Want to Improve Your Child's Math Skills?
Enroll your child for the Atlas Mission – the ultimate learning companion for kids.
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Enroll your child for the Atlas Mission – the ultimate learning companion for kids.
Developmentally, kindergarteners have reached the stage where they’re starting to think symbolically, and they haven’t yet heard the vicious rumor that math can be difficult or boring. Now is the time to show them how to have fun with numbers.
You want your child to glide through kindergarten with flying colors. You know that by the end of kindergarten she’ll be expected to know at least three different ways to tie her shoes and seven ways to solve for “x” – isn’t that what her teacher said at conference night?
If you’re like most parents, the list of skills kids need to know these days can be overwhelming, especially when it comes to math, which has so many – um – variables. You might not know where to start. If this sounds like you, here are some printable kindergarten math games to the rescue!
The good news is that your child still likes games. He’s outgrown Candy Land (hallelujah!) and now he’s beating you at Memory every chance he gets. But how can you get him to play a printable math game?
You’re convinced you’ll need to sneak doses of math into his life the same way you sneak nasty-tasting medicine into his applesauce. You have two options.
Option One: The Tedious, Devious Approach
Option 2: The Easy as Pi Approach
That’s it! The tedious, devious approach is no longer necessary. Besides, your brainy kindergartener is wise to your tricks by now.
Enroll your child for the Atlas Mission and let your child play with this award-winning educational program. Your child will become better at math without even realizing it!
Kindy Bingo involves a printable set of ten 3 x 3-inch bingo cards that use the numerals one through ten. The cards are also available in a dot version for children who are still learning to recognize numbers.
After printing the cards onto stiff paper or cardboard, call out random numbers and have players mark off the numbers or dots on their cards using pencils or small plastic chips. (Smart parent tip: Laminate the cards and use erasable markers.)
The first child to mark three numbers in a column, row, or diagonal line shouts out “Bingo!” and is declared the winner.
Kindergarteners love shapes, and that’s math! Ship Shape is a game that involves printable boat markers, game board, and a spinner.
This seafaring game helps your child learn to recognize the basic geometric shapes: circles, squares, triangles, and rectangles. Just print the markers, game board, and spinner, laminate the board and spinner, cut apart the markers, and you’ve got game!
Ship Shape is played like Bingo. Two players take turns spinning. The spinner lands on either “circle”, “triangle”, “rectangle”, or a blank, and the players place their ships on the matching shapes on their game boards.
The first player to get four in a row in any direction is the winner. (Smart parent tip: A square is also a rectangle, but a rectangle is not necessarily a square!)
Check out this pdf file where you’ll find 27 printable math games, plus handy hints for parents and teachers on how to effectively use them.
Game number two, “Rectangles,” is a good one for reinforcing counting and shapes skills. After printing out the four rectangle grids on page nine and cutting them apart, give each player a grid, a colored pencil, and a die.
Players take turns rolling the die and coloring in a number of adjacent squares equal to the number rolled. The last player to color a rectangle shape consisting of more than one square is the winner.
Most of the games in this pdf are for older children. A few could be played with kindergarteners, but only if parents or older siblings are there to show off help. It’s a good way to expose kids to higher level learning without expecting them to master it.
Now, when it comes to these printable kindergarten math games, here are four words to remember: Don’t go too fast.
As cute as some of these games are, stay away from abstract concepts until you’re sure she’s ready. If you introduce math by using a variety of pictures, shapes, objects, worksheets, and real life applications, you’ll help her develop her innate math abilities without frustration.
And here’s more four-word advice: Math phobia is contagious. Before you pass it on to your child, you may need to make your peace with math. Try these math games yourself, and before you know it, you’ll be saying “Math is as Easy as Pi!”
P.S. Did you know that the Atlas Mission is the only educational program that teaches your child ALL the skills they need to succeed in the 21st century?
It covers both core skills like reading, writing & STEM, as well as 21st century skills like creativity, critical thinking, problem solving & coding.
10 Kindergarten Math Games to turn your Child into a Math Wiz
8 Hands-On Kindergarten Math Activities that Engage and Excite
10 Sneaky Ways to Trick Your Kids into Learning Math
First Steps Towards Coding for Preschoolers: Understanding Instructions
Atlas Mission – the new educational program for 3-7 year old children that increases their awareness of other countries and cultures.
Lori Bonati creates educational content for the Atlas Mission. She is a mother, grandmother, and retired school psychologist who enjoys writing (books, poetry, articles, and songs), photography, and playing the guitar. She lives in Arizona.
Our blog publishes free tips for busy parents like you to help you improve your child’s Reading, Math, Science and 21st century skills.
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