Squirrel Mini Eraser Fall Preschool Counting Activity

“Look Mommy! A squirrel!” This is the familiar phrase I hear most mornings as we are eating our breakfast. It has almost become a contest in our home for my two toddlers to see who can spot the squirrel first! They watch out the window, captivated by the squirrel’s every move! They love watching him jump from tree to tree, scurry across the fence, and search for acorns! The excitement is doubled and tripled when more than one squirrel enters the backyard. This is always a great opportunity for me to throw in some counting skills! If squirrel watching is one of your little ones favorite hobbies, like mine, they are sure to love this Squirrel and Owl Mini Eraser Fall Preschool Counting Activity!

I jump at any opportunity I get to teach math skills by playing a game! Your preschool and kindergarten kids will have so much fun with this fall themed activity that they will never even realize they are practicing counting!

Why Is It Important To Play Math Games?

Preschool should be all about hands on learning and exploration! That’s why number games, like this one, are perfect for kids just starting to learn how to count numbers!

Here are some of the many reasons why number and counting activities for preschoolers are so great!

• If I tell my little ones we are going to do a math worksheet they tend to groan a little, BUT if I tell them we are playing a game they run to the table as fast as they can! Games are a GREAT motivator for kids!
• Games help teach kids social skills! Taking turns and cooperation are all part of playing games! (even in math!)
• Math games are fabulous discussion starters! When you play math games your children can talk with you about how they are solving problems and their strategies for playing! This is great for vocabulary development and reinforcement!

Skills This Math Game Practices:

This counting grid activity provides the opportunity for practicing a variety of different skills!

Just the counting grids by themselves are a great introduction to counting tools for preschoolers! The I Can Count To 10 grid is a ten frame and the I Can Count To 100 grid is the same layout as a hundreds chart.

This number activity for kids is wonderful practice for one to one correspondence! If you aren’t familiar with this skill, it is simply the ability to count one object at a time and know that each object only gets counted once!

The way this activity is set up is great practice for addition! Talk with your little one as you play about how many erasers are on the grid, how many you are adding, and what the sum (total) is after adding all of the numbers together!

How To Use This Free Printable Activity:

To play this fun and simple counting activity for preschoolers, you need the following materials:

• a copy of this printable
• differentiated instruction cube (a regular die will work if you do not have one!)
• fall themed mini erasers

Print the dice cards and counting grids. If you want to conserve paper you can make your paper double sided and print one grid on each side!

Note: There is a Spanish version of this activity too in the printable file! Great for English Language Learners, or for Dual Language speakers!

You may want to laminate the counting grids, or place them in a clear, plastic sleeve to help protect them!

Prepare your die! If you have a differentiated instruction cube with clear plastic windows, cut out the dice cards and put them into the windows of the cube.

If your child is playing the counting grid up to 10 or 20, use the cards for counting up to 3. If they are working on up to 100, use the cards for counting up to 6.

If you do not have a differentiation cube, you can use a regular die.

Now you are ready to play!

Choose the counting grid that you want to use with your child! Roll the cube (or die) and place that many erasers on the grid.

If you don’t have mini erasers, counters or another small manipulative will do the trick to cover the spaces!

The wonderful thing about this game is there are no rules! It’s all about practicing counting!

Your child can place the erasers wherever they would like on the counting grid. There is no right or wrong place to put them!

After the grid is filled up, clear it and play again!

Other Ways To Use This Counting Activity:

• Make it a two player game! See who can get the most erasers on the board. Each player gets one specific eraser type (or counter color). Take turns rolling the cube and putting erasers on the board. After the board is filled count them and find out who put on the greatest amount of erasers!
• Practice addition and subtraction! The original version of this game focuses on adding erasers, but you can easily make it about subtracting them! Cover the board with erasers to start with. After you roll take away that many erasers. Talk about the subtraction sentence that would match what you did!
• Make it into a Fall Counting Worksheet for Preschool! Write numbers 1-10 on small slips of paper. Use the grid for counting to 10. Have your little one pick a number, practice number recognition by naming it, and then place it on the board OR count out that many erasers and place them on the board!