Games help children recognize numbers

Number recognition is a key skill to learn during the early years, and there are many ways in which you can encourage this in your early years setting. When planning number recognition activities, there are a few points to keep in mind:. Draw lots of chalk circles on the ground outside, with a number inside each 1 to 5 or 1 to 10, depending on how much space you have , distributing them evenly so that you end up with several 1s in circles, several 2s in circles, and so on make sure you have enough for each child playing the game.

Call out a number and each child has to find a circle bubble with that number and stand in it. Make it more fun by blowing bubbles over the children in between each round. Take a small group of children out for a walk around the neighbourhood — or perhaps combine it with a visit to the local park — hunting for numbers along the way.

There should be plenty of opportunities for number spotting, for example on front doors, gates, buses, cars, posters etc. Get the children to call them out when they see them. Make your own giant dot-to-dot in the playground, by chalking numbers on the ground that the children have to connect in the right order to make a shape or picture.

For younger children stick to simple shapes using fewer numbers; for older children you can make it a bit more difficult. Go to the park and collect some conkers. Back at the nursery, draw the numbers 1 to 10 on the ground in a row with chalk, using both numerals and words, and get the children to line up the right number of conkers underneath each one. Obviously outside conker season there are plenty of other objects you could use for this activity, eg petals, leaves or items from inside.

This activity focuses on using the clay to trace numbers on paper. This is educational as well as recreational for the children. They learn how to write numbers, apart from reading and recognizing numbers in a fun and easy way. Trace the outline of the numbers on the sheets of paper. Now hand out the sheets of paper to the children along with instructions to fill the outlines with clay and recite the number that was traced along with the activity.

A road-trip is incomplete without car games, be it I-spy or just singing songs. Make your road-trip with children fun and informative with counting game. The objective of the game is to count the number of cars of a specific colour that you pass by. You can do this activity by choosing an uncommon colour for cars, like green or sky blue, or red.

Then you can tell the child to keep his eyes out on the road for counting the number of cars of the same colour you pass by. This activity will boost colour as well as number recognition in your child and prepare him well for preschool.

Create a puzzle in the form of a maze of numbers. It will help children in understanding the sequence of progression of numbers effectively.

While doing this activity, children can start from the point numbered as 1 and keep following the numbers in sequence to complete the maze. Mark the different checkpoints in the maze with numbers starting from 1. Ask the kid to start at point number 1 and move ahead in sequence to reach the end of the maze by sticking to the sequence. This helps the child understand the sequence of numbers and effectively comprehend and apply it in a real-life situation.

This activity can be carried out using multiple styrofoam cups wherein the kids can be asked to count and sort different varieties of products. You would also need a pen or a sketch pen to mark the cups as well. Mark the cups starting from 1 to 5. Arrange items in quantity as per to the numbers on the cups, for example, 1 toffee, 2 blocks, 3 erasers, 4 marbles and so on.

Give the mixture to the child and ask them to sort the different items first. Then ask them to count the different items separately and drop them in the styrofoam cups with the numbers as per the quantity of the respective item. This is one of the most powerful counting activities for preschoolers as it teaches them to count and recognize the number corresponding to the counted quantity, apart from also teaching them effective sorting skills.

Dice are very simple toys used in board games for children. A die has six faces, each with a different number of dots from 1 to 6. Dice can be used as powerful educational tools to teach kids how to count and recognize numbers effectively. Roll a pair of dice on a table with kids and ask them to count the number of dots on both the dice separately and cumulatively to make the child adept at counting and adding numbers. This is a fun exercise where you can ask kids to match the face value of one card with the face value of another card.

This can help the child in relating and equating same numbers by counting as well as by understanding the way of writing the numerals. Ask the child to pick a card from the deck make sure that it is a number card and not a face card. Next, you can ask her or him to find the cards equal in face value to the card selected by the child. You can repeat the same with other numerals. This activity makes the kids go out into nature and enjoy its beauty in addition to teaching them how to count effectively in a fun manner.

The more we learn about a certain topic, the stronger the connection between neural pathways in our brain forms and it will be easier to build upon that knowledge in the future. In the spirit of STEM Engineering, we will also show you how to prepare your own learning materials, so you can include your child in the preparation.

That will be a good opportunity to work on some motor skills development as well as creativity. Watch the video at the beginning of the article for a step by step instructions on how to create the letters and numbers activity or read on for detailed explanations for each idea you can use. If you want to make your own board, all you need to do is take a cardboard box empty shoebox or from some gadget. You can tape decorative paper around it to make it more pretty and interesting.

There should be empty space beneath the box so pins can go through it. Include your child in making it. They can cut paper or tape it, or even choose the decoration. STEM Engineering at work! Write the letters and numbers on colored papers of your choosing you can use one color for numbers and one for letters for easier discrimination.

Cut them with the help of your child. Using scissors is great for fine motor skills and oculomotor coordination. If letters and numbers are not perfectly symmetrical, even better!

That will help your child with a generalization of shape. Letters and numbers have the same meaning even if there are differences in the way they are written. Write some words or sentences on a piece of paper and tell your child to copy them on the board with paper letters. This activity is based on recognizing the shape of letters, so it can be used as a starter activity. This activity is more complex because the child must already know letters to do it, so present it only after you practiced recognizing letters.

Prepare a board by putting scrambled letters on it and use a pin to secure them. Make sure all the letters child needs are on the board with some extra to make it more difficult. You can, of course, make it simpler, by providing a word that your child needs to connect by telling it or even writing it.

Prepare a board by putting scrambled numbers on it and use a pin to secure them. Ask our child to connect numbers in order. Same as in previous activity, prepare a board by putting scrambled numbers on it and use a pin to secure them. This time ask your child to connect numbers but backward , starting from a number of your choosing. This is a more complex activity since counting backward is a more abstract process for your child.

When you are certain a child understands how to count numbers, suggest this activity.