Fun-A-Day!

fun & meaningful learning every day

  • About
    • Terms of Use
    • Printing Help
  • Privacy
  • Newsletter
  • Home
  • Early Learning
    • Preschool Arts and Crafts
    • Literacy
      • Letters & Words
    • Math
    • Music
    • Science
    • Sensory
  • Themes
    • Holidays & Seasons
      • Summer
      • Fall
  • Teacher Tips
  • Free Printables
  • Slime
  • Shop
Home / Early Learning / Math / Fall Math Activities with Acorn Numbers

Fall Math Activities with Acorn Numbers

Shared by Mary Catherine 2 Comments

The preschool kiddos have been little squirrels recently! They have collected SO MANY acorns over the past few weeks, so I’ve been integrating acorns into our preschool day. Today I’d like to share some simple fall math activities we did using numbered acorns.

Lots of fall math activities with acorns

Related: Acorn Crafts and Activities for a Preschool Acorn Theme

Materials
I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.
Acorns (we used real acorns the kids gathered, but fake acorns would work too)
Permanent marker or acrylic paint pen
Wooden spools
Kid tweezers or tongs
Acrylic acorns (sometimes called table scatter)

Set Up
Use a permanent marker or paint pen to write numbers on the acorns. I used a black permanent marker the first time around. However, I noticed that the numbers were a bit difficult to see on our darker acorns. So I grabbed a white paint pen to write the numbers for the other activities.

fall math activities with acorn numbers

Place the numbered acorns in a bowl. Place the acorn table scatter in a separate bowl, then place everything on a tray. If you want to, add the wooden spools to the tray.Then let the fall math activities commence! We used the number acorns in a few different ways. The activities can be adjusted based on the specific needs of your children/students.

Use number acorns in a variety of fall math activities

One-to-One Correspondence
This is such an important early learning skill, as I’ve probably mentioned a zillion times! In terms of math, one-to-one correspondence means matching objects to numbers. For this task, I had the children count the appropriate acrylic acorns to match each number. Some did this quickly, while others were very methodical. Still others needed some extra helping counting to check their work. The children used their fingers or tweezers to count out the acorns.

using number acorns for a variety of fall math activities

Ordering Numbers
One of my boys was very interested in helping me set everything up. I set ten spools along the top of a bamboo tray. He then placed each numbered acorn on top of each spool, in the correct order from one to ten. I was so impressed with how focused he was on the task. He can be easily frustrated, but he worked hard the entire time – even when the acorns fell a few times! During this task, saying the numbers aloud can be really helpful to children. Counting out loud and going back to count from one also help firm up their number knowledge.

fine motor skills with fall math activities and number acorns

Related: Fall Math Activities for Preschoolers

Creating Numbers
This is a great idea for children who are secure with their number sense. Children can lead this activity, with help from an adult as needed. They put numbers together to create two and three digit numbers. For example, one hundred twenty-seven would require the acorns numbered 1, 2, and 7 to be placed in the correct order. The kiddos can also look at number cards to try to recreate those numbers.

using fine motor skills with fall math activities

Addition
Numbered acorns can also be used with children who are interested in, or learning about, addition. I like telling stories about squirrels and their acorns for this activity! I placed the acorn numbers down, then encouraged the kiddo to place acrylic acorns by the number. Then we worked together to count the total! For 5+2, I’d tell a silly store – “One silly squirrel collected 5 acorns in the morning. At night, he found 2 more. How many did he collect?” I placed the acorns labeled 5 and 2 down on the tray – separate from each other, but still close. The child placed five acrylic acorns under the 5, and two under the 2. Then we counted them to determine the squirrel had collected 7 all together. Then I followed up with “Yes! Five plus two equals seven!”

fall math activities with acorn manipulatives

There are many more fall math activities that can be done with these numbered acorns, but I’ll stop now! Do you have any you’d like to share? If so, drop me a comment below.

If you’re looking for more acorn activities, pop on over to my Acorn Pinterest board!

Done-for-You Preschool Resources

Planning meaningful lessons for students week after week, all while balancing other teaching responsibilities and a personal life, can be a daunting task. That’s where Preschool Teacher 101 comes in to save you time!

Preschool Teacher 101 is excited to share with you some amazing lesson plans, activity packs, and much more! We offer a wide variety of themes that are frequently used in preschool classrooms, as well as some less common (but super interesting) themes. Click on the image below to learn more about our fall lesson plans resource!

Cover of preschool fall lesson plans pack.
Fall Lesson Plans

Join The Pack from Preschool Teacher 101 today for exclusive access to our amazing products. And we even have three different membership options to suit your needs!

Filed Under: Math Tagged With: Acorns, Fall

Previous article:
« Pumpkin Patch Small World Play
Next article:
10 Glow in the Dark Activities for Kids »

Comments

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. Natasha says

    October 30, 2014 at 3:21 pm

    This looks fun!

    Reply
    • Mary Catherine says

      November 1, 2014 at 3:43 pm

      Thanks, Natasha! The kiddos really got a lot out of it. 🙂

      Reply
shop button

My name is Mary Catherine, and I love to share meaningful {and fun} learning activities for kiddos! Feel free to browse and stay awhile!

Past Fun!

Search the Fun!

Fun by Categories!

Copyright ©2023, Fun-A-Day!. All Rights Reserved. Custom design by Pixel Me Designs