Numeracy Activities For Children In Early Childhood

Numeracy encompasses a much wider notion than numbers – it can be understood as the suite of knowledge, skills, behaviours and dispositions that students need in order to use mathematics in a wide range of situations. The following provides a list of numeracy activities for children that can be incorporated into an emerging numeracy environment.

Just Explore Math Manipulative

Pattern blocks
Chains Snap cubes
Counters
Garboards
Colour tiles
Dominos
Buttons
Dog bones
Gems
Mini erasers
Seeds
Manipulative with trays
Manipulative with a dice
Manipulative with 2 dice (addition)

Tray Options

Ice cube trays
Mini ice cubes trays
Circle sorting trays
Muffin pans
Egg cartons

Sorting Trays With

Shapes Rocks
Shells
Pom poms
Mini erasers
Button

Make Numbers With

With gems
With mini erasers
With play dough
With buttons
With any small manipulative you have
Cut into pieces to create name puzzles
Sand writing trays
Sensory bags
Fun paper
Chalkboards
Dry erase boards
Dry erase pockets

Play Themed Math Games

Counting games
Pattern games
Sorting games
Addition or subtraction games
Graphing games
Shape/geometry games
Measurement games

Puzzles

Floor puzzle (students work as a team)
Individual puzzles

Measure Items (Length Width)

With connecting tubes
With chains
With counters
Put out small clipboards so students can record the measurements

Make Patterns

With chains
With cubes
With counters
With candles
With glass gems
With dog bones
With buttons
With pom poms
With pattern blocks
With mini erasers
With feathers
With any themed manipulative

Create Graphs

With cereal, beads, candy, pasta, or counters