This simple counting snowballs math is a perfect fit for your collection of winter activities for preschoolers.
We do a lot of super simple learning activities in my classroom. Even if they’re very easy to set up, they are teaching the kiddos important skills. Once such activity revolved around preschool winter math, an activity I dubbed “counting snowballs!”
Related: Winter Math Activities for Preschoolers
an easy preschool winter math activity
Materials
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Blue construction paper
Basket of cotton balls
Kid-friendly tweezers (affiliate link)
Related: Snowball Winter Activities for Kids
Activity
1. Write the numbers 1 through 10 on the construction paper. Each number gets its own piece of paper.
2. Place the numbered papers around a table.
3. Place the basket of cotton balls in the middle of the table.
4. Explain to the children that each numbered page needs its snowballs!
5. Let the kiddos have fun using the tweezers (and their fingers) to place snowballs on the numbered papers.
Related: Number Activities for Preschoolers
Learning
“Counting snowballs” is an amazingly simple activity, but the children practiced so many skills. Here are the main learning points of this preschool winter math activity:
- Fine motor skills
- Counting up to 10
- One-to-one correspondence
Related: Winter Sensory Bottles
Adapting this Activity
My class is a pre-kindergarten class, so I have kiddos who are 4 and 5 years old. This activity might not be the best for your children/students, so here are a few ideas to adapt it.
- Remove the tweezers as an option if they prove to be too frustrating for the children. Alternatively, an adult could help the kiddos to grasp the cotton balls with the tweezers.
- Only place a few numbered papers if 10 is too overwhelming. Start with 1 through 5 instead.
- If kids need to be challenged, use a different set of numbers. For example, focus on the teen numbers instead of 1 through 10.
Do you have some preschool winter math activities to share? I would LOVE to hear about them in the comments below or over on my Facebook page. I’m always looking for new ideas, and I think it’s fun to swap notes with others. 🙂
Preschool Snow Lesson Plans
Save time and get right to the playful learning with our printable lesson plan sets. Each set includes over 30 learning activities related to the theme.
This set includes active hands-on learning ideas, book suggestions, and the following printables:
- Snowflake Roll and Color Graphing
- 2 Sets of Snowflake Number Cards for 0-35
- Snowflake Beginning Sounds Activity for Sounds /s/, /t/, and /m/
- Upper- and Lowercase Snowflake Letter Matching Puzzles
- Snowflake Patterning and Sorting Cards
- Count the Snowflakes Emergent Math Reader for Numbers 1 to 5
- Count the Snowflakes Emergent Math Reader for Numbers 1 to 10
Get your snowflake lesson plans at Preschool Teacher 101 or Teachers Pay Teachers
For more activities akin to “counting snowballs”, please check out Math Activities for Preschoolers: 1-to-1 Correspondence.
For more early math activities, take a look at my Math for Kids Pinterest board.
I love such simple activities that can be set up in a minute! 🙂 We use similar counting+tweezers activities quite often – maths and fine motor skills in one! Great!
I loved this simple and fun way to teach my 4 year old how to count. Shared this activity with my readers and linked back here and am excited to try it out.
Thanks so much, Becca!