Spring Math In Kindergarten

If you are looking for some fresh ideas for your spring math play here are a few that my students are really enjoying. We do math partner play twice a week and counting jars once. That leaves a day for math journals and a day for Family Board Games. We also do math play in the forest at least once a week.
I made my own number string cards and we do number talks during a transition once a day for about five minutes. As well, I just found a ten frame subitizing ppt on Pinterest with lots of of white space which I can project on my white board and write down their number combos after they turn and talk. Needless to say the children are super strong in math and more than ready for the rigor of grade one.

Find It. This subitizing game is a freebie from BC educator Carole Fullerton. Her website has wonderful math learning activities and investigations.

Patterning. The children shop the loose parts and create a few different patterns. Then they make a record to take home just drawing the pattern using numbers, letters or shapes.

Number Line. The children line up the number stones from 0 to 10 and then make a growing number pattern using loose parts.

Pete The Cat. The children roll a die and colour in the matching number. There are so many free roll and colour sheets. I just shopped Pinterest and chose a few (monster, flower, Pete the cat).

Dice Wars. Each player has at least ten dice to play this probability game. The player rolls all of the dice together and then decides which to keep ie: all fives, then keeps rolling, setting aside the dice which are five until all the dice are five.

Fill the Frame. I use an oversize picture frame for this game so the children use a double die, adding the two numbers together and then putting that many cubes into the frame. The object is to fill the frame. I just found this game through twitter on Thursday and the children played it on Friday. Lots of fun.

Plus One. The children use a game board and a die. They roll the die and add one to the number. They look for the number on the game board and put a token on the number. The object of the game is to cover all the squares.

Tiny Polka Dot Game. The children love, love, love this game. They sometimes choose memory, go fish, number line up or make up their own game.
Tiny Polka Cards

Dominoes. Another popular game with my students. My husband used his laser to make these oversize wooden domino pieces for me, but now I see that they are available on Etsy. It covers an entire table and they love to use the blanks to make extra doubles so that they can change directions.

Sticky Math I made a sheet with five columns beginning at different numbers, one, three or five. The Children glue pre-cut squares onto the columns to match the numeral at the top.

Math Journals I pose a problem usually drawn from stories the children are sharing i.e.: soccer, family, playdates and then write a simple story problem. The children use counters to act out the problem and then show their thinking in the journal.

Bump The children take turns rolling 2 die and adding the numbers together. The player puts a marker on the number. If his/her partner already has a marker on that space it gets bumped. However if the player has his/her own marker on that space they add a second marker. When players have two markers then he/she cannot be bumped. I got this game board from my colleague Margie Radigan but you can find it free on Pinterest . I find that it is a wonderful 15 minute warm up for Kindergarten math. You can easily find more challenging Bump games on Pinterest for free for higher grades.

Guess My Number (Math Their Way) Partners decide upon a number. A counts out that amount of small objects and puts his/her hand behind his back. Then breaks the number into two groups and reveals one hand. B guesses the missing number. They do this 3 times and then switch roles. This is also a really good transition activity if children finish counting jars ahead of their peers. They can choose to play a quick simple math game or keep counting after they complete the recording sheet. Sometimes if a student has been away and missed some mini lessons in a topic then I will work with that student to catch up. For example Ben missed two lessons on counting for accuracy so on Friday he worked with his partner on counting larger numbers using skip counting.