During the winter season, you might be looking for a fun way to get extra practice counting and work on number sense with your little learners. Our winter counting activities for preschool are perfect! Tying the new skills you want to teach to a theme will help young children remember information and have fun learning.
Hands-On Winter Counting Activities for Preschool
Preschool students and kindergarten students are learning to associate objects with numbers in a one-to-one correspondence. The best way to help young learners to count is to practice with real objects and make the practice hands-on (cue in the fine motor practice). Here are some ideas.
Count Snowballs. Of course, if you have snow outside, you can count snowballs outside as you make them or as you throw them. However, if you need an indoor activity or don’t have snow you can use a couple of snowball substitutes and your imagination. Cotton balls or white pom poms are both perfect pretend snowballs. Both of these small objects will work perfectly with a tens frame page or a counting page because you can place one “snowball” on each item being counted.
Count Mini Erasers. You can find all kinds of thematic mini erasers and so many great options for winter. Use these tiny erasers for counting practice and one-to-one correspondence on your counting worksheets again.
Count Birds. During the winter, a bird feeder will attract plenty of species for you to count. You can keep it simple and count every bird you see for the next ten minutes. Or you can get more complicated and only count bluebirds, woodpeckers, or sparrows to keep track of the number of birds per species. During February you can also participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count.
Count Snowflake Stickers. Stickers are great because they build fine motor skills as students use them. And boy, do kids love stickers! Place snowflake stickers on ten frame pages or counting worksheets or even just plain blue construction paper and pretend it is snowing as you count.
Make a sensory bin. Any preschool teacher will tell you that some of the best learning fun happens when little learners are able to use their hands. Gather a variety of supplies such as mini polar bears, small pictures with snowman faces, winter-colored pom pom balls, and fake snow as the base to create a fun counting sensory bin.
Use counting mats. You can use some of the pages from my free Snowman Preschool Counting Pack to create a counting winter activity. Some of the pages are also great for number cards and a great way to get younger children involved in playful learning.
Winter Counting Worksheets
Printable activities can be used for winter math as well. One or two worksheets each day will help reinforce number words as sight words, number recognition, counting, number sense, and the number line. Our Winter Gnome Counting Book includes several different ways to learn about numbers through seatwork. It is 42 pages long and each page has beautiful illustrations to delight your child as they work at counting!
This beautiful winter-themed counting book features adorable gnomes and all things counting and numbers, to signify this season. Your child will learn to count to twenty, recognize numbers and number words to twenty, practice one-to-one correspondence, complete ten-square activities, and more!
Fun Whole-Body Counting Activities for Preschool
If you have snow, make and count snow angels together. How many snow angels can you make and count before you are cold enough to need hot chocolate? Once you make hot chocolate, you will need to count the marshmallows as they are dropped into the cup.
Running, jumping, and sledding in snow will offer even more opportunities to count or talk about numbers together. Count steps as you climb back up the hill, count trips down on the sled, count the number of people on the hill, count how many times you can jump into new snow, and make fresh footprints.
Go on a walk after snow and look for animal footprints. Count footprints and identify them as possible.
Count and match mittens and gloves. Count and match mittens and hats to coats for each family member. Count and match snow boots.
Use window chalk to practice making tally marks on your window and count them. You can use tally marks to count birds, trees, or anything you see outside. When you are done, window markers or window chalk will wipe right off.
Popular Winter Children’s Books and Counting Activities.
Read The Mitten by Jan Brett and count the different animals as they each squeeze into the mitten. Study the illustrations for more things to count!
Read The Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson and count the different animals as they gather in the bear’s den for a party. Count the food items mentioned too!
Read The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats and count the different activities the little boy does on his snow day. Look through the illustrations and count buildings, streetlights, or other items.
Ready Winter Sleep by Jan Taylor and count the different animals who hibernate. Count the activities they each do to prepare for hibernation or during hibernation. Count berries and seeds on the trees and anything else you see frequently in the illustrations.
Final Thoughts
Whether your preschooler uses white play dough to create snowballs to count or a printable counting worksheet, there are many ways to use a winter math activity to teach counting. In addition to learning counting, your preschooler will also learn literacy skills, handwriting skills (from writing numbers), and different skills that will be used in later grades. These fun hands on ideas are sure to get you and your kiddos through the winter weather in fun ways.
Download your Winter Gnomes Counting Book
This beautiful winter-themed counting book features adorable gnomes and all things counting and numbers, to signify this season. Your child will learn to count to twenty, recognize numbers and number words to twenty, practice one-to-one correspondence, complete ten-square activities, and more!
GET YOUR WINTER GNOMES PRESCHOOL COUNTING BOOK HERE
More Winter Resources for YOU
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Annette lived many years as an exhausted wife of 1 and mother of 6. Grab your fuzzy blanket, pour your favorite drink, and browse through our encouraging tips, printables, and curriculum options. Read more about me and the ministry here at In All You Do