You can turn anything into a numbers game to engage your child to play, learn and keep them entertained.
You can count numbers on the telephone, flowers in the yard, identifying numbers around your home or counting the construction trucks repairing the road.
But there are many other ways to teach your child math. Getting resourceful or purchasing games are a standard way to do this. Keep your toddler entertained with these five awesome number games!
1. Nursery Rhymes
- Numeracy
- Hand eye co-ordination
What you’ll need:
- Nursery rhyme books
- Quiet space
Little munchkins love nursery rhymes, so teaching them songs with counting will help with their math practice without them knowing. Here are several tried, true and classic nursery rhymes. These will keep your child entertained, expand their math ability and give them a chance to sing.
Some of these are good for learning how to count backwards too. When singing with your child, use your fingers to show your toddler the number you’re singing about so it registers by recognition. What’s more, singing and music are its own form of mathematical language; something your little one has, more than likely, already been absorbing.
Some of our favorite nursery rhymes
- Hickory Dickory Dock
- Three Blind Mice
- Five Little Monkeys
- Five Little Ducks
- This Old Man
- One Two Buckle My Shoe
- Ten in the Bed
- The Ants Go Marching
2. Counting & sorting
- Cognitive
- Numeracy
- Hand eye co-ordination
What you’ll need:
- Containers, Tupperware or boxes
- Colorful animal toys, teddy bears, Unicorns etc
- Colored balls, blocks, bricks
First of all, add a color to each of the containers so that there are several containers marked with different colors. The child then takes an object and places it in the appropriate, corresponding container.
You can get the child to add 2 red objects to the red box and 3 objects to the green box. This mixes up the game and keeps your child entertained for longer.
Any game that involves color, shapes and numbers allow your toddler to learn, have fun and stay entertained.
3. Fisher Price Clock
- Cognitive
- Numeracy
- Hand eye co-ordination
What you’ll need:
- Fisher Price Clock
Fisher Price has been a trusted name in toys for decades and continues to be to this day. Their Teaching Clock is a classic and has been a family-favorite for generations since 1968.
This is a classic toy that may even take you back to your own toddler days. It’s still as useful now as it was back then.
You’ll have no problem keeping your toddler entertained with this time-honored counting toy. The involved exploration and play comes in layers for your child; giving countless hours of fun and discovery.
Simple colors like red, yellow and blue adorn the clock with adorable pictures of the Sun and Moon to help differentiate between night and day. Timeless storybook graphics and clock hands function by manual operation or winding from the back. This means there’s always something for your child to play with and try out.
They’ll first play with it as a toy; winding around the hands, watching the storybook pictures and spinning the hands. That sweet, catchy and cheery tune, “Grandfather’s Clock,” will play over and over and over again.
The song will teach your child counting through the music without putting any real effort into math. After awhile, you can use the music box clock to teach your munchkin how to tell time. The whole toy encourages an understanding of cause-and-effect relationships and helps with the refinement of motor skills.
4. LEGO DUPLO My First Number Train
- Cognitive
- Numeracy
- Hand eye co-ordination
What you’ll need:
- LEGO Duplo My First Number Train
- Clear floor or table
LEGO is another classic toy brand that’s always good for great developmental children’s toys.
My First Number Train is yet another one of their masterpieces that not only teaches toddlers how to count, but also gives them a light initiation to STEM.
This colorful introduction to counting will engage your little cabbage to build and rebuild over and over again; providing for countless hours of fun while expanding their capacity for math.
They’ll learn number recognition and develop crucial skills through regular and constant play.
It encourages fine motor skills, number skills, memory skills, imaginative play, creativity and visual-spatial skills; all important factors to help your little one learn in a wholesome and well-balanced way.
The train is buildable and comes with three wagons. Put this vibrant locomotive together by attaching all the cars to each other and then to the engine. Then, load them up with the numbers, one-by-one, from one to nine. This will make it easy for your child to recognize and remember each number.
The toy also contains two friends and a cat to add to the counting experience. The addition of these three characters allow for storytelling and creative role playing while learning numbers. This means it will keep your child entertained while stimulating imagination.
Larger pieces make this toy safe and suitable for your toddler’s hands. The numbered and colored bricks teach your child about the world of math while the characters and kitty help commit the learning to memory.
5. Poke-A-Dot Numbers Learning cards
- Cognitive
- Numeracy
- Hand eye co-ordination
What you’ll need:
- Melissa and Doug Poke-A-Dot Number Cards
- Clear floor or table
Melissa & Doug are a sort out brand on the market and come highly recommended by parents. This couple has six children and they understand what it means to have reliable, safe and wholesome toys.
Their series of Poke-A-Dot games intend to educate while increasing your child’s development.
The Numbers Learning Cards provide a unique twist on fun with counting. The child pokes the irresistible buttons and hears satisfying pops and clicks.
Each side of 10 out of the 13 sturdy and durable cards features various colors and shapes with corresponding dots for poking.
Their patented Pop-a-Tronic technology gives children the impetus to discover a myriad of popping noises by pushing these dots from the front to the back.
Your child can hold the cards or lay them flat. The cards have various pops and clicks depending on how your little one pokes the cards.
There are fun figures and shapes like cats, mice, frogs, diamonds and apples. Your little one can pop and poke their way from one to ten while learning all the different colors and shapes.
Ten of the cards have animals on one side and objects for counting on the other. Three remaining cards have colors and shapes.
These help encourage number learning, counting skills, memorizing shapes, color learning and tactile exploration. It also allows a way to introduce some first words in a hands-on way. The popping and clicking noises allow for the learning to stick, so your child will remember and recall with ease.
Easy Care ; Clean Up
The cards are extra thick and sturdy with lasting durability. This means they’ll be able to withstand any damage your toddler may rein on them. They’re also safe for kids to use due to their large, bulky size, 10.25 inches high and four inches wide.
Clean up is easy too. Wipe off any schmaltz from the cards with a clean, damp cloth or towel and allow them to dry. They also have a convenient storage box with a rope handle.
