My preschoolers love any game that involves dice, so we play a lot of them! This farm-themed preschool math game is called “put the mud on the pig”. Having a silly name apparently made it even more fun for the kiddos to play!
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farm fun preschool math game
Are you following Fun-A-Day’s Farm Theme Pinterest board?
What we used
Unifix Cubes – we used brown as the “mud”
Dice
Pig play mat
How the children played
We kept the dice game pretty simple the first time around. Most of the kiddos played the game with a friend, although a few chose to play on their own. They rolled the die, then placed the appropriate number of Unifix cubes on the pig (so if I rolled a 5, I’d place 5 cubes on the pig). Then the other student rolled the die. Whoever got rid of their “muddy” cubes first won the game.
Different ways to play
This preschool math activity can be changed up depending on the kids who are playing it. To encourage number recognition, write numbers on the pig play mats. When the child rolls the die, she has to place a cube on the correct number. The kiddos could also use dice that have numbers on them, rather than dots.
Let the students use two dice while playing. They can roll both at the same time, then count/add how many dots they have all together. That final number determines how many cubes get placed on the pig. Once again, the kids could use dice with numbers instead of dots. This would help with learning addition facts.
Learning behind the fun
As with most activities I share, there’s a lot of learning involved. Here are some concepts the children learned with this game:
- Counting
- One-to-one correspondence
- Taking turns
- Being a graceful winner/loser
- Numeral recognition
Click HERE for a free copy of my “put the mud on the pig” play mat. Downloading and using the printable means you agree to my terms of use. I also included a copy of my duck dice game – the kids loved this one during our farm theme, too.
What fun preschool math game will you be trying out with the kiddos? Would they enjoy a dice game like this one?
Christina says
January 29, 2016 at 5:36 pmCute and super easy! Thanks for the printable!
Mary Catherine says
July 23, 2016 at 6:06 pmThanks, Christina!
GrannyAnn says
January 23, 2019 at 11:01 amThis is such a cute and easy early counting game! Thank you for sharing this.
Mary Catherine says
February 25, 2019 at 10:08 amSo glad you liked it! Thanks for the kind words. 🙂