Creative Family Fun

Your one-stop shop for kids activities and family fun

Math Activities for Kids

Skip Counting by 10 Pretend Play Store

By

My girls have always loved playing store. Always. And just when I think we’ve played every version imaginable, I think of a new idea.

I’ve already shared one way to use a pretend play store for math practice with our Number Stories Store. This time we’re going to use a store to practice skip counting by 10.

The set up is so easy. In fact, let your kids help. They enjoy setting it up as much as they enjoying playing with the store.

A pretend play store is the perfect way to have fun while you're practicing skip counting by 10. Set up your store, practice math, and have fun.

Disclosure: The post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Please see my disclosure for more details.

Supplies needed:

Items to “sell” – We used stuffed animals
Paper cut into small pieces
Marker
Coins

A pretend play store is the perfect way to have fun while you're practicing skip counting by 10. Set up your store, practice math, and have fun.

Set up your skip counting store

While my girls went in search of our merchandise for the store, I started working on the price tags.

I have this cool gift tag punch that I used to make our fancy price tags. (On a side note, I use it all the time to make homemade gift tags!)

You don’t have to get as fancy as I did, just cut your paper into small rectangles. I cut out 10 tags and started writing prices.

We were going to work on skip counting by 10, so each tag was marked 10 cents up to $1.00. I let the girls assign price tags to each animal.

A pretend play store is the perfect way to have fun while you're practicing skip counting by 10. Set up your store, practice math, and have fun.

This is the perfect time to practice with real money

We used real money in our store. This was a perfect chance to practice counting money!

I gave my daughter 10 dimes and let her start shopping.

She would pick out an animal she wanted to “purchase” and then have to count out her dimes to pay for it.

I had her skip count by 10 since that is what we were practicing.

My two girls played for a long time and got in a lot of sneaky math practice.

A pretend play store is the perfect way to have fun while you're practicing skip counting by 10. Set up your store, practice math, and have fun.

Don’t just stick with skip counting by 10

If your child needs to practice skip counting by 5’s, just switch up the game a little. Write prices in multiples of 5 and let them use nickles instead of dimes.

You could use prices that teach skip counting by 3, 4, 6, or any other set of skip counting.

This game is so much fun. Your kids will get plenty of practice skip counting and they won’t feel like they’re working. It’s a win-win!

A pretend play store is the perfect way to have fun while you're practicing skip counting by 10. Set up your store, practice math, and have fun.

For more information about skip counting:

Math Homework 101: Skip Counting: Why is skip counting so important and how can I help my child learn this skill.

Skip Counting with Bottle Caps: Another easy and fun skip counting game.

Skip Counting with the Cat in the Hat: Practice skip counting by 10 with this fun homemade puzzle.

Fine Motor Skip Counting Game: Get a little fine motor practice with this simple skip counting by 5 game at Better Than Homework.

Skip Counting by 5 DIY Game: Practice skip counting with this simple craft stick game at Simply Kinder.

Skip Counting by 10s with Bottle Caps

By

We’ve been reviewing skip counting this summer to help get my youngest ready for 1st grade usually with simple ideas like this skip counting by 10s activity.

There’s a big emphasis on skip counting in the early elementary years. It sets the stage for many math concepts, so it’s important for kids to get really good at skip counting.

You can find out more about the importance of skip counting at this Math Homework 101 post.

We made up a simple set of manipulatives to help us with our skip counting with clean plastic bottle caps. Then, we were able to use them for a few activities to help us review skip counting by 10s.

Learn and review skip counting by 10s with this simple fine motor math activity that can easily be turned into a fun busy bag.

Disclosure: Some of the supplies in this activity were provided by CraftProjectIdeas.com. All opinions and activities are my own. This post also contains Amazon Affiliate links and other affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for more details.

Set up is easy:

I’ve got a craft-supply hoarding problem (please tell me you have one too) and have a ton of caps from all the gallons of milk my girls drink. I used 10 lids to make our skip counting manipulatives.

I used a black Sharpie to write my 10’s on the inside of each lid. Easy peasy. The Sharpie will dry quickly and won’t rub off on your hands.

Learn and review skip counting by 10s with this simple fine motor math activity that can easily be turned into a fun busy bag.

Activity #1:

The first activity is super-simple. Mix up the bottle caps and have your child put them in the correct order. Mix them up and try again. They’re practicing number order along with skip counting.

Learn and review skip counting by 10s with this simple fine motor math activity that can easily be turned into a fun busy bag.

Activity #2:

Use the beads to help visualize your counting. Fill each bottle cap with 10 beads. (We used pony beads.) When you’re done, you’ve got 100 beads! Practice counting the beads in groups of 10. 10, 20, 30, 40….

Easy and fun!

Learn and review skip counting by 10s with this simple fine motor math activity that can easily be turned into a fun busy bag.

Turn this skip counting by 10s activity into a busy bag:

This activity packs up nicely to create a busy bag for early elementary kids. Add the beads to a small snack size plastic bag, then add that bag and the bottle caps to a larger bag. Now it’s ready anytime your child want to practice skip counting!

Learn and review skip counting by 10s with this simple fine motor math activity that can easily be turned into a fun busy bag.

Math Homework 101: The Benefits of Skip Counting

By

Let’s do some skip counting! Yes, I know this is one of those things that you’ve got a handle on. I did too.

But what I didn’t get was why there was such an emphasis on it. What are the benefits of skip counting?

My girls started working on skip counting in kindergarten. In fact, according to Common Core Standards, skip counting by 10’s is one of the skills your child needs to have mastered by the end of kindergarten. By the end of 2nd grade, your child should know their 2’s, 5’s, 10’s, and more up to 100.

What are the benefits of skip counting? Find out all about this important math concept and why it's emphasized so much in early math.

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

The Benefits of Skip Counting

The biggest and best answer is that skip counting paves the way for multiplication. 2 x 1 = 2, 2 x 2 = 4, 2 x 3 = 6, etc. See, you’re counting by twos.

Basically all the times tables are skip counting. If you child can skip count, they’re well on their way to knowing their multiplication tables.

I missed that memo in elementary school and remember spending so much time memorizing the times tables.

I’m not going to let my kids miss the memo. They’re still going to have to do the memorization work, but maybe it will come easier for them if they realize they’re just skip counting.

What are the benefits of skip counting? Find out all about this important math concept and why it's emphasized so much in early math.

Besides multiplication, there are some other advantages to being a pro at skip counting.

It helps you count money. Counting nickels is the same as counting by 5’s. Dimes, quarters… you get the drift.

It also helps a lot when adding and subtracting – especially when doing it in your head. Skip counting is just one more shortcut your kids can use when coming up with the right answer.

So how can you help your child with skip counting?

There are tons of ways!

First, let’s take a look at our hundred chart. (You can find a printable hundred chart here.)  It’s easy to visualize skip counting by using a tool that is very familiar to your child. Highlight the 10’s column to see how to skip count by 10’s.

Highlight the 5’s column and the 10’s column to see how to skip count by 5’s. Have your child highlight those columns and practice counting.

What are the benefits of skip counting? Find out all about this important math concept and why it's emphasized so much in early math.

Skip counting is easy once you get the hang of it, but, it is a lot to memorize. That’s where us parents come in. It’s pretty important to help your child become proficient at it.

There are millions of ways to practice. Skip count while taking a walk; skip count in the car driving back and forth to activities.

Have a skip counting store, skip count by 10 with The Cat in the Hat, or work some skip counting puzzles.

Now that you know the benefits of skip counting, sneak in some practice whenever you can. And, once they’ve got it, your kids will have such an advantage!

Other Math Homework 101 posts:

Using a Number Line

The Hundred Chart

Number Stories

Find all the Math Homework 101 posts here.

Addition with Rocks: An Outdoor Math Activity

By

Whether your child is just learning a new math concept or needs help reinforcing a skill, math manipulatives are always a big help.

Manipulatives aren’t just a fancy new math term, nor is it something you need to run out and purchase.  It’s simply a group of small items used to illustrate a math concept.

I’m teaming up with a group of bloggers to showcase ordinary items you probably already have at home and the fun ways you can use them to reinforce math concepts. We’ll be doing some addition with rocks. It’s a great indoor or outdoor math activity.

Practice math in the backyard with this for outdoor math activity, Addition With Rocks, which uses rocks as a math manipulative to work on adding.

We’re using a basic item, rocks.

With rocks, you can do math anywhere… in your house, in your backyard, on a camping trip, in the park.

They’re easy to find. And, if your kids are anything like mine, you may already have a nice collection of rocks at home.

We’re using them to reinforce addition skills, but they can be used in many other ways.

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for more details.

Practice math in the backyard with this for outdoor math activity, Addition With Rocks, which uses rocks as a math manipulative to work on adding.

My youngest daughter just finished kindergarten where they started learning the basics of addition.

She understands the concept, but doesn’t have her facts memorized. (It’s a bit too early for that anyway.)

Right now, the reinforcement she needs is to work on is the concept and manipulatives are perfect for the job.

How do we illustrate addition with rocks?

It’s simple.

Check out the picture above. The problem we need to solve is 3 + 2.

Add 3 rocks and then another 2 rocks. Add the rocks together and you have 5. Easy peasy.

Practice math in the backyard with this for outdoor math activity, Addition With Rocks, which uses rocks as a math manipulative to work on adding.

Even before a child is writing the number sentences, they can start learning the basics with manipulatives.

Make 2 piles of rocks and ask your child how many rocks they have all together.

Or, start with a small group of 3 rocks. Ask your child to add 2 more to the pile, and then ask them how many they have all together.

It can be a very simple way to sneak in a bit of math practice.

Other fun ways to use rock manipulatives:

Practice subtraction. Start with a pile of 7 rocks and ask your child to take away 3 rocks. How many do they have left?

Use the rocks to help when adding 3 or more numbers together.

Do you have toddlers or preschoolers? Use them simply to learn how to count. Help them count a small pile of rocks. Or, ask them to collect 10 rocks.

Have you ever practiced addition with rocks?

Practice math in the backyard with this for outdoor math activity, Addition With Rocks, which uses rocks as a math manipulative to work on adding.

Rocks aren’t the only fun everyday math manipulative you can use. Check out all the great ideas from a group of fantastic bloggers at this link, or on the image below.

You may also enjoy one of these fun math activities:

Plus 1 Minus 1: An Easy Math Game

Number Stories at the Park

Driveway Hundred Chart

Math Fact Sticks

Paper Plate Addition at Better Than Homework

Plus 1 Minus 1: An Easy Math Card Game

By

Learning math facts. It’s something that’s just got to be done.

Usually the default recommendation is to drill with flash cards. Sigh.

I know flash cards aren’t always the worst thing and I do know kids who actually enjoy them.

But, my two girls just aren’t all that fond of flash cards drills. (Or maybe they just know that Mommy will come up with a cool game that’s way more fun…)

So instead of grabbing flash cards, I grabbed a deck of playing cards to practice our plus 1 minus 1 math facts.

Practice your plus 1 minus 1 math facts with this fun math card game. It's a great way to practice math at home with your kids.

Plus 1 Minus 1 is an easy math game that reinforces the concepts of adding 1 to a number and subtracting 1 from a number.

It’s simple and fun.

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for more details.

Practice your plus 1 minus 1 math facts with this fun math card game. It's a great way to practice math at home with your kids.

How to play this Plus 1 Minus 1 math game

To play the game, remove all the kings, queens, jacks, and jokers from the deck. Shuffle the cards and lay the pile face down.

This game can be played by one or two kids.

Decide ahead of time whether you will be playing Plus 1 or Minus 1.

Each player takes turns flipping over the top card on the deck and quickly adding 1 to that number (for Plus 1) or subtracting 1 (for Minus 1). If they answer correctly, they can keep the card. Simple, right?

When I play one-on-one with my girls, I flip over the card and my daughter answers. Her goal is to be able to collect the entire deck!

Practice your plus 1 minus 1 math facts with this fun math card game. It's a great way to practice math at home with your kids.

Other Ways to Play

Play Plus 2 Minus 2, Plus 5 Minus 5, Plus 10 Minus 10, or whatever set of facts your child needs to learn. It’s very easy to mix up the game.

Add a little challenge. If they flip over a red card, they need to add one. If they flip over a black card, they need to subtract one.

Play a speed round. How fast can you go?

Practice your plus 1 minus 1 math facts with this fun math card game. It's a great way to practice math at home with your kids.

Maybe it’s just my own dislike of flash cards, but I’d much rather play a fun game to practice facts than drill.

Plus 1 Minus 1 is fun, easy to play, and needs no special supplies other than a deck of cards. Perfect!

More fun math games

Domino Doubles Game

Math Fact Sticks

Number Line Secret Codes

Exploring Greater Than or Less Than with Playing Cards at Better Than Homework

Sunshine Addition Fact Family Activity at Planning Playtime