Kids learn best with hands-on activities like this number matching game that you can easily put together with objects you already have. Learning to match numbers and quantities is an important early math skill and this hands-on game is perfect for preschoolers and kindergarteners (ages 4-6).
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My four-year-old sees his big third grade brother doing mathematics and wants to be just like him so he and I decided to practice number and quantity recognition with this game.
Table of Contents
Supplies
You don't need to buy anything special for this game, but here are some suggestions:
- Number cards like these (we got A LOT of use out of ours), or numbers written on index cards
- Playing cards
- Dominoes
- Dice, we love our colored dice!
- Beads. You can use Montessori counting beads like we did, or string quantities of beads onto string (knot the ends tightly!).
Other ideas include play money from board games, index cards with quantities written in dots, foam numbers, number magnets, or anything you may have that has a number or quantity on it.
MORE: Preschool Bean Counting Activity
How to Play
After you have gathered your material, spread them out on the table.
Instruct your child to organize the objects by number. You can be specific, such as "find everything with a number 2," or allow them to sort the numbers and quantities at their own speed, depending on their interest and skill level.
Some kids may wish to put the objects in a line, some may want to make piles.
That's it! Kids love to organize and sort and this easy number matching game turned out to be extremely entertaining!
MORE: Hands On 1-10 Counting Activity
Tips
Don't worry about having an equal number of objects for each number. This game is not an exact science.
The beads were great, because they got my son to do some active counting. If you don't have snazzy beads like these, string beads on several pieces of pipe cleaner or string, or simply provide small objects like beads or buttons to count out.
"Game" is a loose term here. There is no winning or losing. If your child has trouble, work through it together, counting as you go. Remember, it's a learning process!
MORE:
- See our favorite math-themed board games
- Check out these 10 handy tools for DIY math games
- Have fun with skip counting
- Our list of preschool math books includes books with counting
writersideup says
I love basic stuff like this. It's more of an exercise or challenge than a game, but when you call it a game, it's more appealing to kids, I think 🙂 And what's sandpaper numbers? Never heard of them! lol
Erica MomandKiddo says
Yeah, it's not really a game, but he liked that I called it that.
Amy M says
Simple, but fantastic! thanks for the idea!
Natalie F says
This is a great exercise. We had something similar for our daughter when she was learning her numbers, and my husband made a "go fish" game out of cards where she needed to collect various representation of the same number.
Nina says
Nice! I have some dominoes, magnetic numbers, flash cards and good old paper and pencil that I just might try this later today!
Erica MomandKiddo says
Excellent, Nina! I hope you have fun!