Number Grid Puzzles (free printable)

Our youngest son had a "fill in the missing numbers in the number grid" math assignment. I thought it would be a snap for him, but as he sometimes transposes numbers, it became a source of major frustration. Oy!

To familiarize him a little more with number grids and some of the quick addition and subtraction you can do with them, I made a few activities. These were inspired by Playdough to Plato's peek-a-boo chart and Mrs. T's First Grade Class number puzzles.

You can download this 100 number grid activity for free from Google Drive here. It's a 3-page PDF. 

NOTE: If you are a teacher, use your personal gmail account if it requires you to request permission. Most school districts restrict emails from outside their domain, and therefore I can't grant access and let you know it's available.

Activity #1: 10 more, 10 less, 1 more, 1 less
I printed the number grid on white card stock. I printed page two of the free printable PDF on colored card stock. I cut the center plus-sign out. Then I added white gift wrap tissue squares to the plus signs "arms" making those squares translucent (vellum would work well too), and left the center empty. For the sake of durability, I ran this sheet through my laminator.

With the 10 more, 10 less, 1 more, 1 less page laminated, I wrote some simple math problems on it in the blank area (e.g. 13+10= , 47-10=, 91+1=, 74+1=) with a dry-erase marker. My son placed the laminated page over the number grid so the first number in the equation was in the center. Then he could easily see in the translucent squares which was his answer (i.e. 10 less was directly above, 10 more directly below, 1 more to the right, and 1 less to the left). This made solving the math problems easy!

Activity #2: Number Grid Puzzles
Now I printed the number grid on colored card stock and printed an empty grid on white card stock. I cut the colored grid apart into a variety of puzzles that were about 10-11 squares each. 

Once done, I cut the number squares apart and handed him a few piles of puzzles. He arranged them wherever on the blank grid, remembering 10 less is above, 10 more is below, 1 more is on the right, 1 less is on the left. When he completed this puzzle, he moved on to the next. You can make approximately 7-8 puzzles per grid.

Skip Counting Connect-the-Dots Letter Puzzles

My 1st grader came home from school the first week and was distraught that he'd had trouble skip counting by 2s. "Can we practice, Mom?" Um ... yeah!

Since his teacher is also sending home short lists of consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) spelling words, I thought I'd combine the two skills.

I made connect-the-dot pages that when finished form the letters of the alphabet (capital letters only at this point). 

Download the 13-page PDF for free from Google Drive here.

I grabbed the spelling list and printed the pages with the letters I needed, cut them apart, labeled them 1-3 so he'd know the order of the letters, snipped the corner of each page (so he wouldn't know which letter he was working on), and told him to start with the star and count by 2s.

He was amused and truly enjoyed the discovery aspect of this activity. First, it was fun to see what letter he made. Then it was fun to see what word the three letters formed (e.g. web, hen, pet, pen, etc.).

Change Exchange (free printable money game)

When big brother took his piggy bank coins in to the bank this summer, little brother was mighty jealous. Since he's only had his bank since Christmas, there was only $7.58 in it (which paled in comparison to the $56.36 our oldest had). 

He was confused about which coins added to a dollar. To reinforce coin equivalents (e.g. two dimes and a nickel equal the same as a quarter), I made a fun little board game.

I was surprised to see how much my 7-year old enjoyed it. He and I were having so much fun that our 11-year old asked to play next time!

What You Need
PDF of the game board, equivalent cards, and $1 fake money (download it free from Google Drive here)
Heavy weight card stock (white)
Green paper
Scissors or paper cutting tool
Lamination
Dry-erase markers
Die
Small objects to use as game pieces (a different one for each player)
Paper towel to erase the marker

Prep
Print the game board on white card stock.Trim the white border off the one edge on each page so the spaces meet up perfectly. Tape together.

Print the $1 page on green paper. Plan for $3 per player. You may need to print extra copies of this page depending on how many individuals are playing.

Print the equivalent cards on paper (office or card stock) and laminate. You'll want 2-3 for each player.

Cut all the money and equivalent cards apart.

Play
Each player puts their game piece on the word START. They roll the die and move their game piece the number of spaces rolled. Whatever coin they land on, they will cross off with the dry-erase marker on one of their equivalent cards.

When a player has crossed through all five pennies on that equivalent card, they can erase the marks with a paper towel and cross through one of the nickels on either the two nickels = a dime equivalent card or two dimes and a nickel = a quarter card.

Players continually cross through coins until the cards are filled and then they're erased and a coin of the equivalent value is marked through.

If they roll and land on a dime, but their dimes have already been crossed through on the two dimes and a nickel equivalent card, they can start a second two dimes and a nickel card.

When players have four quarters all crossed through, they are given a $1. 

Each player collects a quarter when they roll a number and pass the last space on the board.

The object is not to be the first to finish, but to finish with the most money.

Count the dollars and coins at the end of the game to determine the winner! 

I earned $2.56 and my son won with $2.94.

Sight Word Search & Graph

Our youngest son (age 6) did a lot of word work this week. I'm trying my best to ward off the dreaded summer slump. That summer between kindergarten and first grade is critical. Those phonics and sight words are building blocks beginning readers need to hit the ground running when school resumes in the fall.

I thought my son might protest when I handed him a book; our reading typically happens before bed. When I gave him a half sheet of large-type graph paper, he was intrigued.

Prep

Download my free PDF of the Sight Word Search & Graph paper (or make your own).

Print the graph.

Pick a book for beginning readers, and review the vocabulary in the book. I used a Level 1 Penguin Young Reader by Bonnie Bader.

Select four recurring words and write them at the bottom of the graph. I used come, me, play, and will.

Read & Graph

Have your child read the book and look for the words noted on your graph. Each time one of the words occurs, have them color a block. For competitive kids, make it a sight word competition; which word will win?

This is a simple activity that combines early math skills with reading. My son really enjoyed it!

Silent E Apple Tree FREE Printable Game

Let's face it, the silent e is tricky. It doesn't make a sound, but changes the way earlier vowels in the word are pronounced. Ugh. What a pain for beginning readers!

To give my son some practice pronouncing words that are transformed with a silent e, I designed a fun game to play together: Climb With Me Up the Silent E Apple Tree.

What You Need to Play
FREE 5-page PDF (available on Google Drive here)
Heavyweight card stock
Paper cutter or scissors
Tape
Die
Different game pieces for each player (we used buttons)

Prep
Print the PDF on the card stock. Since your home printer won't print full bleed (i.e. all the way to the edge of the paper), trim off the white strip on the bottom of page 1 and top of page 2. Tape these pages together to form your apple tree game board.

Cut out all of the word cards and place face down in a pile under the tree.

How to Play
Place both game pieces on the word START at the base of the tree. The youngest player rolls the die first and moves their game piece the number of spaces rolled.

If the player lands on an apple, they draw a card. They must pronounce the word with AND without the silent e. If they do this correctly, they can advance two more spaces.

HINT: I like to remind my son that while the ending e is silent, it makes the <a,e,i,o,u> say it's name. In other words instead of the i in pine making the ih sound, it literally makes the eye sound. 

If they land on an empty circle, they stay put.

If they land on an apple core, they must move back the number of spaces indicated.

Play alternates between players. If a player lands on a space where a branch points them up or down the board to another space, they must move their game piece to wherever the end of the arrowed branch points.

The first player to make it to the FINISH (i.e. the bird) wins the game. This was challenging for our 6-year-old but great practice and great fun at the same time!

Read
Want a great book to read along with this? We recommend the following.

Raindrop Hop {Active Skip Counting Practice}

Our kindergartner is pretty good with numbers but I've noticed when he skip counts by twos, there's a long pause after 10. To help improve the pace with which he can move through these numbers, I found a fun way to memorize the sequence.

I grabbed a few sticks of sidewalk chalk and drew a big cloud with approximately 20 droplets (I think I got carried away and made 21 drops) of rain coming out of it. On the droplets, I randomly wrote the numbers 1-20. To make sure the 2, 4, 6, 8, etc. weren't too far apart from each other, I started with those numbers first. Then I simply filled in the odd numbers.

When he came outside, he was intrigued.

The instructions were simple. Start at the cloud and hop the raindrops skip-counting by twos all the way to 20. At first, it'll be a gentle rain, with your child slowly jumping their way to 20.

Tell your child the rain is getting heavier and FASTER. See if they can say and jump the sequence with greater speed. 

You can really have fun with this from sprinkle, to steady rain, to all-out down pour, the more times your child hops the drops, the better they'll become at memorizing the numbers!

Given that we've been getting loads of rain this spring, this activity was perfect. A neighborhood friend came over and the both of them got hopping!

Double Digit Dice Roll

Sometimes double digit numbers are tricky for kids - especially the teens. This little game works on the following skills:

• counting 1-6
• place value tens and ones
• double-digit number vocabulary

My six-year-old son had loads of fun with this (and so did his 10-year-old brother). This bingo-like game is all about luck and chance; no strategy required.

What You Need

A PDF of the game cards (available for free download from Google Drive here)

Paper and printer to print the cards

Game pieces (we used those flattened glass marbles)

Two traditional dice (preferably different in appearance)

Prep

Print the cards and cut them apart. 

Each player picks a game card and grabs a small pile of game pieces to set in front of them. The first piece is placed on the FREE space. 

Decide which die is the tens place and which die is the ones place (Our cube tissue box die was the tens because it was bigger and the smaller blue foam die was the ones.)

Play

Each player will take turns rolling the two die. The numbers are the die are not added together, but rather represent a two digit number.

The player must count the dots on the die, decide what the number is (e.g. 3 in tens place, 6 in ones), and say out loud the double digit number (e.g. thirty-six).

Now all players must scour their game card to see if the number is present on their card. If so, it's covered with a game piece.

The first player to get five in a row (vertical, horizontal, or diagonal) wins.

Roll-the-Die Basketball

My 9-year-old son came up with this game. I'm not sure what the inspiration was, but we have had loads of fun playing it. It's simple enough for our youngest to play (age 5) and engaging enough that even parents will have fun.

This is a two-person game, or rather a two-team game. If you have more than two players, they can take turns rolling for their team.

What You Need

a die

paper and pen for score keeping

How to Play

Each player (or team if there are more than two players) must pick a team name.

For tip off, both players roll the die. The player with the higher number, gets the "ball" first and will therefore, roll again.

If he/she rolls a 1 or 2, it's a turnover and the other team gets the ball.

If they roll a 3, it's a free throw (1 point for the player/team that rolled, and then the other team gets the ball).

If the die reveals a 4 or 5, it's a 2-point shot (2 points for the player/team that rolled, and then the other team gets the ball).

If it's a 6, that's a 3-point shot (3 pts for the player that rolled, and then the other team gets the ball).

The first person/team to 20 points wins. Keep track of points with tally marks on a paper.

Extend play

Play to 30 points, instead of 20.

Keep track of turnovers with tally marks, as well as the points scored.

Make a bracket of teams and play games to see who makes it to the finals and wins!

This would be an excellent game to play at a restaurant while waiting for your order, or if you put the die inside a small lidded plastic container and shake to roll, it could even be a travel game for long car rides!

Button it Up (Beginning Addition Practice)

Number sense takes practice. Our youngest son is getting good at counting and associating numerals. I wanted to reinforce what he's learned and introduce simple addition sentences. 

I made a fun game to play with him. Not only does it practice math, it also works fine motor skills.

Because he's five and his attention span is still pretty short for seated activities, we only played for 10 minutes. I know we'll be playing it again… and again… and again, though.

Want to play?

What You Need

Die

1-page PDF of Button it Up Game Board (download it free here)

Paper (1 sheet to print the PDF on)

12 small buttons (6 of each color)

Plastic Sheet Protector (or laminate)

Fine-tip dry-erase marker

How to Play

Once your game board is printed and either laminated or placed inside a plastic sheet protector, you're ready for your child to play.

1. Have him/her roll the die and count the dots.

2. If your child is proficient enough, have them write the numeral in one of the hands on the game board. If writing numbers is a skill that your child hasn't mastered yet, do this step for them.

3. Now your child will place the number of buttons rolled down the center of the shirt. I like to have them use the same color of buttons for each number rolled.

4. Now repeat steps 1-3, putting the numeral in the other hand, and using buttons of the other color.

5. Now say the addition sentence out loud (e.g. "Three plus four equals what? How many buttons are there all together?"). Write the answer in the shirt pocket (or have your child do this).

6. Use a dry cloth or paper towel to wipe the dry-erase marker from the board and start again! Repeat until your child's attention begins to wane.

Pair a Book with It

Even though this Pete the Cat book is more about subtraction than addition, it complemented our activity beautifully. Pete is a favorite in our house and even reading it over and over again is still enjoyable.

Shamrock Count & Write Treasure Hunt

As it turns out, treasure hunts are a favorite of BOTH my sons. Our youngest (5 years old) is working on counting, recognizing and associating numerals, and writing numbers. All of those skills are combined in this easy treasure hunt. 

You decide the prize - ours was 10 extra minutes of electronic time (our boys have to earn their time each day so this was a REAL treat).

What You Need

The 6-page PDF of shamrock cards (download mine here)

Cardstock

Tape

Prep

Cut the cards apart and fold them on the dotted line so one side has the shamrocks and the other shows the ready-to-write numerals. Secure shut with glue or tape. The numeral 5 is the starting card. You'll notice that it is the only card that need not be folded. (Note: The cards do not go in numerical order.)

Take all the folded cards and tape them up around the room with the shamrocks facing out.

Play

To start the game, give your child the numeral 5 card and ask that they use the prompts to write it. Start at the suns. End with the moons.

"What number is that?"

"Five."

"Good. Now find the card with FIVE shamrocks."

When they've counted and confirmed they've found the card, have them turn over the card and write the numeral on the back. They'll then search for the card with that number of shamrocks. Play continues until they find the 8-shamrock card to finish.

Note: The six and nine numerals can be easily confused in this game. Remind kids that the red line is the top and the solid blue line is the bottom.

This game was loads of fun! If you want to play over and over, simply cut the cards apart so you can mix and match the front and backs. Laminate and use dry-erase markers so they can be reused again.

Happy numbers hunting!

What Color Will Win? (Spin & Graph Activity)

My youngest son is really working on phonics but listening for beginning sounds still needs practice. This activity might not seem like a phonics activity but, believe it or not, it is.

What You Need

Small toy spinning top (ours came from the Dollar Tree)

Jelly roll (or other baking pan with sides) or a flat,shallow tub/box

2-page PDF of colors and graphing sheet

Paper

Marker or crayon

Prep

Download the PDF for free from Google Drive here. Print. Place the page of colors in your box/pan.

Play

Have you child spin the top and watch to see where its point lands on the color page. If your top doesn't move around much, try spinning it from high above the pan.

Wherever the top lands, your child must color in a box at the bottom of the graph. Here's where the phonics come in. When it lands, it's up to them to figure out which column to color - they do this by listening to the beginning sound and looking for the representative first letter in the color words on the graph.

I purposely did not put the words on the color page and make the words on the graph colored. In doing so, this activity is not just about learning colors and some simple math skills, it's also an exercise in phonics.

My 5-year-old had so much fun with this that his 9-year-old brother wanted to do it when he was done!

Collect, Sort, Graph, & Count Fall Leaves

The Autumn foliage colors peaked here last weekend. We soaked in the opulence during a trip to a state park, apple orchard, and CSA farm. The family fun was a springboard for several leaf activities, all of which were fun.

1. Fall Leaves Hunt

The last leaf hunt my son went on, we packed some crayons and made rubbings. This time, we left the crayons at home and just let our eyes search out eight various types of leaves. (Click the picture below to download a free PDF of the ID page I made.)

I clipped a page with the names and images as a cheat sheet onto a mini clipboard. It was up to him to make tally marks or simply X through the names or images. We tucked the leaves in a gallon-size ziploc as we walked the trail.

2. Sort by Color and Make a Life-Sized Graph

I pressed the leaves between layers of paper towels (since a few were wet) under a heavy book. The next day, they were ready for us to use. I grabbed some leftover painters tape and made a big grid on the carpet in our living room. I made red, orange, yellow, green, brown, and purple cards as well as a numbered set. I placed these on the grid to complete our empty graph.

It took the boys no time at all to deduce what they were to do. They immediately set to work. "Is this purple or brown," they would ask each other. I loved their decision-making and how well they worked as a team to complete the graph.

When it was done, there was a three-way tie between brown, yellow, and red leaves. (This idea came from Little Giraffes.)

3. Sort and Graph by Type

When we'd finished our leaf color graph. We removed the leaves and the color cards, and I placed two other cards at the bottom of the graph: maple and oak. Now they graphed which we had more of. The clear winner was maple!

4. Arrange from Smallest to Largest

As they cleared the graph of the leaves, I grabbed several and asked our 5-year-old to put them in order from smallest to largest. He was a little lost at first but I asked him to "Find the smallest leaf" and it was removed. Again, "What is the smallest leaf now?" And so it went until we had them all lined up.

5. Preserve by Laminating

Lastly, the boys picked their favorite leaves from our collection and I put them in plastic laminating sleeves, running them through my personal laminator, to save and admire for weeks and months to come. They look like stained glass in our window! (This idea came from Mama Smiles.)

Counting Apples {Pegboard Practice}

If you've been following my blog recently, you've seen our pegboard. Some plywood and nails are all it takes to make a great study aid.

My sons love it, especially our 5 year old. We use it to practice matching upper and lower case letters quite a bit at night before bedtime stories. To mix it up, I thought I'd make him numbers pages using some fun apple graphics I made.

Download all three apple pegboard pages for free here from Google Drive.

Our youngest son enjoyed counting the red apples, green apple cores, leaves and apple seeds, and stretching rubberbands from each grouping to the right numeral.

Afterwards, we read some great books about apples and counting. 

Red-Eyed Tree Frog Count & Clip Cards

My just-turned-five-year-old son's number sense is really improving, but to help further his association of numbers and numerals, I used the frog graphic I created for our Numbers Froggy Hop to make some clip cards.

This activity is perfect for a busy bag. Take it in the car, to a restaurant, hand it over while you're making dinner, or just trying to have a phone call with a friend (PUH-LEASE tell me I'm not the only parent that gets interrupted a zillion times while on the phone).

What You Need

2 pieces heavyweight cardstock

lamination (optional)

PDF of the cards (download it free here from Google Drive)

10 clothes pins

A kid

What to Do

Kids count the red-eyed tree frogs on each card, then using their fine-motor skills, squeeze a clothes pin and close it over the number of frogs represented. Simple. Smart. Fun!

Read

Want to tie in a little science knowledge to this math lesson? Why not read the book Red-Eyed Tree Frog, which teaches kids that these critters are nocturnal, eat moths, and are food for snakes. It's non-fiction that reads like fiction. We loved it!

Numbers Froggy Hop Game

Our young son has counting down, but associating the numbers with the numerals is coming slower to him. To help practice, I made a fun game (perfect for a kinesthetic learner!).

It's short, sweet, and simple. And it gets children moving.

This game is geared toward one player, however, you could easily adapt it for siblings or classmates to play along.

What You Need

8-page PDF of the lily pads, flowers, and die (download it free here)

poster tack or tape (optional)

heavy weight cardstock (6 green, 2-4 white)

What to Do

Consider your child's proficiency with numbers. You may want to only play with numbers 0-5. If so, print the first three pages of the 8-page PDF onto green cardstock. Otherwise, if you're playing with the full set of numbers (0-10), print the first six pages onto green cardstock.

Print the pages of water lilies and die onto white cardstock. Again, think of your child's early math skills. If playing with numbers 0-5 print one die. If playing with 0-10, the child will either have to roll the die twice or you can create two dice to have the child roll. The latter is perfect for kids that still need to see the objects to count them. Older kids working on simple addition might enjoy the challenge of adding the two numbers in their head after rolling the same die twice.

Cut out the water lilies, lily pads, and die (or dice, if you printed two). Score the lines on the die with the backside of a butter knife, fold and glue into a cube shape. You can laminate the lily pads and flowers for added durability if desired.

How to Play

Set the lily pads on the floor in a random pattern.

Because we were doing this activity on hardwood floors and I didn't want my son to slip on the lily pads, I used poster tack to secure them in place. I also added a piece of poster tack to the back of each water lily flower.

Here's the play-by-play:

1. Child rolls the die (or dice).

2. Child counts the frog faces that land face up.

3. Child looks for the lily pad with that numeral.

4. Child jumps to the lily pad.

5. Child places a water lily on the lily pad to signal that he/she has already visited there.

6. Play continues until all lily pads have a flower or the child's attention wanes.

Variations: You can time the child to see how many different lily pads they jump to in 5-10 minutes. An opponent can then take their turn and try to beat the first player's score.

Want a great book to pair with this activity? Here's a few counting frog picture books we read. They're all perfect for this fun game.