Developing Number Sense in Kindergarten

In kindergarten I think it is so important for students to have concrete understanding of numbers.  I love to teach math in a very hands on manner, giving students to opportunity to count real objects.  Most students in my class begin without having any number sense so I always begin with the very basics.  These are a few of my favorite ways to teach number sense in kindergarten. 

Identifying and Writing Numbers 
Quiz Quiz Trade

My school is very into Kagan strategies and cooperative learning and we played quiz quiz trade to practice identifying our numbers.

Each students begins with a card.   They find a partner, quiz their partner what number they have. Their partner does the same for them and they trade cards and then find a new partner.  It is great to get your students moving and I always see so much engagement!  I love playing teaching this game early in the year because we use it for so many concepts as the year goes on but it is important to teach and review expectations with students when playing this game.   

Playdoh Numbers

We also practiced making the numbers out of playdoh.  What 5 year old doesn't love using playdoh!?!?  I would say a number and the students would make that number.  We can then trace it with our fingers. 

Sand Writing

A fun and quick small group or intervention warm up is sand writing.  I use pencil cases to store my sand.  They are keep enough that they won't cause a lot of sand falling out.  
This is a multi-sensory activity that your students will love.  You can either just say a number, pick a ten frame or roll a dice.  For this activity, we were working on number to ten so I used a dice with numbers 1-10.  I had the student roll a dice, tell me what number it was, and then write it in the sand.  


Race to the Board

My students loved playing race to the board to practice identifying numbers.  To prep this game, I have numbers 1-20 on two sides, one for each team.  I glue the numbers on butcher paper and that is our game board.  I prep it once and then I am able to use it all year long.   
I play this game with a little twist to get all of my students involved.  Instead of just saying a number, I stand behind my two students who are racing to the board, so they cannot see, and show the whole class a quantity on a tens frame.  The whole class would shout out the number that I was showing and then two students would run to the board to find that number.  This gave the students practice identifying amounts on a tens frame as well as identifying numbers. 
Although at the beginning of the year we only focus on the numbers 1-10, I have the numbers 1-20 on my chart because I use it throughout the year for different math activities and this just made it easier for me. 

Hidden Numbers
This was a fun partner activity for students.  Each group of students received numbers strip to 10 and 4 mini erasers (like the ones you get from Target Dollar Spot)  The one partner closed their eyes, while the other partner placed the erasers on numbers to make them "hidden."  The partner then opened their eyes and identified the numbers that were hiding.  


Number Jam
To teach number identification and writing, I am in love with number songs.... It has helped so many of my students correctly form the numbers.  You can listen to it by clicking on the link below.

I love using it as our number warm up.  I play the song and the students write the number on their white boards (or shaving cream) while listening to the music. 

Concrete Represention of Numbers


Ordering Numbers:
This is a fun partner activity.  I give each group of students numbers 1-5 and cubes.  There is 1 cube of 1 color, 2 cubes of a different color, 3 cubes of another color, etc.  The students order the numbers, sort the cubes and match them to a number.  It is a quick and fun hands on activity for them.   


Various Representation of Numbers

This was such a simple, yet effective small group or center activity that I did with my students.I found several objects in the classroom that they could use to show numbers.  We used number cards, counters, dice, dominos and magetic letters.  I simply placed them in a basket and the students would sort the numbers 1-6, showing it in different ways.  

Counting Containers

I found these cute little containers and stickers at Dollar Tree and I knew it would be an activity that my students would love.  They simply choose a container, identified that number, and then I had them use  fine motor tweezers (Amazon Affiliate Link) to count out that many pom poms.  This proved to be so helpful because it slowed them down with their counting.   

Counting Activities

Grab and Count:  

This activity was a favorite by my students.  It was so easy to differentiate, since depending on what number we were working on, I changed the size of the pom poms that were used.  I used larger pom poms  for students who were working to 5 (so less would fit into their scoopers), and smaller as they learned up to the teen numbers.  Students grabbed pom poms using scooper (Amazon Affiliate Link).  They then counted how many they had.  If necessary, I had my students use a number strip or tens frame for support. They can also write the number on a white board of recording sheet. 

 

Counting Jars

These are another favorite of mine to practice counting.  I have several old baby food jars with letters that I wrote on the tops  There is also a recording page with these letters for students to record their answers.  I put different objects in each of the jars... pom poms, erasers, pennies, etc and students practice counting the objects and recording their answer.  This is also another game that is so easy to both use throughout the year and to differentiate.  It is so easy to switch out the objects in the baby jars so if students are more able, you can put in more objects.  

More Abstract Representation

Number Sorts:

We then transitioned to number sorts up to 10.  I love using these, because although the students don't realize it yet, it is exposing them to so many different representations of the numbers by using dice, dominos, tens frames, etc.  We introduced these sorts whole group and then they became a math center activity for my students.  

Individual Number Sorts:

To check my students understanding, I also had them complete number sorts for each number.  This allowed me to see how may need some extra support.  They counted and sorted examples and non examples of each of the number.

You can find these pocket chart sort and student sorts in my TPT store by clicking here: 

Number Sorts

I hope you enjoying seeing different number and counting activities that I do in my classroom.  What are some fun activities that you use to teach number sense?