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!
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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.
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.
Printable graphing games with custom dice and/or spinners are super fun! This Superhero Graphing Game is one of our favorites 🙂
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
Rainbow Bear Listen and Cover Game for Toddlers
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
Popcorn Counting Play Dough Mats
Exploring Numbers with Play Dough
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 😉
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:
Simple Color Sorting for Toddlers
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:
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 a Die
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:
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.
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
What’s your favorite way to make math fun? Leave a comment below!
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