results as an added bonus.

For more great kindergarten game ideas, be sure to visit the full post!!