Easy, Hands-On Snowball Counting Activity for Preschool

Do you love snow but hate the cold? Set up this adorable snowball counting activity with your class this year and bring the winter chill indoors! Learn counting, addition, subtraction, greater than and less than, counting using one to one correspondence, and many other math skills with a simple set of magnetic or felt numbers and cotton balls! They look just like snowballs! The snowball counting activity is a fun way to bring math to life during the long months of winter.

Recommended Grade Level:

Preschool

Supply List
Coordinating Activities

Snowball Counting Supplies:

Cotton Balls
Magnetic or Felt Numbers

text overlay snow volcano winter science experiment for kids image of an orange baking soda and vinegar eruption in snow

Learning About Counting:

counting 1 10 activities

ASKING STUDENTS TO COUNT OBJECTS IS AN IMPORTANT STEP NEEDED TO OBTAIN INFORMATION. STUDENTS CAN ANSWER QUESTIONS LIKE:

Which has the most?
Which has the least?
How many more do I need to get to the number 5?

It’s important for children to practice count in order to understand the meaning and patterning of numbers.

The best thing about this one to one correspondence preschool activity is that you don’t need any advanced prep at all. All you need is a bag of cotton balls and a bag of magnetic or felt numbers.

You can have kids work with this alone in math centers, or you can work with the whole class using the cotton ball “snowballs” as your manipulatives for the day. Turn it into a game by using a dice to roll the numbers and solve basic math problems.

In addition to learning about one to one correspondence math activities for preschool here are some more ideas for what you can teach about using the activity :

Addition
Subtraction
Greater than
Less than
Multiplication
Division

What Can Preschoolers Learn From One-to-One Correspondence?

winter counting activities for preschool

PRACTICING ONE-TO-ONE CORRESPONDENCE, OR TOUCHING OBJECTS WHILE COUNTING ALOUD, IS IMPORTANT FOR CHILDREN TO HELP THEM UNDERSTAND AND MAKE SENSE OF THEIR WORLD.

Why Is It Important For Kids To Understand Numbers?

Besides the fact that kids love hands-on, fun counting activities, there are so many other reasons you should practice counting activities at home

Motor Skills

Counting and touching each object allows our kids to pick up and grasp, utilizing fine motor skills. For an added challenge, give your child plastic tweezers to grab the cotton balls.

Oral Language

While your child is practicing one-to-one counting, they are orally saying each number and matching it with the object. Verbal counting can help increase communication skills in young children.

Symbols Have Meaning

When children can see the symbol for a number and understand the amount that belongs to that symbol, they are practicing number sense. Students need to match the symbol with the correct amount and oral number.

Problem-Solving

To give each of your friends the same amount of cookies, you have to learn how to count and problem-solve. No child wants to be on the short end of the stick when it comes to lack of cookies. Our kiddos need to think and problem-solve to determine if everyone is given their fair share.

How To Use The Activity:

Give each child a set of numbers and a bag of cotton balls. Whatever skill they are working on, use the cotton ball snowballs to help with that activity.

The best part about these snowballs is that they will never melt and won’t freeze your hands off. You don’t even have to wear a coat to play with them!

Check out these great felt or magnetic numbers

Extend the Activity:

Just the Numbers

Just use the felt or magnetic numbers and see if your child can put them in the correct sequence.

Take it Outside

For our snow enthusiasts, take the activity outside and create your own real snowballs to count with. What a great way to incorporate a snow theme in preschool.