Subitizing Activities For Kindergarten

Find It From Carole Fullerton

Subitizing is being able to tell the numbers in a set quickly, without counting.
Being able to subitize is an important component of number fluency. There are two types of subtizing; perceptual and conceptual. Perceptual is the simplest, and we can expect children in Kindergarten to see two or three objects like dots and know instantly what it is. Conceptual is the ability to see two numbers within a larger set like four dots on a die can be two and two.
I practice both types with my kindergarten students every day for at least five minutes during transitions. I also include lots of dice games in our daily math play and exploration activities.
Here are just a few being used in our spring kindergarten term:
Transition Games:


Finger Flashes - I flash dot cards which I have made uniquely for  my students, beginning with simple familiar patterns like you see on dice and then larger numbers. I use die formation for my dots and move to random dot patterns.

Number Strings - I use flash cards which I made using two colours of dots. First I flash and the children show me one number, then I flash again, telling them it is the same number, asking what two numbers do you see? With the second question I pause for 2 seconds to give wait time and then ask a student.
A second number string activity that I use is a white magnetic board and magnets. I flash the number and they respond with finger flashes. Then I flash the number again telling them it is the same sum, asking what two numbers do they see. I keep repeating a couple of more times moving the magnet and flashing then getting a couple of student responses.
You Tube Videos There are many subtilizing videos on You Tube here is one that my students liked at Easter

These are a few of the games we are playing right now:

The Tiny Polka Dot Game  There are 18 games inside the box including using the cards as a transition. We have played all of the games. The video above is very helpful if you don't know this game.

Find It! and Find It Bingo! Carole Fullerton, a BC educator now working as a consultant The link will take you to a full description of the game and the many different versions of it.

Christina Tondevold  Evergreen Games My friend Alex connected me with her site, Build Math Minds. This is a terrific resource, lots of professional information, links to other sites as well as classroom ideas. If you have some extra pro d funds left you might want to do some of her courses.

One More Partner A rolls a die and adds one more to the number then places a bingo chip on the game board. Then partner B plays using his/her own board.
Bump! Partner A rolls a die and places a cube on his/her number. Then partner B rolls a die and places a cube on his/her number. If it is a number that his/her partner already has a die on the same number he/she bumps the partner and takes the spot. If it is the second time that you landed on that number put a second cube and you can no longer be bumped. I like the game board from Christina's site and one from Carole's site because of the dot patterns on their game boards. Both are free downloads.

Roll and Colour You roll a die and colour the matching numeral. When the sheet is full the game is over. There are lots of free versions on Pinterest including monsters, Pete The Cat and seasonal versions. You can also put it in a plastic sleeve and have them use counters to cover the number if you want to reuse the same sheets.
Dice Games We play a lot of dice games in Kindergarten and you can find plenty of examples at early learning math sites. Right now we are playing board games during exploration, as a math play option as well as hosting family board games the last 45 minutes of each Friday afternoon.

Dice War Each player has ten dice. They take turns rolling all of their dice, pick a number and set those dice aside (say 6), and then keep rolling The player who accumulates all of the same number wins. You can change you number so say if you first roll and have 2 6's you set those aside but you next roll has 4 5's then you can save the 5's and put the 6's into the roll and roll again when it is your turn.

The Stick Game We play this outdoors a lot but if you play indoors you can use any ten objects. Each player has one die. Lay at least 10 sticks between you and your partner. Take turns rolling your die, each time moving that number of sticks towards you. The object of the game is to have all of the sticks.
Dominoe My husband made my domino game using a laser but I see now that you can purchase them from Etsy. I love the size because they are easy for the children to handle and that they are made of wood.  Still want to know more
Here is a post that may help Subitizing Why Teach It? and Subitizing in Pre K and K Hope this post helps,
Liz