Learning Activities for Kids

Fun Number Line Activities for Kids

December 27, 2020 By Terri Thompson

Number lines don’t have to be boring. They’re a very useful tool for learning simple math facts. Here’s why number lines are so important!

In fact, if you’ve got a child in the early elementary years, they’ve probably worked with them in school.

You can help reinforce their learning at home with some fun math games.

These number line activities are definitely not boring! Let your kids move, play, and have fun while working with a number line.

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Fun Number Line Activities for Kids

Make secret codes! Use the number line to create secret codes to help your kids work on addition and subtraction. They’ll have so much fun with Number Line Secret Codes.

If your kids are just learning about the number line, play this Numbers Washing Line game from Lessons Learnt Journal. It will help them learn number recognition and work on putting the numbers in the right order.

Take it outside and go on a Number Line Run from Coffee Cups and Crayons! It’s a great way to get your preschooler moving and practicing their numbers.

You can also let your preschooler play a fun movement game inside with Walk the Number Line at PBS Parents Adventures in Learning.

Suzy Homeschooler turned the number line into an awesome balance beam. Such a great way to work on gross motor skills and math at the same time.

Hop your way along a number line with this fun gross motor math game. You can find this fun Bunny Hop Number Line Game at Teach Beside Me here.

Make a simple DIY Clothespin Number Line from Fantastic Fun and Learning for hands-on learning. You can play all sorts of games and sneak in some fine-motor practice.

Use a long outdoor number line to help your child practice their addition and subtraction. Go to No Time For Flashcards for this Outdoor Number Line Activity.

Play and learn with these fun number line activities for kids. You'll move, use your fine motor skills, play math games and have so much fun with these ideas. Learning math can be fun!

More fun number line games

Do your kids love Minecraft? They’ll love to build and play this fun Minecraft Number Line Game from Stir the Wonder.

Boy Mama Teacher Mama also has a great printable game for learning how to add and subtract with number line. You can find Number Line Hop here.

Do you want to get a reluctant kid excited about math? Add LEGOs to the mix! Creekside Learning shares several fun ways to combine the two.

You can also use your Duplos to make a fun number line. In the Playroom shows you how to make and play with this fun Duplo number line.

Have a fun math competition with a partner. Play Strike It Out! with Teach Mama. It’s a fun and challenging game for your kids who have mastered addition, subtraction, and using a number line.

Combine art and math to create a fun number line using a stamping technique. Rainy Day Mum shows you how to make this pretty Pumpkin Stamped Number Line.

Make a number line out of flowers to practice counting forward and backward. Coffee Cups and Crayons shows you how to create your own Flower Number Line game.

Do you have any fun ideas for number line activities?

Do more activities with your family

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Number Rocks Counting Game for Toddlers

December 20, 2020 By Trisha

Let’s make learning to count a fun game with rainbow number rocks.

Use these number rocks to practice counting and number recognition in a counting game for toddlers. You could use the number rocks to practice math skills with preschoolers and elementary ages, too.

Make a fun set of rainbow number rocks to help your toddler practice counting. Includes DIY instructions and fun counting games to play.

How to Make your Number Rocks

Select some rocks from your child’s rock collection or buy a bag of rocks. I found mine at the dollar store. Paint the rocks. Acrylic paint usually turns out brighter but washable tempera paint works too.

Be careful using small rocks as they can pose a choking hazard. Always supervise. If your child likes to put things in his mouth, choose large rocks.

These rocks are perfect to use and easy to paint!

Depending on your paint and rock colors, you may need two or three coats. I recommend allowing your rocks to dry on wax paper or freezer paper. They have a tendency to stick to newspaper and then the paint peels off.

Once the paint is dry, you can write or paint numbers on the rocks. I did the numbers 1-10 for my toddler. I also did 11-20 for my 5 year old.

Counting Games for Your Number Rocks

We put all of the rocks in numerical order and practiced counting them.

Next, you’ll need to gather some toys to be counted. We used our collection of ducks as well as Little People animals and people. Cars, blocks, DUPLO, stuffed animals, or any type of toy you have at least 10 of will work. It’s okay to mix and match as needed.

Place the number rocks in a bucket or container. Have the toys in a pile nearby.

Ask your child to choose a number from the bucket. What is the number? Have him say the number or repeat the number after you say it.

Place the number rock on the ground. Ask your child to find that many toys.

Say, “That’s the number 7. Can you put 7 ducks next to the number?” Help count the toys as your child places them down.

Set that rock off to the side and return the toys to their pile.

Let your child choose another number rock. Have her say the number and place it on the ground. Count out that many toys.

You could also have your child find the number rock that matches the number of toys he has out.

My toddler had 4 animals out. He wanted to add a goat. Now we had 5 animals. I asked him to find the number 5.

Then, he wanted to find the next number (the 6) and add another animal. He continued counting this way for a while.

Add an animal, find the number rock to match the number of animals.

With the number 8, he wanted to count out a new set of toys. He chose Little People figures.

After they were all lined up, we practiced counting them again.

If you don’t have number rocks, you could use number magnets or write numbers on paper or tape numbers to the side of blocks. The goal is to work on seeing and naming the numbers (number recognition) as well as counting.

Fun Toys to Use With Your Number Rocks

More Counting Games for Toddlers

Apple Counting Rocks – Paint rocks to look like apples and use them for counting practice.

Counting Ducks Toddler Math Game – No number rocks in this game, just ducks and containers.

Garbage Truck Counting Game – If your toddlers love garbage trucks, they will love this fun game.

5 Fun Ways to Learn With a Daily Weather Report

December 20, 2020 By Terri Thompson

I don’t know about you, but I check the weather app on my phone every single day. Sometimes, I’ll check multiple times.

But, do you ever share this habit with your kids? You should. It’s a great way to learn.

There’s more you can do than just simply checking in the weather. Check out these fun ways to learn with a daily weather report.

This simple STEM activity is fun and requires absolutely no prep time!

Get out your phone for this simple weather report activity. You can learn so much with a daily weather report. Here are a few ideas to try.

Five Ways to Learn with a Daily Weather Report

Compare temperatures

Use your math skills to discover the difference in temperatures. Find the difference between a day’s high temperature and its low temperature.

For example: Today’s high is 88 degrees and the low is 59 degrees. I use subtraction to find the difference. There will be a 29 degree difference today!

You could compare temperatures over the week. Record the temperature at the same time everyday. For example: What was the temperature at 3:00 pm every day? Find the temperature difference over the week. Find the difference between the week’s highest temperature and the lowest temperature. Or, simply find the difference between Monday’s 3:00 pm temperature and Tuesday’s 3:00 pm difference.

Learn to read a radar

Nowadays, we carry a weather report around in our pocket and can access it anytime. Because of that, I consider it a life skill to be able to click on the radar and know what it is telling you.

Do you know what all the colors mean? Do you know how to make the radar move and understand what it tells you?

Share this information with your kids and teach them how to understand what you’re seeing on the radar.

Note: You will want to pick a rainy or snowy day for this. There’s not much to see on the radar on a clear day!

Learn about predictions

Weather forecasting is all about making predictions. But, these predictions are pulled out of thin air, they’re based on a lot of information like weather patterns, radars, climate, and more.

You can learn more with one of these informative books:

Weather Forecasting by Gail Gibbons

Weather Words and What They Mean by Gail Gibbons

What Will the Weather Be? by Lynda DeWitt

Or, you can try this activity to learn more about weather prediction. Record the weather first thing in the morning. At the end of the day, go back to this prediction. Was the weather forecast correct? What changed?

Next look at the extended forecast and find the prediction for three days from now and five days from now. Was the forecast correct? What changed? Can you come up with some reasons why?

Use the weather report to plan the week

How does the weather report help you plan for the day or for the week? It can tell you whether you need to wear a winter coat or a light jacket. Or whether or not you need to grab an umbrella.

Are you planning a trip to the pool? Sit down with your kids and the extended forecast and have them help you pick the best day to go.

Look at the weather report before picking out your clothes for the next day. How did the weather report help you plan?

Other weather report activities

What else can you learn with a daily weather report?

You can find all sorts of information: rain totals, wind speed, air pressure, pollen count, etc.

You can look up cities around the world and see how it is different from what where you live.

Can you come up with some more ways to learn with a daily weather report?

Get ready to learn with these fun daily weather for kids activities. Learn to read a radar, use the weather forecast, and more.

Learn More With a Book About the Weather

Combine this weather activity with a fun book to learn even more. Here are some great weather books that I’d recommend:

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Bead Threading Fine Motor Addition Activity

December 11, 2020 By Terri Thompson

Fine motor and math is such a fun combination.

It turns math into a fun and hands-on activity. What could be better?

This Bead Threading Fine Motor Addition activity does just that. It turn addition in a hands-on activity that’s engaging and fun. Let’s grab some supplies and get started.

Exercise your fine motor skills while you practice your addition math facts with this fun bead threading fine motor addition activity.

Disclosure: CraftProjectIdeas.com provided the supplies used in this post. This activity and all ideas are my own. 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.

I love this activity because it requires just a little prep time. The supplies are common and easy to find and prepping this activity takes just a few short minutes.

Supplies needed for your fine motor addition activity

Fuzzy craft sticks (pipe cleaners)
Pony Beads
Flashcards or a place to write addition problems

Shop for pony beads here.

To prep this activity, take two or three of your pipe cleaners and twist them into a loop making sure you have two tails with enough room to string several beads. (See photo above for an example).

How to play this fine motor addition activity

This activity is so simple, but it’s a fun way to practice addition.

To start, you’ll need one of your pipe cleaner loops. Choose an addition problem and grab your beads.

Take the sum, 3 + 7. To solve this problem, add three beads to one of the pipe cleaner tails and then add seven beads to the second tail. Count up your beads to get your total, ten.

So easy, right?

Fun variations on this activity

There are so many fun ways you can mix up this activity. Here are a few:

Add beads yourself to your pipe cleaner loops and have your child write down the addition problem. For example, in the photo above, they’d write, 3+1=4, 3+2=5, and 3+7=10.

If you’re working with a preschooler, keep the pipe cleaners in a long stick and have your child work on numbers. Give them the number 9 and have them string nine beads on their pipe cleaner.

Create a busy bag from this activity. Add some flashcards, beads and pipe cleaner loops to a small bag. Now you can take this activity along on the go or have it ready for your child any time they want to work on addition.

You’ll love these other fine motor math manipulatives

There is such a wealth of fine motor math manipulatives. Check out some of these options you can use for practicing math, subtraction, and more.

Do you want to do more activities with your family?

Construction Truck Alphabet Matching Activity for Toddlers

December 11, 2020 By Trisha

Does your toddler love trucks? Build on that interest and practice learning letters with this Construction Truck Alphabet Matching Activity for Toddlers.

With this activity, we’ll work on letter recognition, letter sounds, and differentiating between upper case and lower case letters.

Help your toddler and preschooler learn the alphabet with this fun Construction Truck Alphabet Matching activity. It's a fun and hands-on way to learn.

Construction Truck Alphabet Matching Activity for Toddlers

Supplies Needed for Toddler Alphabet Game

Paper
Marker
Construction truck (we used a dump truck and a scooper construction truck)
Painter’s tape (optional)
Paper circle punch (optional)

Set-Up Your Alphabet Matching Game

The setup for this alphabet game is super easy. All you need are letters and a truck. I used a paper circle punch to cut out paper circles. Then, I wrote a letter on each circle – capital letter on one side, lower case on the other side. I drew a line under each of my lower case letters just so you can tell which way to read the letters. Instead of paper letters, you could use magnet letters. (Just be sure to supervise when using magnets especially if you choose small letters. I like these jumbo wooden letter magnets from Melissa and Doug.)

Next, you need a starting place and a landing area for the letters. I used painter’s tape to mark these areas. Double check your surface before using tape on it. Short term is usually fine for painter’s tape. If you leave it on too long (like overnight), it can damage your surface. Instead of tape, you can use a piece of paper or a tray.

Write capital letters on the tape or paper at your landing area.

Place all of your paper letters on the starting lines. I had the lower case letters facing up. The goal is to match the lower case letters with the capital letters written at the landing area.

How to Play This Alphabet Matching Game

Encourage your child to choose a paper circle. What letter do you see? Ask your child to say the name of the letter. (You can also work on letter sounds.) If she doesn’t know the name of the lower case letter, have her turn the circle over and look at the upper case letter. Does she know the name of the letter now?

Have a construction truck carry the letter to the landing area.

Match the paper circle to the correct capital letter at the landing area. Say: “Can you find the letter ___?”

You could also point to the capital letters and have your child say the name of each one until you get the matching letter.

Place the paper circle on top of the correct capital letter. Take your construction truck back to the start and get another letter.

My toddler loved playing this construction truck alphabet matching game. It was a great way for me to realize what letters he already knows and which ones he could use more practice with.

Once we had done all 26 letters, he wanted to play again. And so we did.

More Alphabet Learning Games for Toddlers

Snowball Toss Alphabet Game – Practice letter recognition and letter sounds with a pretend snowball fight.

Alphabet Jumping Games – Pretend to be frog and get jumping from letter to letter.

Driveway ABC Game – Head outside with some chalk to play this outdoor alphabet game.

Learning Activities for Kids

Fun Number Line Activities for Kids

Fun Number Line Activities for Kids

More fun number line games

You may also like one of these math activities:

Combine Math and Art With The Art of Circles Workshop

Do more activities with your family

Number Rocks Counting Game for Toddlers

How to Make your Number Rocks

Counting Games for Your Number Rocks

Fun Toys to Use With Your Number Rocks

More Counting Games for Toddlers

5 Fun Ways to Learn With a Daily Weather Report