5 Games to Maximize Your Child’s Number Sense and Math Skills in 5 Minutes or Less!

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Parents and teachers! Are you looking for ideas to help with math at home?

Sometimes, all it takes is 5 minutes daily to have a huge impact on your child’s learning and math skills! 

These 5 games require no materials, only your time with your child, and your helping your kids with math in the process!

You can get these game ideas and more in this Math Game Activity Book!

Clap the Number

This game helps with connecting numbers to their value. Tell your child a number and have them clap it out. If you say 5, they will clap 5 times. You can switch this game up with any movement, jump, slide, touch your nose, pat your shoulders, and more! 

Guess My Number

This game helps children think of numbers in relation to each other. Think of a number in your head and have your child guess what it is. Then they can think of a number for you to guess.  As they get better with numbers, you can increase the number range.

Grown Up-“I’m thinking of a number between 1 and 10”

Child- “7”

Grown Up- “It’s higher than 7”

Child- “10”

Grown Up- “Lower than 10”

Child- “8?”

Grown Up- “It's 8! You got it!”

What’s Missing?

Give your child a number sequence with 3 numbers like 4,5,6, and omit the 5, so you would say 4, 6, and they would have to tell you the missing number.  For a challenge, you can give them the sequence backwards, like 6, __, 4, but only if your child has a firm grasp on the forward number sequence, as it can be confusing.  As they get more familiar with numbers to 10, you can increase the range and give numbers to 20, 30, etc.

I Spy: Shapes

I Spy: Shapes is a great way to help your child recognize shapes in the real world.  Look around the area that you are in and give hints that describe the shape you are looking for until your child guesses. For example, you could say, “I spy three of the same shape that are red, yellow, and green,” or “I’m looking at something that has three circles in it, or three shapes that are round.” (the circles on a traffic light!) You can also have your child describe a shape for you to guess!

Keep On Counting!

Take turns counting as high as you can! The first player would say “1” the next would say “2” then back to player one for “3” or however many players there are. Begin counting to 5 or 10. Then continue to go higher as your child gets better at counting. Your goal by the end of the year is to count to 100, but it can take time! 

If the decade is stopping them (10, 20, 30), you can practice just the 10s and show that knowing the decade numbers can help them count to higher numbers. Rote counting to 100 is often a difficult skill for Kindergarteners to master, so frequent practice is helpful!

If you’d like more ideas to cover every Kindergarten topic, you can get the full collection of math games here!

Get some Free Games and Practice Pages here!