Reindeer Games - Math Concepts

Hard to believe that Christmas is just days away.  It's time for presents and visits from Santa and making cookies (lots and lots of cookies!)  It's also the perfect time for teaching math concepts to your little ones.

I set up a simple math game here.  This concept is number value.  Kiddos will understand that the written number '5' means five objects.  I only did 1-5 with this layout.  Start out simple and work your way up to 12 objects.

 You can use a whole host of items to teach this concept.  These small wooden reindeer, I found at Michael's Craft Store in the holiday clearance section.  I think there was a package of 20 for $2.99, but they are 70% off this week.

First, lay out the numbers (or simply write them clearly on a piece of paper) in order - 1, 2, 3,4,5.  Then ask the child to show you how many reindeer for each number.  If they place four reindeer under the number '2', don't say No, that's not right.  Say something like, Let's count those together.  While counting put your finger on each reindeer.  It helps to reinforce the number value.

You can use any objects that you have around the house - jingle bells, cotton balls, candy canes, etc. The play possibilities are endless!

Have a fun & playful day!
Mel

Math Games Mondays - City Life

Here's another fun Roll the Dice game for Math Games Mondays. Yep, it's Monday again already!  Where did the weekend go?

I found these Safari Ltd. Toobs that are of NYC and vehicles - perfect to use for every day play, but today, we are using them as counters.  Simply roll the dice. Cover up that many buildings.  Roll again until all the buildings have a counter on them. 

This game helps with number value, counting, taking turns, and bonding time.

Have a fun and playful day!
Mel

Math Games Mondays - City Life by melanieshanks on Polyvore

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Math Games Monday - Love Birds

 Happy Monday!

I decided to do a series of Math Games Mondays for preschoolers.  I was talking to a former classmate who is in the international banking field.  She said, "I think I like preschool math the best - you get to "subtract" M&Ms. Sounds yummy to me!"

Preschool math is sooo important and easy to come up with ideas.  I saw these bird cutouts at my local Dollar Tree dollar store along with the acrylic hearts and an idea sparked!

I simply added a large number to each one and the number word under it.  Add a cup to contain the hearts and wa-la! you have the Love Birds math game.

Easy peasy, right?  You could do duplicate this game a million zillion times using any kind of cutouts that you find.  I had a set for each letter (monkey cutouts for M day, frog cutouts for F day, etc) when I taught preschool.  They got beat up some by all the little hands using them, but these games are cheap to make.

So the child takes a Love Bird. He can read the number or you can read it to him.  Then, he takes one heart at a time and places it on the bird cutout until he reaches the right number.  It is important for the child to count each heart that he places on there and physically slides or places the heart on the bird.  This is one-to-correspondence - an important preschool skill.

The child may need help and that's okay - it's bonding time.  He may want to add too many or not enough.  Just say, "Let's count together."  You can model counting each heart individually.  Children learning by watching us.  :)

Play as long (or short) as he wants.  The idea is to keep it fun and light.  It'll be so fun that they won't even know they are learning.  That is how children learn - by playing.

This game teaches number recognition, number word recognition, one-to-one correspondence, the value of each number, and counting.

Happy Monday & Happy Playing!
Mel