The Top 10 Supplies to Make Learning Math Fun!

Do you have good memories from math class? Mine aren’t all that great, although I loved math in the later grades and did well, but that entirely centered around the teachers I was lucky enough to have in those years.

But math doesn’t have to be tedious or boring! Read below about the Top 10 Supplies to Make Learning Math Fun!

Think math is necessary but boring? Think again! Check out the top 10 supplies to make learning math fun for toddlers, preschoolers, kindergarteners, and elementary students.

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.

 

Printables

“Really, worksheets??!” I hear you say. “I thought this was supposed to be fun!” But printables today aren’t even close to the worksheets we had when I was in school. {And for the record, my 6-year-old still loves worksheets – when they’re part of a rotation with more hands-on learning activities!}

My toddler loves these Christmoose Counting Cards 1-12: Add some manipulatives and practice 1:1 correspondence, counting, and hand-eye coordination.

Practice counting and 1:1 correspondence with these cute Christmoose Counting Cards 1-12. (Day 14 of the 24 Days of Christmas Printables for Toddlers.)

 

Memory games (and matching games for younger kids) are a fun way to practice different skills, from colors to numbers and number words to addition.

I'm introducing my 2-year-old to numbers using his favorite theme: This printable Car Counting Matching Game for Toddlers introduces numbers up to 3 with cars in six different colors. Great basic math practice while also working on important skills like fine motor, visual discrimination, visual scanning, and having fun!

 

Printable graphing games with custom dice and/or spinners are super fun! This Superhero Graphing Game is one of our favorites 🙂

This is a super fun introduction to graphing! Spin and race superheroes to fill up the page with this printable Superhero Graphing Game Printable! Fun and educational for preschoolers and kindergarteners.

 

Rainbow Bears

These little guys are so cute, and they come in different colors and sizes that make them perfect for all kinds of math skills!

Color Sorting with Rainbow Bears

My toddler's first totschool activity was color sorting with rainbow bears - and he's in love with it! Super simple, but a fun and educational introduction to colors.

 

Rainbow Bear Listen and Cover Game for Toddlers

Practice follow instructions and work on color word vocabulary with this printable Rainbow Bears Listen and Cover Game! Perfect for toddlers who are learning their colors. (Also includes a die template to make it a roll and cover game.)

We’ve mostly used them with my toddler so far, but older kids can learn with them, too! Check out these Counting Bear Addition Cards from The Kindergarten Connection and Measuring with Bear Counters from Mom Inspired Life.

 

Play Dough

Play dough is one of those supplies that never fail to engage both my 2-year-old and my 6-year-old. It doesn’t matter if you make your own play dough or use the store-bought kind, it’s great both for tricky moments like the witching hour and for all kinds of learning objectives, and that includes math.

Bubble Counting Play Dough Mats

Learning with free printables: Practice counting and numbers 1-10 with these cute bubble counting play dough mats! Perfect for toddlers and preschoolers.

 

Popcorn Counting Play Dough Mats

Help your preschooler or kindergartener practice counting to 10 with these cute printable Popcorn Counting Play Dough Mats!

 

Exploring Numbers with Play Dough

Combine basic math concepts with sensory play while exploring numbers with play dough.

 

Play Dough Addition

Simple Learning Activities for Kids: Play Dough Addition - math, sensory and fine motor all rolled into one!

 

Candy

Learning with candy! Most kids I know will come running when you utter the words. I ate my homework gets a whole new meaning 😉

Halloween Candy Patterns

Grab some fun candy and make quick and simple Halloween candy patterns with your preschooler! You'll practice important math concepts, and you can eat your work when you're done - does it get any better?

 

Marshmallow Hearts Math

Simple marshmallow hearts math for preschoolers - includes a free printable!

 

Subtraction with candy would be a hoot! In fact, I may have to brush up on my subtraction facts myself if it means I get candy 😀

 

Blocks

You don’t even need fancy special blocks for this, just raid your kids’ toy box.

Here are a few ideas:

Building Block Addition

This was a great little sibling activity that kept both my toddler and my kindergartener happy: Simple building block addition activity that allowed my 2-year-old to help my 5-year-old with learning basic math!

 

Simple Color Sorting for Toddlers

Patterning with Counting Blocks

Simple Math Activities for Kids: Patterning with Counting Blocks

 

Paint

Paint is a great medium to visualize basic math concepts: Write (or trace) large numbers on a big piece of posterboard. Paint dots and count them. Paint dots in two different colors and determine which color there are more (or less) of.

Or use your fingers:

Soccer Fingerprint Counting

Fall Food Fingerprint Counting

 

Foam or Plastic Cups

Foam or plastic cups are simple supplies that you probably have on hand. Here are a few ideas we love for working on subitizing with a die and number order:

Foam Cup Construction with Numbers

Foam Cup Construction with Numbers - extend a simple hand eye coordination game with numbers for more learning fun!

 

Foam Cup Construction with a Die

Foam Cup Construction with a Die : Roll to decide which cup to use next!

 

Number Stickers

My kids love stickers! Do yours? Number stickers are easily available and simply because they’re stickers, they’re an instant draw for most kids.

Simply randomly sticking them on a piece of paper and naming them works on a number of skills like fine motor, finger strength, hand-eye coordination, number recognition, and more.

You can kick it up a notch by putting the stickers in number order or making little addition or subtraction problems with them.

Here are two ways we used stickers to work on math skills without even sticking them anywhere:

Sorting Number Stickers

Math Activities for Kids: Who knew that sorting number stickers for another activity could be so much fun and a learning activity in itself?

 

Number Matching Race

Gross Motor Learning Activities for Kids: Number Matching Race

 

Unifix or Mathlink Cubes

We love them for graphing games (picture from Snail Race Graphing Game), but they’re also great for color sorting, dumping and putting back, addition, number bonds, and more.

My preschooler practiced graphing, counting, color words, and tally marks with this printable Snail Race Graphing Game!

Along with the Rainbow bears, they were one of the best purchases for practicing math we ever made! They’re pretty inexpensive, too, and will last for many years’ worth of math skills.

 

Board Games

From classic games like Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders, and Monopoly {now also available in a Junior version} that teach math incidentally to games with a specific focus on math, like Sums in Space, there’s a huge variety available.

I’ve written about our 10 favorites here (not just math-related): 10 Best Board Games for Preschoolers and Kindergarteners

I’ve also shared some simple printable board games for toddlers of my own: Shapes Board Game for Toddlers and Winter Clothes Board Game for Toddlers

Are you looking for a fun way to practice and review shapes with your toddler or preschooler? This Shapes Board Game for Toddlers is a quick and easy way to make it more interesting. Includes a printable die template that's easy to put together.

 

What’s your favorite way to make math fun? Leave a comment below!

 

Do your kids love learning activities?

I've co-authored the ebook ABCs & 123s that includes 40+ learning activities for a huge range of learning objectives for kids from age 2 to 8 that I think you'll love!

Click here to find out more and to buy it right now for immediate download. You could be doing the activities within minutes!

ABCs & 123s is THE book for you if you're looking for learning activities for kids from preschoolers to kindergarteners and beyond! 40+ hands-on play based FUN learning activities cover everything from letter recognition to double digit addition, from writing numbers to understanding base-ten. Your kids will have so much fun learning and reviewing all kinds of math and literacy concepts!

 

 

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