Teaching numbers to preschoolers takes a lot of time, repetition and practice that goes on well into kindergarten. Numbers preschool activities should always be varied and hands-on as much as possible. Kids learn best when they are engaged with number sense activities that feel like fun games. I created the Numbers to 20: 10 Card Games Christmas Theme to celebrate the season while still working hard on those numbers to 20! I’ve included ten different card games to differentiate based on your students’ skills and abilities. Kids will love these Christmas math activities for kindergarten and preschool, and you’ll love that they are easy to prep and leave at the math center all December long.
Recommended Grade Level:
Christmas Card Games Supplies:
- Printer/Ink
- Laminating Supplies
- Paper Cutter
- Cardstock
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Find even more engaging activities in the Life Over C’s shop!
Learning To Count and Identify Numbers
BUILDING NUMBER SENSE WITH PRESCHOOL COUNTING ACTIVITIES
CHRISTMAS MATH ACTIVITIES IN PRESCHOOL AND KINDERGARTEN ARE A GREAT WAY TO ENGAGE KIDS. COUNTING GAMES MAKE PRACTICING NUMBERS FUN AND NEVER BORING.
Counting skills and number identification are some of the first math skills children learn. It’s important to have a solid foundation before diving into addition and subtraction.
Get a full-year of math activities
A full-year of kindergarten math activities: perfect for small groups, partner activities and independent centers.
I love these Christmas counting activities for preschool and kindergarten because they allow kids to practice a variety of skills.
The number recognition games include lots of counting objects, matching quantities to numerals and number words, as well as adding numbers together to make 10 or 20.
You can vary and adapt any of the games in your lesson plans to suit different skill levels. Some students might be working on number order, while others are ready to jump into place value, in kindergarten typically. For preschoolers, numbers 1-10 is a good place to start.
These games are great for helping students with number concepts such as adding, subtracting, composing, decomposing, equality/inequalities, multiplication, missing addends, and more. In addition to providing them with lots of opportunities to use numbers in multiple formats.
The Christmas-themed counting games for preschool focus on many important math skills:
- One-to-one correspondence
- Matching quantity to numeral
- Ten frames
- Tally marks
- Comparing numbers
- Subitizing
- Place value
What Can Children Learn While Playing Christmas Card Games?
SMALL GROUP NUMBER RECOGNITION ACTIVITIES FOR PRESCHOOL
IN PRESCHOOL, LEARNING NUMBERS TAKES MULTIPLE REPETITIONS AND DIFFERENT ENGAGING EXPERIENCES WITH NUMBERS. START WITH 0-10 AND ADD IN TRICKY TEENS LATER.
Math games, board games, and number puzzles are great opportunities to build number sense and learn/use math vocabulary:
- Sum/Total
- Quantity
- More/Less/Greater/Fewer
- Tens place/Ones place
Why Is It Important For Kids To Work On Number Sense Activities?
Preschool number puzzles, counting pom poms, and number recognition activities and games provide a solid foundation for future math skills.
Number Identification
Number identification is sometimes the first step towards understanding what numbers are. Kids need lots of practice to be able to look at a number and name it appropriately.
Counting Fluency
Being able to count smoothly and effortlessly goes a long way toward ease with future math concepts and skills. It takes lots of counting practice to reach that level of ease.
One-to One Correspondence
Counting groups of objects and assigning each object one more gives meaning to the numbers that kids identify. Then they begin understanding quantity.
Make Connections
Preschool counting games help kids make connections between different numbers. It helps them see 10 is greater than 2, or 5 is an odd number.
Tools you’ll need
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Don’t worry about making a special trip to the store. You can get all the supplies for this activity right here. Click the pictures above to get what you need.
Christmas Card Games What’s Included
10 Sets of Christmas Cards, Numbers 0-20 in Formats:
Numeral
Word
Picture
Ten Frames
Tally Marks
Base Ten Blocks
Dice
Dominoes
1 More Than…
Combine sets to create decks for number recognition in many formats. Print on card stock and/or laminate the cards. (Card stock is recommended because some children will try to see through the cards.) Laminating might be prohibitive due to the number of cards needed to create multiple decks/multiple games. If you cannot laminate, card stock is a MUST!
Centers:
Slap-It!
Slap 10/20
War
Addition War
Subtraction War
Multiplication War
Memory
Go Fish!
Go Fish! Make 10
Go Fish! Make 20
Instructions are also included on how to make a deck of cards for each game. The differentiation possibilities are almost endless!
Our Favorite Christmas Books For Kids:
We can’t live without these!
Once your child’s creativity is sparked with this fun activity, take it a step further with these engaging resources:
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The Night Before Christmas Hardcover: The Classic Edition, The New York Times Bestseller (Christmas Book)
I Spy Christmas Book for Kids Ages 2-5: A Fun Christmas Guessing Game for Children (Stocking Stuffers for kids)Little Blue Truck’s ChristmasLittle Red Sleigh: A Heartwarming Christmas Book For ChildrenHow the Grinch Stole Christmas (Classic Seuss)How to Catch an ElfI Want a Hippopotamus for ChristmasDasher: How a Brave Little Doe Changed Christmas ForeverA Very Marley Christmas
Differentiate
Play games for numbers 0-9 or 10 to start. Add other numbers as they are learned. Limit number of counting card formats to start. As students are able to recognize different formats, add them to the games to increase difficulty.
Slap It! Adaptations
For Slap-It! Choose any set as your center pile. The best would be the style with which the student is having most difficulty. This will help them to focus on finding formats that they have an easier time recognizing.
Record It
It always helps to tie writing the equations or numbers into the game. For any card game, record on a piece of paper numbers, equations, tallies, or anything that makes sense to practice for that game. You don’t have to do this every time.
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