Five Outdoor Math Challenges In Kindergarten

BC Kindergarten math is a really fun and easy to implement in an outdoor program. Here are five math play activities that we have been doing in the forest or beach the last few weeks. We  have been trying to be offsite four mornings a week and so have adopted a schedule of forest math twice a week,  art and then nature journals at the beach.

Comparing sticks is a great way to encourage children to explore length and width. Is your stick longer or shorter, where does it fit on our stick line? We ended up with a Christmas tree! We did this as a whole group but could now re-introduce it as a small group challenge. and bring along some extra nature bits like small fir cones and chestnuts for decoration.

We also used a collection of rocks to encourage the children to explore balance, spatial reasoning and number sense. Taking advantage of a pile of rocks the children were challenged to see how many rocks they could stack.

We wanted to encourage the  children to continue exploring symmetry so brought some leftover clay to the forest and using  nature  loose parts to create some nature art which includes symmetry. 

Counting is a big part of Kindergarten math. Children love to count and it is one of the easiest math activities to do in the forest. The children collect sticks, stones, pine cones, leaves from natures floor and then organize them to count in lines of 1, 2, 5 or 10.

Who am I? We often hang a line in the forest and play our mystery number game by providing clues using mathematical language like: I am two more than 3, I am between 3 and 5 or I am 2 less than 6. While we are using this to help with numeracy including recognizing dot numbers and  numerals this is also a fun oral math game which we also do lots as a transition or during line ups if we are waiting outside the music room or gym.