This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy. Adult supervision is required for all activities found on HappyToddlerPlaytime.com.
Learning to count with your toddler, preschooler or kindergartener need not be boring or filled with worksheets! Check out these easy and fun counting activities that incorporate hands-on learning!
Counting with Preschoolers
My kids love numbers! But I have to admit teaching twins their numbers can be challenging especially when they don’t learn the same way or have the same interests. But that is why I love what I do. I enjoy the challenge of finding ways to engage two four-year olds and encourage both to learn. These hands-on counting activities are a few of the ways that we practiced counting over the last few years.
Supplies For Counting Activities
For many of these activities we used items found around the house, craft room and playroom or in our backyard. Items such as stuffed animals, Pom Poms, leaves, toy animals and more are great for teaching preschoolers and toddlers to count.
Hands-On Counting Activities For Preschoolers
These 30 activities are some of my absolute favorite ways to learn to count with toddlers and preschoolers. They are amazing not only because they work on counting but because they also work on fine motor skills, number recognition and one to one correspondence!
Boring afternoons are made exciting with awesome animal-based bins, like Salty Shark Bay or Yarn Farm. Pretend play bins like Birthday Cake Sensory Play or Bubble Tea Party encourage creativity and imagination. And your kids will have so much fun they won’t even know they’re getting smarter with STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) activities like Sink or Float Soup, Magnetic Letter Hunt or Ice Cream Scoop and Count.
Learning all about science, technology, engineering, art, and math sets kids up for scholastic success―and it can be so much fun! Watch kids enjoy building STEAM skills as they color friendly fish, help water find its way to tree roots, solve math problems with mazes, and more.
Boost brainpower with fun riddles for kids ages 6 to 9
Riddle me this: What’s an exciting way to practice critical thinking while having a blast? The Big Riddle Book for Kids, of course! From hilarious puns to tough brain teasers, kids can build problem-solving skills with hundreds of riddles that show them how to think outside the box.
350 riddles for kids—Have hours of fun with riddles, puns and jokes, and math and logic puzzles that’ll get their wheels turning!
Level up their skills—Riddles get trickier as kids progress through the book, challenging them as they get better at solving puzzles!
Double-check their work—Kids can check their answers in the back of the book with a handy answer key.
Help children expand their minds while having fun with this puzzle book for kids!
Book: STEAM Crafts for Kids – coming out November 29, 2022
This show is all about fun and easy crafts for toddlers and preschoolers.
Set in the ultimate crafting space, Curious Crafting is a short form pre-school age series about the joy of making crafts. I lead a rotating cast of adorable little preschoolers (including my own) making magic out of common household objects.
In each episode we transform recycled items into magical crafts like a milk carton school bus, paper bag puppet or cotton pad turtle. The crafters learn and laugh their way through each activity while demonstrating what their young imaginations can create.
Curious Crafting shares the adventure and joy of making art with takeaway lessons for creating crafts at home.
Play is at the core of learning during the early years and it can take many forms. One of the most important of these is sensory play because it engages all of a child’s senses (taste, touch, smell, sight and hearing) and has a enoumous positive impact on brain development.
Our Sensory Play Kits are some fun and easy ways to keep your child engaged while at the same time using sensory play to nurture their mind!