Preschool Counting Practice with Nature

This week we are doing a lot of preschool counting practice with nature. I love fall activities and the kids really enjoy simple, hands-on early math activities so this activity was perfect for us. It’s easy to set up and you only need a few simple things that may already be in your craft closet! That’s it, then it’s outside you go! 

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Preschool Counting Practice with Nature

My kiddos are mainly all older toddlers or just barely preschool-aged kids so most of our math activities are more beginning math games and activities.  focusing on number recognition, number order, sequencing, and sorting.  Nothing too complex yet!

Materials:

• Chalk
• Natural Materials (rocks, sticks, pine cones)
• Number Blocks (or the pieces from number puzzles works too!)

I used the chalk to draw squares on our back patio.  I set out the number blocks from our counting set and then the girls went scouting for materials to fill each square.  We worked with numbers 1 through 10 but only 1-4 are pictured.

The kids started with some number order practice by counting out and placing a number in each square. After making sure they were in the right order they added rocks or pine cones of each value into each square.  If they got confused or struggled with recognition of the number block we’d count from the beginning until they got to the square they were working on and knew what number they had.

When they finished with rocks they were off to find more materials from the yard to sort and count.  We ended up with rocks, pine cones, sticks, bark, and beans in the squares.  They tried to fit the right amount of each material in each square but quickly realized that not all the squares were big enough for five different materials and had to determine which ones were too big to combine.

Want more fall-themed ways to play? Check out some of our other fun fall activities and or click the images below.

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