# ABC's of Math Activities: K–O
> Part 3 of our hands-on math ABC series: kitchen math, money, number lines, number bonds, number recognition and ordinal numbers. It gathers our own play-based activities with favorites from fellow bloggers for preschoolers and early grade-schoolers.
- URL: https://www.funlittles.com/abcs-of-math-activities-k-o/
- Ages: 3–7 yrs · Difficulty: easy · Mess: medium
- Time: prep none, activity varies
- Works for: one-on-one, small group, whole class
- Skills: counting, measuring, fractions, money, number-line, number-bonds, addition, number-recognition, ordinal-numbers, sorting
- Cautions: corn, citrus, ingestion-risk

## Safety
- Coins, candy pieces and small toys are choking hazards. Supervise closely, and keep them away from children who still mouth objects.
- An adult handles knives and the oven during kitchen math, such as chopping apples or baking.
- The cornmeal in the measuring tray is for scooping, not eating.
- Wet colored tissue paper can bleed dye and stain hands, clothes and surfaces.

## Ideas
- **Kitchen math talk**: While cooking, talk about "how much?": 1 cup, 2 eggs, a teaspoon. Touch on fractions with ½ a cup or half a banana. Chop an apple into halves and quarters to show how they make a whole.
- **Measuring cups in cornmeal**: Add cornmeal to a tray with measuring cups. Which holds more, which holds less? How many small scoops fill a big scoop?
- **Orange segments**: Peel a couple of oranges and count the segments. Do all oranges have the same number? Does the size of the fruit matter?
- **Let's make pancakes**: One of our kitchen favorites for measuring and counting together.
- **Cookie creations**: Another kitchen favorite for bringing math into baking.
- **Holiday baking with kids: cake pops**: A kitchen favorite full of measuring and counting.
- **Apple tart or pie**: A kitchen favorite. Chopping the apples is a natural time to talk about wholes, halves and quarters.
- **Build a bakery, learn math**: Set up a pretend store with play money, coins and a written price list. Kids match prices to bills, count out money and give back change.
- **Free printable play money**: Print play money to stock your pretend store's cash register.
- **Coin rubbings**: Trace 5 pennies and a nickel on paper to show that 5 pennies make a nickel. Our daughter thought it was the best thing ever.
- **Papa Plays: coin sorting**: A coin sorting activity for teaching denominations.
- **Exchanging coins: a Montessori lesson**: A Montessori lesson on exchanging coins to teach denominations.
- **DIY banks for kids**: Thrifty homemade banks for teaching kids about money.
- **Learning the number line**: Use a ruler or a self-drawn number line to find the star, compare numbers, and work out what comes before, after and in between. Then try skip counting and odd and even numbers. Perfect for kindergarteners and above.
- **Number bonds with a picture book**: We used the picture book One More Bunny: Adding from One to Ten and toy bunnies on plates to show how numbers split and join.
- **Candy counting: making sums sweeter**: Count candy pumpkins onto paper pumpkin shapes to build sums.
- **Peg-a-number fact game**: Clip clothespins labeled with number facts onto the card showing the answer. Handy quick math for an older child.
- **Spot numbers everywhere**: Talk about and point at numbers around you in the car, the waiting room, the grocery store or at home.
- **Colored paper number art**: Use colored paper and water on a big number outline to make number recognition exciting for toddlers.
- **Number play dough**: Shape play dough numbers on number mats.
- **Chicka chicka number trees**: Cardboard-tube trees with pom-pom tops covered in foam numbers.
- **Number recognition car game**: Beat car ride boredom with a fun number recognition game.
- **Scavenger hunts for younger kids**: Create letter and number scavenger hunts for little ones to find and match.
- **Toy organization number recognition**: Use putting toys away as a number recognition exercise.
- **Post box number matching**: Use a mail box and DIY play coins for number matching and recognition.
- **Princess carriage ordinal numbers**: A pretend-play story about taking turns: everyone wants to ride the carriage, so who goes first, second, third? Label each princess with her place in line.
- **What comes 1st? Learning ordinal numbers**: Another fun way to learn ordinal numbers.

## Tips
- Remember at age 4, we are not sitting down with pen and paper talking about proper and improper fractions. It's all about conversational and practical learning.
- Even if your child doesn't know the denominations, you can simply "slip up" and hand over 4 dollar bills for a $2 cookie, so the store owner has to give back change.
- For a preschooler, the worth of a dollar or a quarter might be far-fetched, so focus only on the math part: matching numbers on the price list, counting the dollars and handing over the money.
- Use a ruler. A ruler is a perfect example of a number line.
- Numbers are all around us. Make a number recognition game anywhere: in the car, at the doctor's waiting room, at the grocery store.
- A homeschooling reader pinned the post and especially loved the coin rubbings. (from readers)

## The original post by TurkeyMom (2013)

Here is the 3rd part of our ABC series on hands on math activities. To read the previous parts visit [here](https://www.funlittles.com/abcs-of-math-activities-a-e/) and [here](https://www.funlittles.com/abcs-of-math-activities-f-j/).

We have many preschool math ideas and few toddler math activities.

### **[K is for Kitchen Math](https://www.funlittles.com/abcs-of-math-activities-f-j/)**

Getting kids in the kitchen is a best place to teach Mathematics. From measures to units to quantity it’s the best place to experiment math facts. Baking involves measurements and science. Imagine the possibilities - *counting, measuring, estimating and comparing.* Anytime your child and you develop a concoction you have brought math into the play. While cooking discuss the ingredients and its measures:

1. Talk about "how much? " – 1 cup, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon, 1 tablespoon.
2. Touch upon [fractions](https://www.funlittles.com/abcs-of-math-activities-f-j/): eighth of a teaspoon, ½ a cup measure, ½ of the banana.
3. While you chop an apple, talk about whole, half and quarters.
4. Elaborate on two halves make a whole and 4 quarters make a whole and so on.

These small learning exercises will lay the foundation and help kids ease into more complex concepts during grade school. Remember at age 4, we are not sitting down with with a pen and paper talking about proper and improper fractions. It's all about conversational and practical learning.

### **Exercise 1:**

Add some cornmeal in a tray and give measuring cups to fill. Talk about which measure hold more and which holds less. How many small scoops does it take to fill up a big scoop?



**Exercise 2:** Peel an orange and talk about the segments. Its a new word and new concept. Peel a couple and experiment if all the oranges have the same number of segments. Does the size of the fruit have anything to do with the number of segments? Here are some of our favorites: [](https://www.funlittles.com/lets-make-pancakes/) [](https://www.funlittles.com/cookie-creations/) [](https://www.funlittles.com/holiday-baking-with-kids-cake-pops/) [](https://www.funlittles.com/apple-tart-pie-recipe/)

### M is for Money

Kids are always playing pretend shopping and store. Extending the store scene to cash register in a simple way to get the kids to start thinking about money. When we set up a store we usually do the following

- *Print play money*
- *Gather some coins of different denominations*
- *Write down the price of each item we are selling on a sheet of paper { Writing practice}*
- *Sort the money we have gathered into piles { Sorting practice}*

..and the store is open for business. For a preschooler the concept of a dollar's or a quarter's worth might be far fetched but what we do is to focus only on the math part of it. Younger kids can do number matching by looking at the price list and the dollar bills they have on hand. Count the dollars and hand over the money. Counting and number recognition The kid can play the store owner and give back change. Uses subtraction. Even if the child doesn't know the denominations the parent could simply "slip up" and hand over 4 dollar bills for a $2 dollar cookie. We did just that with a pretend play setting on starting a bakery.



We also did a very fun tracing and printing coins on paper. In addition to showing Big A that 5 pennies make a nickel we traced 5 pennies and a nickel on a paper. She thought that was the best thing ever.



To teach denominations , please visit the following links for a wealth of information [Papa Plays - Coin Sorting](http://www.thegoldengleam.com/2012/03/papa-plays-coin-sorting.html) Exchanging Coins - A Montessori lesson DIY Banks for kids

### **L is for Number Line**

Use a rule. A ruler is a perfect example to represent a number line. For toddlers and preschoolers, a number line is helpful in showing the sequence of numbers and its order. If your child is comfortable with counting and identifying numbers then you can use the number line to further discussion. With a self-drawn number line, identifying numbers which come before and after seem like a breeze. This activity will be perfect for kindergarteners and above.

- Compare two numbers – greater and smaller
- Talk about “before” and “after” numbers
- Counting by 2’s
- Skip Counting
- Introduce odd and even numbers



Exercises with number line:

- *Create a number line with some missing numbers .*
- *Practice jumping between numbers: similar to skip counting but just that you throw out random numbers and let them draw back and forth along the number line - Hearing, Visual and Motor coordination.*
- *Talk about ascending and descending order with number line.*

### N is for Number Bonds



[Number Bonds activities](https://www.funlittles.com/math-activities-addition/) don't have to be memorizing math facts. For a preschooler, a hands on way of showing the process will serve better. We used an amazing picture book, [One more bunny: Adding from one to ten](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0439403510/?tag=blmemo-20) to explore addition and number bonds here. Here are a couple of more number bonds activities from other bloggers. For an older child the clothespin number bonds activity will come in very handy for quick math. Use whatever speaks to you and make this serious topic interesting and fun for the little ones.  [](http://www.learning4kids.net/2012/09/26/peg-a-number-fact-game/)

### N is also for Number Recognition.

Numbers are all around us. It is pretty simple to make a number recognition game anywhere: in the car, at a doctor's waiting room, at the [grocery store](https://www.funlittles.com/learning-at-the-grocery-store/), inside the house Talking and pointing at the numbers we see round us is a great hands on way to teach younger kids numbers. Most of us do that anyway. If you are looking for a number recognition activity with some artistic elements to it the following activity will appeal to you. Use colored paper and water to make number recognition exciting for toddlers.   Some more activities to keep and your kids busy, learning and exploring. [](http://www.learning4kids.net/2012/05/06/number-play-dough/) 

- [*Beat car ride boredom with a fun number recognition game*](http://www.mamapeapod.com/2012/08/number-recognition-car-game.html)
- [*Create scavenger hunts for your younger kids*](http://handsonaswegrow.com/letter-number-scavenger-hunt/)
- Use toy organization as a number recognition exercise
- [*Use a mail box and DIY play coins for number matching and recognition*](http://domesticgoddesque.com/2012/04/letter-and-number-recognition-with-easy-to-make-post-box/)

###

### **O is for Ordinal numbers**

Ordinal numbers are the numbers that describe the position or rank of an object: first, second, third and so on. When we use a list of objects and place them in an order , we use ordinal numbers to position them. We also use ordinal numbers in our day-to-day activities and in daily linguistics.

- Telling your child that her socks is in the second draw
- The book is on the fourth shelf
- Telling her that she is third in line at the park swingset

Here's a look at what we did:

*We decided to make use of our little princess to help us learn Ordinal numbers. With a pretend play setting, it did not seem daunting. We had a story in place of-course: It was about taking turns between friends and it was a perfect setting to introduce Ordinal Numbers. Story is simple, it was about how everybody wanted to ride the carriage. Now they can't all do it at the same time so what do you do? Kids know the right thing to do - The answer is straight forward - who gets to go first? then the second then the third and so on.*



Look around you for more fun ways to teach Ordinal numbers. Math concepts have made its way into our everyday vernacular, we just need to look around us ! Here is another interesting link on Ordinal numbers :

- *What comes 1st? Learning Ordinal Numbers : Creekside learning*

### Click here to read the fourth part of the series: P-T

### Click here to read the final part of the series : U-Z

### **Thanks for reading**

### **Please take a moment to comment**

Thanks for stopping by our little space here. We encourage you to stick around and take a look at [**couple of**](https://www.funlittles.com/paint-with-spaghetti-brooms/) our [**popular posts.**](https://www.funlittles.com/animal-resist-painting/)

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### This post is a part of a ABC series brought to you by 70+ bloggers and hosted at "[This Reading Mama](https://thisreadingmama.com/the-abcs-of-a-kid-blogger-network-series/)". Check out her blog and thanks for the amazing work she has put into organizing this event. Kudos to her!

Look at all the topics other bloggers have covered To read tips on "How to teach you kids math in a fun way" visit Montessori Tidbits for a fantastic ABC series. MOM TIPS & TRICKS:

- **Being a Hands on Mom** from hands on : as we grow
- **Connecting with your Kids** from One Perfect Day
- **Family Field Trips with Kids** from Edventures with Kids
- **Fun Healthy Snacks for Kids** from Juggling with Kids
- **[Kids Party Ideas](http://www.mamapeapod.com/search/label/%7BABCs%20of%20Kids%20Party%20Ideas%7D)** from Mama Pea Pod
- **Mama Survival** from The Dizzy Mom
- **[Organized Home](http://www.mamaslikeme.com/)** from Mamas Like Me
- [**Printables**](https://www.mamamiss.com/blog/2013/01/05/the-abcs-ofa-5-day-series-from-the-kid-blogger-network/) from Mama Miss
- **Raising Boys** from Boy Mama Teacher Mama
- **[Raising Eco-Friendly Kids](http://www.kitchencounterchronicle.com//search/label/ABCSeries2013)** from Kitchen Counter Chronicles
- **[Raising Girls](http://www.messforless.net/search/label/the-abcs-of-raising-girls)** from Mess for Less
- **Raising a Healthy Kid** from Living Life Intentionally
- **Raising a Thinking Child** from The Outlaw Mom
- **Raising Toddlers** from Home Learning Journey
- **Raising a World Citizen** from All Done Monkey
- **[Simply Celebrating Holidays as a Family](http://inspiredbyfamilymag.com/)** from Inspired by Family Magazine
- **[Teaching Kids about Money](http://carrotsareorange.com/)** from Carrots are Orange
- **[The Family Dinner Table](https://www.connectingfamilyandseoul.com/search/label/ABC's%20Series)** from Connecting Family & Seoul
- **[Trying A New Experience with Your Children](https://52brandnew.com/404)** from 52 Brand New
- **[Values for Children](https://www.trueaimeducation.com/values-for-children-teach-honesty/)** from True Aim Education