15 Kindergarten Counting Activities
Master kindergarten math with fifteen engaging activities designed to build a strong, fun counting foundation.
Author
Tess Loucka
Published:
March 2026
Key takeaways
- • Kindergarteners should learn to count forward and backward.
- • You can teach kindergarteners to count through a variety of worksheets, hands-on activities, and games.
- • Many classic card and board games require players to count and can be used as learning material for kindergarteners in the classroom and at home.
Learning to count—and feel comfortable doing so—is the main goal of math in kindergarten. Considering that every topic in math is built on a foundation of counting, teaching students to count easily, quickly, and effectively is essential.
However, while counting may be one of the most foundational math skills, many kindergarteners struggle with it. After all, counting isn’t just about reciting numbers in order—students must understand what numbers represent, how to skip count, and what it means to add and subtract.
So, how can you best teach kindergarteners to count?
These are 15 counting activities for kindergarten proven to work wonders in the classroom.
5 Backward Counting Activities
1. Little Monkeys Jumping On the Bed
This classic nursery rhyme is perfect for teaching kindergarteners to count backward. The first stanza of the rhyme reads:
Five little monkeys jumping on the bed.
One fell off and bumped his head.
Mama called the doctor, and the doctor said,
No more monkeys jumping on the bed.
The following stanzas count down from “five little monkeys jumping on the bed” to “four little monkeys” all the way to “one little monkey.”
You can recite this nursery rhyme to your students using visuals such as print-outs, drawings, puppets, or just your fingers!
2. Blast-Off Countdowns
Counting backward isn’t just something people do in a classroom—countdowns are used in many areas of study and professions, including space exploration!
You can incorporate a blast-off countdown into many different activities, including storytelling. Tell your students a story about an astronaut, and when they blast off into space, have your students all participate in counting down from 10 to 1.
For a greater challenge, you can count down from 20!
Make this activity more interactive by getting your students to crouch down at the start of the countdown. When you reach 0, have everyone jump up and shout “Blast off!”
3. Countdown to Summer
To put counting backward to real use for your students, guide them in making a poster, sign, or chart that counts the days from now until Summer break.
Each day, students can cross off a number, gradually counting backward until there are “3 days ‘til Summer,” “2 days ‘til Summer,” “1 day ‘til Summer,” etc.
4. Hide and Seek
Most kindergarteners love playing hide and seek, and for whoever is the seeker, counting down is a big part of the game! That’s why this is one of the best backward counting activities for playtime.
Have your students cycle through the role of seeker so everyone gets a chance to count backward.
5. Backward Racetrack
For this activity, you’ll need a number line, either chalked on the ground outside or given to your students on a piece of paper at their desks.
Split your students into small groups, and give each group a die. Give each student a colored player piece.
Each student starts with their piece at the highest number on the number line. The students then take turns rolling the die and moving their pieces backward that amount. The first student to get their piece past zero wins.
Table of contents
5 Forward Counting Activities
1. Roll & Cover
In this activity, students are given a piece of paper or a game mat with numbers on it. Then, they roll a die and cover the corresponding number on their paper with a chip, token, sticker, or other game piece.
They repeat this process until every number on their paper is covered.
2. Number Bingo
To play number bingo, give students bingo boards with numbers on them. The numbers you put on their boards will depend on the counting level of your students. You may choose to use numbers 0-10 in some cases and 0-100 in others.
Then, set up a random number generator on a phone, computer, or tablet, and call out the numbers it lands on. Students can color in or put stickers on the corresponding numbers on their boards.
Whoever fills in five adjacent spaces first wins!
3. Play-Doh or Clay Number Sculpting
Give each student a lump of Play-Doh or clay and instruct them to mold a particular number.
You can:
- Write a number on the board for your students to sculpt.
- Say a number out loud and ask your students to sculpt it.
- Give your students a print-out with a number on it and have them copy it with clay.
Sculpting numbers out of clay usually takes students longer than writing numbers with a pencil. That’s what makes this activity so beneficial—the extra time they spend thinking about numbers and their shapes while they sculpt will improve their number recognition.
4. Hopscotch
If you’re able to take your students outside, hopscotch is a great way to combine counting with play.
Draw out a hopscotch grid and label each box with a number from 1 to 10. As your students hop around the grid, have them say the numbers they land on out loud. In doing so, they won’t just be counting forward but backward, too!
5. Balloon Bounce
All you need for this activity is a balloon!
To start, decide whether you want to split your students into groups or do this activity as a class. Either way, form a circle with whoever is playing.
Then, have your students toss the balloon to each other, counting how many times they can hit it without letting it fall to the floor.
This is one of the most fun math counting activities for kindergarten, but it can get a bit hectic—bring extra balloons in case the first one pops!
5 Games That Teach Counting
1. Sorry!
In Sorry!, players roll dice and move four player pieces around a board, trying to get their pieces “home” before another player lands on them and sends them back to the start—usually accompanied by a sarcastic “Sorry!”
Like many other board games, Sorry! requires players to roll and count dice, making this a fun counting activity for kindergarteners to play in groups at school or with family at home.
2. War (Card Game)
War is a simple, yet fun card game for players of all ages.
To play, two players start by splitting a deck of cards evenly between them. On the count of three, both players place the top card of their deck face-up. This is called a “battle.”
The battle is won by whoever has the higher card. That player collects both cards. This action continues until one player has collected the entire deck.
If both players play the same card, this triggers a “war” in which they both place three of their cards face down, then play a face-up card. The player with the higher face-up card collects all of the cards on the table.
This game of luck involves many, many opportunities for number comparison, which perfectly sets students up to learn about “greater than” and “less than” inequalities later.
3. Snakes & Ladders
This classic racing board game involves players rolling a die and moving their piece the corresponding number of tiles on the game board.
If the player lands on a tile at the base of a ladder, they get to “climb” the ladder forward. But if the player lands on a tile with the head of a snake, they have to “slide” backward.
The rules of this game are simple, but moving requires counting, making this the perfect game for kindergarten.
4. Rat-a-Tat Cat
In this card game, players compete to have the lowest total points in their hand by swapping numbered cards.
The rules are simple, but the gameplay is exciting and challenging, requiring players to use their memory and math skills to win.
5. Mancala
This two-player game involves counting and moving game pieces around a board with 14 “pits” to capture opponents’ pieces.
There is a lot of strategy that can go into mancala, which is why it has stayed popular for millennia, but its gameplay is also simple enough that kindergarteners can enjoy it.
What makes it especially useful for kindergarteners is that each turn involves counting and planning ahead (great skills for kindergarteners to learn).
There are hundreds of counting activities for kindergarten, and what works for one child may not always work for another. For more information, consider online math programs.
About the Author
Tess Loucka
Tess Loucka discovered her passion for writing in high school and has not stopped writing since. Combined with her love of numbers, she became a math and English tutor, focusing on middle- and high-school-level topics. Since graduating from Hunter College, her goal has been to use her writing to spread knowledge and the joy of learning to readers of all ages.