20 Kindergarten Math Games That Make Numbers Fun from Day One

The best time to teach kids to embrace math is when they’re young and eager to experience new ideas and skills. These kindergarten math games teach the concepts outlined in the Common Core standards in fun and meaningful ways. Your littles will become math fans in no time!

1. Compare numbers with dominos

$Yellow card with domino showing two and three and blocks representing two and three (Kindergarten Math Games)$

Kindergarteners learn to compare numbers to determine which is larger and which smaller. Stacking math cubes is a fun, hands-on way to compare the two numbers side-by-side, making it easier to see the difference.

Learn more: My Fabulous Class

2. Have a rubber duck race

$Kindergarten math student moving rubber ducks along a line of plastic tiles$

In this kindergarten math game, kids race to see who can be the first to get their duck to 10 (or any number you choose). They roll a die and lay out tiles to move their duck. The twist? To get to 10 at the end, they must roll the exact number they need—no going over! This game is terrific for practicing counting on, basic addition, and making 10.

Learn more: Happy Toddler Playtime

3. Practice counting on with cards and dice

$Deck of cards with the five of spades flipped over and a pair of dice, text reads Counting On: The Card Game (Kindergarten Math Games)$

Remove the face cards from a deck of playing cards and grab a pair of dice. The first player turns over a card and then rolls the dice. The number on the dice indicates how far they “count on” from the card. (For example, a player turns over a three and rolls a four. They say, “Three: four, five, six, seven.”) If the player gets it right, they keep the card, and the other player(s) get a turn.

Learn more: Creative Family Fun

4. Match teen numbers

$Kindergarten math student holding cards showing the number 20 and bundles of craft sticks equaling 20, with more cards in the background$

Once they’ve mastered the numbers one to ten, it’s time to understand how those numerals add up to make bigger numbers. These free printable cards show numerals and matching bundles of sticks that deconstruct each teen number into tens and ones.

Learn more: The Kindergarten Connection

5. Build a weigh station

$Student placing jellybeans in a cup clipped to one side of a hanger, with a cup on the other side holding a plastic dinosaur$

Use a hanger and plastic cups to build a super simple weigh station. Kids will love dropping items into the cups to see which weighs more or less. Turn it into a game by having them try to guess which object weighs more first or how many of one item equals another.

6. Hold a shape scavenger hunt

$Papers labeled rectangle, circle, and triangle with various objects matching the shapes on each$

Kindergarten math students are learning to recognize shapes in their environment and also to categorize and sort. This scavenger hunt does it all! Send them out to find objects in the room that match the shapes. Then count and compare to see how many you have in each category.

Learn more: Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls

7. Make 10 with two-sided chips

$Collage of math problems written on desks, with double sided chips representing each number (Kindergarten Math Games)$

You’ll need counting chips that are a different color on each side for this activity. Kids shake up ten chips in a cup and pour them out on the table. Then they see how many they have of each color and write that number bond to make ten.

Learn more: First Grade Fairytales

8. Throw snowballs to make 10

$Three large plastic bins with artificial snowballs in each (Kindergarten Math Games)$

Make “snowballs” from paper (or any way you like), then place them in a bucket at one end of the room. Start kids out by having them toss snowballs into another bucket until they reach 10 (or any target number). Then, up the challenge by placing some snowballs in each bucket and have kids figure out how many more they need to toss in to make 10.

Learn more: Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls

9. Skip count with craft sticks

$Colorful wood craft sticks with fives numbers written on one end$

There are endless ways to use craft sticks in the classroom. For this kindergarten math game, number a series of sticks by fives, as shown. Kids can practice by putting them in order first. Then, have a student draw a stick and count on by fives from that number to 100—if they draw 75, they then count 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 100. If they get it right, they keep the stick, and the next player takes a turn.

Learn more: Simply Kinder

10. Use UNO cards to play addition war

$UNO cards with math cubes representing the numbers shown (Kindergarten Math Games)$

In the card game war, players each flip a card, and the one whose card is greatest takes them both. In this kindergarten math game twist, players each flip two cards. They then use counting blocks to represent the numbers and count on or add to find the sum. The largest sum wins the hand, and play continues.

Learn more: Planning Playtime

11. Battle it out in ribbon war

$Kindergarten math student comparing the lengths of pieces of ribbon$

Work on non-standard measurement with this fun and easy kindergarten math game. Cut colorful ribbons into a variety of lengths and place them in a bag. Each student pulls a ribbon from the bag. Then, put students in pairs and have them compare their ribbons to identify the longer one. The student with the longer ribbon keeps both, and the game continues.

Learn more: Sommer’s Lion Pride

12. Stack cups and count to 100

$Blue plastic cups labeled with numbers one to one hundred, stacked in a pyramid$

Kids love stacking cups, so they’ll get a kick out of this game, which has them doing it with 100 cups while they count! Turn it into a competition by putting them in teams and timing them to see who can finish the task the fastest.

Learn more: Kindergarten Smorgasboard

13. Drive and compare numbers to music

$Two students holding paper plates with different numbers of colored dots$

Prep for this game by using dot markers on paper plates as shown (visit the link below for more examples). Each kid takes a plate then uses it to “drive” around the room as you play music. When the music stops, they find a nearby partner and compare what they see on each other’s plates (e.g., “8 dots is more than 4 dots. 1 green dot is less than 4 green dots.” Then start the music up and repeat!

Learn more: Sommer’s Lion Pride

14. Play teen-number bingo

$Bingo cards with teen numbers and red markers$

This free printable game helps little ones master their numbers from 11–20, both as numerals and represented on ten frames.

Learn more: The Measured Mom

15. Put together puzzles to gain number sense

$Four part puzzle pieces with six, leaf with six ladybugs, six in tally marks, and die showing six dots$

Kindergarten math students learn to understand that numbers can be represented in a variety of ways. These free printable puzzles help them practice those skills.

Learn more: Tickled Pink in Primary

16. Roll and add for fluency within five

$Board game called Fluency Within Five, with colorful markers and blue die$

Kindergarten math students work to become fluent in adding and subtracting within 5. This free printable board game makes it fun!

Learn more: Liz’s Early Learning Spot

17. Make a match to learn shapes

$Cards showing shapes and pictures of fruit to match shapes (Kindergarten Math Game)$

Grab these free printable memory cards at the link. Then play and learn the basic shapes.

Learn more: Life Over Cs

18. Get four in a row and learn place value

$Card divided into a grid, with math cubes showing different numbers on each, with number cards and red markers$

This customizable game helps teach the early place-value concept of tens plus ones. Get it for free at the link.

Learn more: Two Boys and a Dad

19. Bowl and subtract within 10

$Toilet paper tubes set up like bowling pins, with a red ball and worksheet called Subtraction Bowling$

Set up a toy bowling pin set (or make one from plastic bottles or toilet paper tubes). Kids bowl and see how many pins they knock down, subtracting that number from 10. Then they repeat, this time subtracting from the previous answer. First to get to zero wins!

Learn more: Planning Playtime

20. Conquer cardinality with penguin dominoes

$Paper dominos with number on one side and variety of penguins, fish, or other items on the other$

Kindergarten math students work to master cardinality, understanding that written numerals correspond to the number of items pictured. These free printable penguin dominoes make the concept fun to practice.

Learn more: Playdough to Plato

Make them STEM strong! These 25 Kindergarten Science Activities will help.

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