Fun Numeracy Activities for Preschool Children
Key takeaways
- Children can begin to master basic numeracy skills long before they start school, building their confidence, resilience and emotional wellbeing.
- Blend play and learning seamlessly with our fun and easy numeracy activities for preschool children, all using basic everyday items.
- Shichida Australia can help your little learner bloom with expert learning programs delivered by skilled educators in small, carefully planned groups.
As parents and educators, we all know the importance of numeracy skills for preschool children.
However, it can be tricky to find engaging, accessible and fun numeracy activities for kids.
From birth to preschool, kids’ brains are developing incredibly quickly. This is the perfect time to introduce basic numeracy concepts, to build skills, curiosity and a sense of ‘can-do’ confidence!
At Shichida Australia, we offer holistic early childhood education that focuses on right-brain education and emotional connection. So, with this in mind, let’s look at some of the best numeracy activities for kids, designed to build those all-important maths skills without sacrificing pure fun!
Our Favourite Numeracy Activities For Preschool Children
Mix and match these numeracy activities for children, designed for different ages, energy levels, and occasions! Some are great for breaking up a grey day, and others are ideal for energetic outdoor fun.
Photo by Shichida: Singing number songs turns math into music, helping kids remember counting, sequencing and patterns through rhythm and rhyme – examples of engaging numeracy activities for preschool children.
1. Counting with nature
Collect leaves, stones, flowers, or other little natural treasures (like shells on the beach) and count them into groups. Then, organise them into number piles or arrange them by size to learn about quantity and number organisation.
This is a lovely, calm activity to enjoy one-on-one for bonding and great chats as your child plays. It’s also ideal for beneficial outdoor time.
Did you know? Outdoor time boosts social and emotional development in young children!
2. Dice games and board games
Simple board games with dice are easy to come by, and they’re a great way to teach number recognition and other skills like listening and taking turns.
These numeracy activities for kids are ideal for family time and help build counting, number sense, and social skills.
Top tip: Snakes and Ladders is a great counting classic, and the whole family can play it together. If older siblings get a little too competitive, split into teams!
3. Number treasure hunt
Write colourful numbers onto flash cards and challenge your kids to find them in the correct order. Hide them in the garden or house to help develop their visual scanning and number sequencing skills.
4. Sorting and grouping objects
Little ones love counting and grouping their favourite things with their parents and carers.
Use little piles of buttons, blocks, or favourite teddies to create groups by shape, colour, or size, and then count each group out loud together.
This is a calm and gentle bonding game that helps to introduce comparison and classification skills. At Shichida Australia, we use games like this to build foundations for more advanced maths reasoning.
5. Cooking with counting
Encourage your kids to help count and measure ingredients for fun recipes like cookie-making, making maths meaningful in a real-world setting! This game also helps develop fine motor skills. Just pretend you don’t see when they eat all the chocolate chips.
6. Pattern play with blocks or beads
Use beads, blocks or little cars to make patterns with shapes and colours. This helps children learn about sequence recognition, and even get to grips with the basics of early algebraic thinking! Yes, your toddler is a maths pro in the making!
7. Number songs and finger rhymes
Classic nursery rhymes like ‘ten in the bed’ or ‘five little ducks’ are ideal for counting on fingers and bringing movement and songs into the learning mix. They’ll also make everyone giggle. Why not sing some number songs at bedtime?
8. Number matching games
Grab your pens and make little DIY cards with matching objects and numbers. So, for example, draw four ice-cream cones on one card, and write the number ‘4’ on another for a pair. These numeracy activities for children teach simple, early arithmetic and build number-object understanding in even very small children.
9. Hopscotch with numbers
For a great numeracy activity for kids, get outdoors and create your own hopscotch grid with chalk. Call out a number and ask players to hop onto it! For slightly older children, create sums they can solve with their jump combinations. This is an excellent game for motor skill development. It’s also an exciting physical activity that’s sure to tire your young ones out!
10. Toy shop role play
Create a fun little imaginary shop, make a till with a cardboard box and find some spare change. Let kids pretend to buy and sell items with their play money to reinforce basic ideas about value, exchange and basic addition.
Top tip: As well as these activities, check out our free home activities too!
Photo by Shichida: Learning about money is math in action! Numeracy activities for preschool children also prepare them for understanding money – matching coins builds number sense and early financial literacy skills.
How to Support Numeracy at Home
Many parents remember uninspiring maths lessons from their own childhood. We all want to ensure our children grow up confident and happy handling numbers.
The good news is, there are plenty of ways to support learning at home and make it fun so that it doesn’t feel like a lesson! Try these tips to make sure your children grow up feeling confident and excited about maths:
- Build little practical numeracy lessons into your everyday life, such as when shopping, telling the time, or setting the table.
- Offer lots of praise! Children learn faster when they feel happy, motivated and engaged.
- Don’t overdo it. Keep numeracy activities for young children playful, brief and child led.
- Celebrate every effort to TRY, rather than accuracy. This is vital for creating a lifelong love of learning, and a sense of healthy confidence and curiosity in the world.
Top tip: ‘Mistakes’ are vital for learning! Model resilience and confidence by making plenty of errors and laughing them off before you ask your child to help you solve the problem!
It’s never too early for little ones to develop their maths skills. Try these numeracy activities for kids to build confidence in your budding learner!
Photo by Shichida: Building blocks become a powerful numeracy tool when you add counting, comparing, or pattern-making activities to stacking play.
How Shichida Supports Early Numeracy Development
At Shichida, our proven methods and expert program ensures NO child gets left behind! Our team of passionate educators uses multisensory activities and right-brain activities to teach numeracy in a natural, fun and child-led way.
We use a range of numeracy activities for young children, including flashcards, mental maths games, and logic-based puzzles, to nurture budding maths abilities and interests in a fun, stress-free environment. In our small and supportive group classes, everyone is set up for success at school and ready to shine!
Nurture your child’s potential with Shichida Today
Want ideas and insights for numeracy activities for preschool children? Shichida’s proven ‘whole brain’ learning methods will help your child thrive and become a confident learner. Experience it for yourself – book your trial class today!
FAQs: Numeracy Activities for Preschool Children
Numeracy activities in the preschool years help children build early number sense, recognise patterns, understand quantity and grow confident with simple maths concepts. These playful experiences also support problem-solving, language development and emotional resilience as children learn through hands-on exploration.
Shichida’s approach blends multisensory play, right-brain learning techniques and age-appropriate challenges to make maths feel simple and enjoyable. Our activities – such as flashcards, puzzles, counting songs and logic games – are designed to spark curiosity and help children understand numbers in a natural, child-led way.
You can turn everyday moments into gentle maths lessons – counting ingredients while cooking, sorting toys by size or colour, comparing objects at the shops or singing number rhymes. Short, fun interactions help children develop early numeracy skills without feeling pressured or overwhelmed.
Children can start exploring early numeracy concepts long before preschool – often through simple matching, sorting, counting fingers, playing with blocks or listening to number songs. As they grow, you can gently introduce slightly more structured activities through play.
Our teachers use fast-paced activities, colourful visuals, music, movement and lots of encouragement to keep children engaged. Fun lessons are delivered in small groups so every child feels supported, confident and excited to learn.
Booking a trial class is the easiest way to see how your child responds. You’ll experience the teaching approach, explore the types of activities used, and see how Shichida helps young learners build strong numeracy foundations in a joyful, nurturing environment.
