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Preschool Activities

Spider Toss Number Game for Toddlers

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Spiders are a fun learning theme that’s popular around Halloween. Try our spider toss number game for toddlers to practice number recognition.

Practice number recognition with your toddlers when you play this fun Spider Toss Number Game. It's so much fun to play and learn!

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.

Spider Toss Number Game for Toddlers

What You’ll Need for the Number Game

Painter’s tape
Cardstock or paper (recycled paper would be great for this)
Marker
Scissors or paper cutter
Spider (made from 5 bump chenille stems)

How to Setup the Spider Themed Number Game

Use your painter’s tape to create a spider web. I like to start with a + and an x. Then connect the lines to make the web. [Painter’s tape should be fine on most surfaces but I don’t recommend leaving it on for long periods of time. Use a large piece of cardboard, posterboard, foamboard, or something similar if you’re wanting to play longer.]

Cut up cardstock or a piece of paper into small squares. Write a number on each square. I used the numbers 1-10. Work on higher numbers if your child is ready. You could even work on number words with older children.

Place the numbers around the spider web.

Create your spider with 5 bump chenille stems (pipe cleaners). I simply twisted the chenille stems together and then wrapped the stems around and around to create the spider body, 8 legs, and 2 pedipalps (short appendages by the spider’s head). I first made this spider for a sponsored post. You can watch a video or read step by step instructions on how to make the pipe cleaner spiders.

Feel free to use any toy spider you have around. Spider erasers or the plastic spiders found in the Halloween section would work well, too. Just be careful of the small size around toddlers who still like to put things in their mouths. A homemade cardboard tube spider would be great for this activity as well.

How to Play the Spider Toss Number Game

Have you child stand near the spider web and toss the spider onto it. What number does the spider land near?

Continue tossing and dropping the spider as long as your child is interested.

The goal is to talk about the numbers as much as possible. Are there certain numbers your child tends to struggle with?

As a second option, you can call out a number and have your child toss or place the spider on that number.

Say, “Where is the number 4? Can you take your spider to the number 4?”

Practice number recognition with your toddlers when you play this fun Spider Toss Number Game.

This is a super simple way for toddlers to practice naming numbers. The spider adds a bit of fun and interest.

If you want to practice counting from 1 to 10, have your child move the spider from number to number in the correct order.

Practice number recognition with your toddlers when you play this fun Spider Toss Number Game. It's so much fun to play and learn!

More Spider Web Games for Preschoolers

Spider Math Games – Work with a number line to practice counting and number recognition.

Fizzy Spider Web Art – Combine science and art to create colorful fizzy spider webs.

Sticky Spider Web Gross Motor Activity – Build a sticky web and see if your spider can catch what you throw.

Spider Web Walking Game – Can you balance on the spider’s web? Another great one for working on gross motor skills for toddlers.

Do you want to do more activities with your family?

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Leaf Hunt Alphabet Game for Toddlers

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Fall is a great time to do learning activities with leaves.

Our Leaf Hunt Alphabet Game for Toddlers is a fantastic way to work on learning letters. You can practice name recognition and letter sounds, too.

Learn the alphabet with this fun outdoor leaf hunt alphabet game for toddlers and preschoolers. You'll have fun moving and learning!

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.

Leaf Hunt Alphabet Game for Toddlers

Supplies Needed for the Leaf Themed Alphabet Learning

Leaves – collect real leaves, use silk leaves, or cut paper leaves

Chalk markers or permanent marker

Bucket or container

Drawing board (We used an Etch a Sketch Freestyle. A dry erase or chalk board would work well, too.)

How to Set Up the Leaf Hunt Alphabet Game

Head outside and collect some fallen leaves. We were able to collect magnolia tree leaves and tulip tree leaves after a storm had blown them out of the trees. Real leaves do become brittle and can crumble after a while. Larger leaves tend to do better. You can also preserve the leaves. Instead of real leaves, you can use silk leaves from the floral or craft department or you cut leaves from paper. If you want to save the paper leaves, you might want to laminate them or cover them with contact paper.

Write letters on the leaves. I used a chalk marker to write on real leaves. We’ve found that a chalk marker is fun for drawing on leaves as well. The chalk marker is erasable. If you change your mind, just wipe it off. Permanent markers would be fine substitute.

I drew uppercase and lowercase letters on our leaves. You could just start with uppercase letters or even just choose a selection of letters if your child is just starting to learn the alphabet. Sometimes too many letters can be overwhelming.

Spread the leaves out in the grass or on your floor.

Learn the alphabet with this fun outdoor leaf hunt alphabet game for toddlers and preschoolers. You'll have fun moving and learning!

How to Play

There are a few different ways we played this leaf game. The goal is to get kids moving and learning letters.

Game 1: Read the Letter

For this game, simply have your child pick up a leaf and bring it to you. Ask her what letter is on the leaf.

Outdoor fun with this leaf hunt alphabet game

You can also work on letter sounds. “That’s the letter B. B says /b/.”

Continue picking up leaves and saying the names (and sounds) of the letters.

You can add a bucket to your learning game if you wish. Have your child carry the bucket and place a leaf inside. Then, bring it to you and tell you what letter is on it.

Game 2: Find the Letter

For this game, you’ll need a drawing board. We use an Etch a Sketch Freestyle. A dry erase board or a chalk board would work equally as well. You could also use alphabet cards or letters written on paper squares. We were doing the activity outside, so I wanted something that wouldn’t blow away.

Ask your child to say a letter. Write the letter on the drawing board. (Alternatively, you can just choose the letter.)

Have your child find that letter in the leaves. Bring the letter back.

Practice saying the name of the letter and the letter’s sound.

You can also work on uppercase and lowercase letters. Write both cases of the letter on the board and ask your child to find them in the leaves.

Leaf Hunt Alphabet Game for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Game 3: Spell Your Name

Your child’s name is one of the first words he or she will be able to read. They get so excited when they recognize the word as theirs.

For this game, write your child’s name down on the drawing board. (You can even ask your child to spell it for you.)

Have your child hunt for the letters in his name.

My son found the letters in his name, but he didn’t find them in order. When he had all of the letters, I had him put the letters in the correct order under the drawing board.

More Leaf Themed Activities for Toddlers

Leaf Name Sticky Wall – work on name recognition with a contact paper sticky wall

Go Leaf Collecting– make a bag to collect your nature finds

Leaf Shape Collage – work on fine motor skills and learn shapes

Leaf Measurement and Sorting Activity

Do you want to 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.

Watermelon Sensory Sand and Alphabet Rocks

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A watermelon themed sensory bin filled with pink sand and alphabet rocks is a fun sensory activity for toddlers and preschoolers.

Practice learning letters while digging for alphabet rocks in the watermelon sensory sand.

Have fun playing and learning your alphabet with this fun watermelon sensory sand activity with homemade alphabet rocks. It's a fun summer sensory activity!

Watermelon Sensory Sand and Alphabet Rocks

Pink sand makes me think of watermelons and summer, so I created a simple watermelon sensory sand activity for my toddler. My 5-year-old wanted to join in as well. Activities like this are perfect for multiple age groups. Kids love digging in sand.

I first used our pink sand that Crayola gave us to make watermelon kinetic play sand. The addition of a few ingredients makes the sand squishable and moldable just like store-bought kinetic sand. Today we’re just using regular pink sand.

To make the sand smell like watermelon, we added watermelon Kool-Aid. This is totally optional, but it adds a fun touch.

Have fun playing and learning your alphabet with this fun watermelon sensory sand activity with homemade alphabet rocks. It's a fun summer sensory activity!

Supplies Needed for the Watermelon Sensory Sand Activity

  • Large storage bin (or baking dish)
  • Pink Crayola play sand (I’ve added an Amazon link but you can find it at Walmart for about $7 during the spring/summer while supplies last.)
  • Watermelon Kool-Aid (optional)
  • Black rocks (I found a bag at Dollar Tree.)
  • Permanent marker or paint marker
  • Excavators, dump trucks, or other construction toys
  • Shovels, sifters, or other sand toys
  • Container for holding the collected rocks. (I used a green plate to represent the rind of a watermelon.)
DIY Alphabet Rocks

How to Set Up the Watermelon Sensory Sand Bin

Pour the sand into a large storage bin. Depending on the size of your construction toys, you can choose a smaller bin if needed.

Add alphabet rocks to your sensory bin. (In my mind, the black alphabet rocks mimic watermelon seeds.)

I wrote lowercase letters on the rocks using a paint marker. The paint marker actually rubbed off some of the rocks during play. I’m thinking a permanent marker would have done a better job.

Always supervise sensory play and be sure to choose appropriate size materials for child especially if your child is likely to put things in his or her mouth.

Add construction toys and a container for the rocks to the bin.

Invite your child to search for the alphabet rocks in the sand.

When an alphabet rock is found, ask your child what letter they see. You can also talk about the sounds the letters make or even what words begin with that letter.

Use the construction toys to search and dig for the the rocks. Or use sand toys to scoop and sift the sand to find the rocks.

Have fun playing and learning your alphabet with this fun watermelon sensory sand activity with homemade alphabet rocks. It's a fun summer sensory activity!

You can write uppercase letters on the rocks as well. This allowed us to spell my toddler’s name.

Instead of alphabet rocks, you could use number rocks to practice number recognition and counting. We painted rainbow number rocks for a counting game.

More Alphabet Learning Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Construction Truck Alphabet Matching

Make Words with Alphabet Clothespins

Take Learning the Alphabet Outside with some chalk and a sidewalk

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.

Number Rocks Counting Game for Toddlers

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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.

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

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.

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

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.

Flower Name Recognition Activity for Toddlers

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Is your child interested in learning letters?

It’s always fun to start with the letters in their names. Our flower name recognition activity for toddlers is the perfect way to practice learning the letters in a name. Use the idea to work on learning the alphabet or matching uppercase and lowercase letters, too.

Help your child learn their name with this fun spring activity for toddlers - Flower Name Recognition Activity. It's so easy and so much fun!

Flower Name Recognition Activity for Toddlers

Supplies Needed for the Name Activity

  • Craft foam sheets
  • Permanent makers
  • Scissors
  • Large dry erase board
  • Spray bottle filled with water

How to Set Up the Flower Themed Name Game

Since this activity involves spraying water, it’s a good idea to take it outside. Or at least have some towels handy and your floor protected. The spray bottle adds in some bonus hand strengthening. See my alternative materials for other options.

Use a permanent marker to write your child’s name on a large dry erase board. (Permanent markers will erase from a dry erase board with rubbing alcohol. Or scribble over the permanent marker with a dry erase marker and then wipe clean.) I used the dry erase board side of our easel. This makes for an easy set up. A piece of tile board from the hardware store is also a good option for a large, inexpensive dry erase board.

Cut out flowers from the craft foam that will cover the letters on your dry erase board. I drew the flowers on the board as well. Use a permanent marker to write the letters on the foam flowers.

Place the foam flowers and the spray bottle next to the white board. Have your child spray each letter on the board with water. Talk about the letters. What do the letters spell?

Next, encourage him to match the letters in his name. Find the foam flower that matches the letters on the board. The water will allow the foam to stick to the board.

Talk about the letters as your child is matching them. Help her turn the flowers so that the letters are facing the correct way.

Help your child learn their name with this fun spring activity for toddlers - Flower Name Recognition Activity. It's so easy and so much fun!

Alternative Materials to Use for the Flower Name Recognition Game

You could try this same activity in the bath tub. The foam will stick to the walls when wet. Use bath crayons to write your child’s name.

Instead of using a spray bottle, use a wet wash cloth to get the white board wet.

Instead of using foam, use magnetic sheets to create your flowers. (Small magnets shouldn’t be used around toddlers and children who like to put things in their mouths.) Build the flower name on a magnetic surface like a magnetic dry erase board, a metal drip pan, or a magnetic cookie sheet.

Create a sticky wall using contact paper. Tape the contact paper sticky side out to the wall (or table). Use paper or foam flowers to build your names.

Help your child learn their name with this fun spring activity for toddlers - Flower Name Recognition Activity. It's so easy and so much fun!

More Flower Themed Name Recognition Activities to Try

Stir the Wonder used foam flowers and alphabet stickers to make spring flower names on the window.

Get kids moving with these 2 spring themed name recognition games from Toddler Approved. Go on a flower name hunt and play a water the flowers game.

Use the printable from Totschooling to make a name recognition flower garden.

More Name Recognition Activities for Toddlers

Make a Name Recognition Sensory Bin

Try these Farm Themed Name Recognition Activities

Play a Name Practice Water Game

Do you want to do more fun activities with your kids?

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.