Math Magic: Number Order and Counting Game

Prepare children for kindergarten with fun and easy math games



The mastery of certain math skills is an important indicator that children are ready for kindergarten. But, in a completely atypical school year, how can you ensure this learning is still taking place?

As you’ve experienced, Connect4Learning’s lessons are based on children’s familiarities and interests, and emphasize supporting mathematical thinking and reasoning. While in daily classroom activities—from Welcome and Read Aloud to Fast Focus to learning centers—math games are typically available, at home children may not have as many opportunities available to them.

Not to worry! Families can play many fun games with their children to help them practice subitizing skills, shape recognition, and solving complex problems.

Share the following activity with families to help them teach their children about number ordering and counting, and ultimately, help prepare them for kindergarten.

Number Order and Counting Game for Families

Math skills such as ordering numbers and counting are important for school readiness. Play this game to help your child practice math skills they learned earlier in the school year and to help them prepare for kindergarten.

• Gather materials. Use the number pages or cards from the Moves to Count! activity. You can also make new number cards, writing one number per page or card, from 1 to 10.
• Shuffle and reorder the cards. Give your child all the number cards, not in order, and ask her to put them in order.
• Read and count each number card. Once she has put the cards in numerical order, ask her to point to each number as she says it, in order, starting from 1.
• Try it backwards! Next, ask your child to read and count the cards backwards, beginning with 10.
• Play magician. Turn all the number pages facedown, keeping them in order. Pretend you are a magician and point to a page. Ask your child to guess what number it is. Turn over the page to see if he is right!
• Take turns with your child. Take turns letting your child be the “magician” while are the “guesser.”
• Compare numbers. Notice, then talk about, the order of numbers. For example, say that four comes after—and is more than—three. And, four comes before—and is less than—five.