When you think about winter, you probably think about snowmen, snowflakes, ice, and warm coats. But mittens are also a big part of winter, and keep little hands toasty warm during the winter. But mittens aren’t just for safety. In this number counting activity, mittens are a fun way to practice counting and basic math skills during the long months of winter once Christmas has come and gone. Kids will love using mittens in a new way and math will be a lot more fun when you can bring iconic images of winter into the mix!
MATERIALS NEEDED FOR THE MITTEN NUMBER COUNTING ACTIVITY
Construction paper | Magnetic numbers
Before getting started, make sure you have some felt or magnetic letters to use along with this activity. This activity works well as a math center activity for preschool or kindergarten, but if you add in some flash cards, you can use it to improve basic math skills for older kids, too! I suggest laminating the mittens so that they don’t tear if you plan on using this activity for longer than a day or two. Ahead of time, draw the out line of a mitten onto a piece of construction paper. Cut out the mitten. Cut about 100 mittens for older kids, and 20 for younger kids. The easiest way to cut out multiplies at once is to stack about five pieces of construction paper and cut them out all at once.
Show the kids how to pull out a number, then count how many mittens that would be. You can also use this math activity to show which number is bigger or smaller, how many more there is in one number over another, and other basic math skills that kids will use throughout their school lives.
Combine this activity with your favorite winter books, like Jan Brett’s The Mitten, for a fun math and literacy activity!
The MittenThe MittenThe Missing Mitten MysteryThe Mitten TreeThree Little Kittens (Folk Tale Classics)The Snowy Day
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