Fun Counting Games for Preschoolers
Counting games for preschoolers go beyond play. These games are the gateway to success in your child's educational journey with math and STEM. Starting early with numbers instills math confidence while ensuring preschoolers are at ease with numbers as they progress to more complex math subjects in grade school. By encouraging early counting, parents and educators lay the foundation for a future where children view math and STEM as fun rather than intimidating.
In this blog, we will cover how counting games for preschoolers do so much more than teach young children their early numbers. They also help strengthen cognitive skills and social learning. Counting board games are the perfect tool to help them build hard skills in math while encouraging soft skills like social development and critical thinking.
Keep reading as we uncover SimplyFun's most popular and effective counting games for preschoolers and how to quickly implement them into your homeschool, classroom, or during playtime with your littlest learner! These games make counting and number sequencing tangible and visually interesting for young children to engage with numbers while not increasing screen time but with offline, unplugged play!
Counting Games for Preschoolers: Share a Berry
2-4 players • 30 min • 3 & up
Berry counting game for 3 year olds
A 'berry fun' preschool counting game that also helps develop fine motor skills as children count and carefully add berries on their string. This adorable game promotes social skills like sharing and patience while teaching little ones their left from right.
How to Play:
In this counting game for 3 year olds, players flip over their cards to see how many berries to add to their string. Follow Beary Bear's directions to count, then share or receive berries from other players. The player with the most berries wins!
Early Childhood Learning Benefits:
- Learning to share with other children.
- Hands-on learning and fine motor skills development.
- Practice hand-eye coordination to string berries.
- Builds early childhood concentration skills as children focus on following Beary Bear's instructions.
- Develop preschool-level counting skills.
- Helps teach children the concept of taking turns, and fair play.
Counting Games for Preschoolers: Uncle Beary's Bedtime
2-4 players • 15 min • 3 & up
Adorable teddy bear counting game for 3 year olds
Help Uncle Beary get the bear cubs to bed! Roll the die and use preschool counting skills to move the cubs from toy tiles to their beds—or back! This adorable game includes 3-D teddy bears, playroom boards, and beds, making this a fun, hands-on way to teach children ages 3 and up to count!
How to Play:
Use focus, self-control, and preschool counting skills to move the most bear cubs from the playroom to their beds. The player with the most tucked-in bear cubs, wins!
Early Childhood Learning Benefits:
- Builds early childhood soft skills like taking turns, focus, self-control, and following instructions.
- Develops preschool-level counting skills.
Counting Games for Preschoolers: Pop Belly
2-4 players • 20 min • 4 & up
Adorable barnyard counting game for 4 year olds
Get ready for barnyard fun! In this counting game for 4 year olds, players count, predict, and test their luck as they place their tokens while avoiding the 'pop' of the pigs' bellies. This exciting preschool counting game introduces young ones to the concepts of risk and reward, while having a popping good time!
How to Play:
Players get rolling and start feeding their pigs, but must be careful to not overstuff them. The first one out of the barnyard wins!
Early Childhood Learning Benefits:
- Counting in sequence to 10 and beyond.
- Fine motor skill development to feed coins in the piggie slots.
- Develop risk vs. reward skills to avoid popping the pig's bellies.
- Builds early childhood soft skills like taking turns, focus, self-control, and following instructions.
Counting Games for Preschoolers: Digger's Garden Match
1-6 players • 15 min • 4 & up
Garden matching and counting game for 4 year olds
Explore shapes, colors, and counting up to 50! Use the octagon tiles to match multiple sides on one play to boost your spatial reasoning skills. Fun for all ages to hone those early puzzler skills.
How to Play:
Match a side of your tile to either the shape or the color on other tiles to score points, and match multiple sides for a higher score. The player with the most points wins!
Early Childhood Learning Benefits:
- Pattern recognition and matching
- Spatial Reasoning (STEM) Skills
- Advancing into double-digit counting
- Number sequencing
Getting Preschoolers Comfortable with Numbers
If you are looking for a simple yet portable game to get your preschoolers comfortable with numbers (minus counting), try starting with a number recognition game focusing on numbers 1-10.
Crazy Ates
2-6 players • 20 min • 4 & up
Deliciously fun matching and number recognition game for 4 year olds
Get crazy with our twist on "Crazy 8's"! Match cards by color, number, and type of food to empty your hand first. Feel free to add another food group with the blank cards you can color in. Fun, food, and matching await! Crazy Ates is a fun and portable way to get preschoolers comfortable with number recognition.
Early Childhood Learning Benefits:
- Early color, shape, and number recognition.
- Learning to find patterns and make matches.
- Learning social skills like taking turns.
- An introduction to different types of foods.
Math Games for Early Childhood Education
Counting games for preschoolers provide a head-start to learning a subject often considered challenging for students. By making numbers fun at an early age, children may develop a positive association with math that instills play and curiosity. The best way to help your little learner engage with numbers (while making it fun) is with tangible play like board games, card games, dice games, and more! With every game, you can build off of the previous skills learned and create new challenges.
Whether it's learning to count while sharing berries in Share a Berry, feeding hungry piggies in Pop Belly, putting bear cubs to bed in Uncle Beary's Bedtime, or a few card games that help preschoolers get comfortable with numbers, tabletop games can provide hands-on fun and make numbers the ultimate adventure.