Math Activities for Kids

Fine Motor Skip Counting Activity

September 5, 2019 By Terri Thompson

Have you ever bought a pack of paper plates to do one activity? And, then have 99 paper plates left over?

The struggle is real, right?

So, how are you going to use them up?

They’re too flimsy to eat on, so that’s not an option.

Your best bet is to come up with another fun paper plate activity, like this fine motor skip counting activity.

So grab a paper plate and let’s get going!

Grab a paper plate and some paper clips for this easy fine motor skip counting activity to help your kids learn to skip count by fives.

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Supplies Needed

Paper plate

Permanent Marker

Paper clips

How to Make Your Fine Motor Skip Counting Activity

Use your permanent marker and write the number zero near the edge.

Add five paper clips next to the zero to figure out how far apart you’ll need your numbers. After your five paper clips, write the number five.

Continue writing numbers around the edge of your plate, counting by fives, until you make it all the way around. Leave enough room for five paper clips in between each number. Because of this, I only had room for zero through 40 on my plate.

Use a second (or third) plate if you want to continue counting to 100.

How to Play This Fine Motor Skip Counting Activity

Provide your child with the prepared paper plate and a large handful of paper clips. You’ll need enough paper clips to make it all the way around your plate.

Starting at zero, work your way around the plate by putting five paper clips between each number.

Don’t forget to skip count along the way!

More Ways to Play

Work in reverse. If you have a plate with all the paper clips in place, go back around the plate and remove the paper plates while practicing skip counting.

Use this concept to practice any set of skip counting. Place the numbers further apart to count by tens or closer together to count by twos. You can have paper plates for counting by threes, fours, or even sixes. Use this for any set your child needs to practice.

Attach a plastic bag to the back of your plate to store your paper clips. Now, you have a great busy bag activity for your elementary-aged kid.

How would you play with this fine motor skip counting activity?

Learn Math With These Fun Games

I’ve always had a lot of success using games to help my kids with their math skills at home. It’s much more fun and rewarding that using flash cards are worksheets. Here are some fun choices of games to try at home.

Do More Activities With Your Family

Join our fun Facebook community, Creative Family Fun for Busy Families, for daily activities that are great for kids and families. We’ll chat, share, and have fun. It’s a safe and private place to share ideas for family and kids activities.

I’d love for you to join me! Just click the link below, request to join, and answer the questions (they’re easy, I promise). Come join the fun! Join the Creative Family Fun for Busy Families community here.

Do want more STEM activities?

Wouldn’t it be so much fun to get STEAM family activities delivered to your inbox? I think so! That’s why I’ve created this fun series, STEAM Family Fun, to be delivered to your inbox. After going through all the letters in STEAM each week with a fun activity devoted to each, you’ll start receiving a fun STEAM activity once a month. (And I’ll also pop up in your inbox occasionally if I’ve got other fun things to share.)

Fill out the form below to start receiving STEAM Family Fun in your inbox.

Playing Card Greater Than Less Than Games

March 6, 2019 By Terri Thompson

Have you ever thought about how many things you can do with a deck of playing cards.

There are tons of different games you can play. But, that’s not all.

They’re also a great tool for practicing different math concepts.

So, grab a pack and let’s explore comparing numbers using these fun greater than less than games.

Grab a set off playing cards to practice math with these fun and simple greater than less than games that will make learning fun.

If you don’t already have a deck of playing cards at home, pick up a deck to have on hand for fun math games.

For the following activities, you’ll want to pull out all the kings, queens, jacks, and jokers leaving all the number cards. Give the deck a shuffle or two to mix it up.

Now, it’s time to have some fun and learn too. Here are some ways you can use the cards to practice greater than and less than.

Greater Than Less Than Games for One Person

Divide the deck of cards in half. Turn over the top card of each pile. Decide which number is greater than the other number. Make a pile of the larger numbered cards. Keep turning over cards until you reach the end of the piles.

Alternatively, you can focus on the card that is less than. Make a pile of the smaller numbered cards instead.

Lay out two cards side by side on a sheet of paper, chalkboard, or small white board. Write the correct greater than or less than symbol between the two cards.

Greater Than Less Than Games for Two or More People

Divide the deck of cards between all the players. Have each player turn over the top card of their pile. The person with the largest number keeps their card and the rest of the players discard their cards. Keep going until the piles are depleted. Whoever has the most cards at the end is the winner.

Alternatively, have the person with the smallest number keep their card.

Have each player take turns flipping over two cards and then say the correct number sentence using greater than and less than. For example in the example above they would say, “five is less than seven.” Keep taking turn until the entire deck has been used.

Can you think of some other fun ways to practice greater than or less than with playing cards?

My Must-Have Math Resources

In addition to a pack of playing cards, there are some other items you can keep at home to help your kids practice math. Here are some options I would recommend.

Do you want to do more activities with your kids?

St. Patrick’s Day Hundred Chart Game

March 1, 2019 By Terri Thompson

Did you ever want to travel to the end of the rainbow so that you could find the pot of gold?

It’s fun to imagine, isn’t it?

With this fun St. Patrick’s Day Hundred Chart Game, you can do just that. We’re going to roll some dice and do some addition to reach the pot of gold.

Reach the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow with this fun printable St. Patrick's Day hundred chart game that is perfect for elementary kids.

After you’re done with this fun game, you can continue learning with hundred charts with all these fun Hundred Chart Activities to Make Math Fun.

How to set up your St. Patrick’s Day Hundred Chart game

You’ll need a few supplies for this fun game.

First, you’ll need to print a copy of your Pot of Gold Hundred Chart. You can find it at the link below.

Click here to get your Pot of Gold Hundred Chart.

If you plan on using this often (or in the classroom setting), laminate your hundred chart for durability.

Finally, you’ll need 1 or 2 dice and some game pieces. We just used coins, but you can use anything. Gold coins or St. Patrick’s Day mini erasers would also be fun.

How to play

You can play either a one person game or a two person game. The directions are below.

One person game

Start with your game piece on the number 1 square.

Roll the dice and move the number or spaces indicated. Encourage your child to use their addition skills to add the two dice together and also add that number to the square they are on to find out which square they should move to.

Keep playing until you reach 100. You’ve found the pot of gold!

Two person game

The two person game is very similar to the one person game. Except you’ll be racing each other to see who gets to the pot of gold first.

For this version, use two different game pieces. We were using coins, so we used a penny and a nickle.

Play the game the same as the one person version except have the two players take turns throwing the dice and moving.

The first person to reach the the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow in square 100 wins.

Are you ready to play this fun St. Patrick’s Day hundred chart game?

Use one of these fun game pieces

If you don’t want to use coins for your game pieces, here are some fun St. Patrick’s Day choices to use:

Math Activities for Kids

Fine Motor Skip Counting Activity

Supplies Needed

How to Make Your Fine Motor Skip Counting Activity