Teacher’s Brain

3 Creative Ways to Teach Math Concepts in Kindergarten

Looking for some math activities for kindergarten that will engage your students and make math fun? You’re in the right place! 

math activities for kids

How can I make math fun for kindergarten or 1st grade? 

As early elementary teachers, we understand the importance of laying a solid foundation for mathematical understanding. So I’m sharing some of my favorite math activities that your students are sure to love. 

Math in Motion

Incorporate movement into your lessons by using activities like counting hops, jumps, or claps. This not only reinforces counting skills but also helps develop gross motor skills. Consider organizing a math scavenger hunt where students search for a certain number of objects in the classroom or even outside, turning learning into an exciting adventure.

Everyday Math Explorations

Bring real-life context into the classroom by exploring math in everyday scenarios. Create a pretend grocery store or a mini post office where students can use play money to practice addition and subtraction. This hands-on approach not only enhances mathematical skills but also cultivates a practical understanding of how math is applied in daily life.

Math Through Art

Fuse creativity with mathematics by incorporating art into your lessons. Have students create number collages, where each number is represented by a corresponding number of objects or images. This not only reinforces number recognition but also allows for self-expression and creativity. Additionally, explore geometric shapes through crafts, connecting visual arts to basic math concepts.

The sky is the limit with these math activities for elementary students! If you are looking for some math resources that your students can enjoy without much prep on your end, you’ll love these ready-to-go math activities! 

Spring Math Crafts

math crafts: math activities for kindergarten

Students LOVE crafts! What better way to engage students in learning math than incorporating some crafts with these differentiated activities? Students can review addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division and you can use the editable PowerPoint to create your own problems if you can’t find what you are looking for with the pre-made worksheets.

Measurement and Data Math Centers

math activities for kindergarten: measurement and data math centers

Looking for a new way to engage your students in learning math? Creating an Addition Math Cafe or Math “Salad Bar” is an engaging way to hit target skills, ignite the students learning, and free you up to monitor learning or remediate. You can use these Measurement and Data “recipe” cards as task cards, set up a math cafe in your room for easy cleanup, or just use the printables in small or whole groups.

Kindergarten Math Centers Year-Long Bundle 

kindergarten math activities: math centers yearlong mega bundle

Looking for some kindergarten math centers for the entire year that will keep your students engaged in learning and hits all the standards? I have you covered with these Math “Salad Bar” or “Cafe” Centers. Students love it and you will too! Each center comes with printables, and a recipe card (task card) to help students identify materials to participate in the activity. 


If you are looking for more math fun, check out my post here for some free math centers!

Simple Steps To Beginner Letter Practice

Letter writing is an important skill for early elementary or kindergarten students. They not only have to learn to recognize the letters and the sounds they make, but they also have to learn how to write them. This sounds simple, but to little learners, the fine motor skills needed for writing is something they are still perfecting. 

There is a correlation between letter recognition fluency and successful reading development. As students learn how to write those letters, they learn to recognize them easily!

Here are some simple steps to practice letter writing. 

  1. Teach the proper pencil grip. Many kindergarten-level students don’t yet understand how to properly grasp a pencil so this is the first skill. 
  2. Letter formation. While this part of writing becomes second nature eventually, it takes a lot of practice and patience in the beginning. 
  3. Next, perfect those skills and make them legible! We’ve all seen those sweet sentences before students get their letters figured out. Lots of practice will make handwriting more legible. 

So how do you practice writing letters? 

Perhaps the most straightforward way is with fun kindergarten worksheets like letter tracing worksheets. These are simple but incredibly effective! 

You can add some variety to students’ letter writing practice by trying out using markers and whiteboards, shaving cream on desks, sand, finger paint, and so much more. 

I shared tons of fun ways to practice the alphabet in kindergarten in last week’s blog post. You can check it out here! 

Looking for some letter writing and other kindergarten worksheets and activities? I have you covered! 

This Kindergarten Everything Mega Bundle has everything you need for a fantastic year with your students with minimal prep. 

letter practice activities preview

Not only will you get letter practice sheets, but you’ll also get everything you need to teach kindergarten all year! 

letter practice fluency book preview

You’ll get engaging activities for every subject area in Kindergarten. This endless curriculum bundle has a massive amount of materials made with kindergarten in mind! 

  • Year-Long Subjects
    • Guided Reading
    • Monthly Writing Themed Journals
    • Morning Work Journals
    • Kindergarten Math Centers
    • Science
    • Social Studies

Check out the YouTube tutorial below!

  • Reading Curriculum includes activities, lesson plans, and assessments for:
    • Phonics
    • Phonemic awareness
    • Comprehension
    • Vocabulary
    • Fluency
  • Kindergarten Math Centers include activities, lesson plans, and assessments
math salad bar set up
  • Science includes activities, lesson plans, and assessments
  • Social Studies includes activities, lesson plans, and assessments
  • Bonus – Butterfly Life Cycle Flip Book
  • Writing Journals for every month
  • Bonus – Silly Story Starters and Kindergarten morning work
kindergarten activities and letter practice worksheets preview

What are your favorite letter practice activities for kindergarten? Let me know in the comments! 

Summer Packets To Prevent The Summer Slide

Summer is just around the corner! This is one of the best times of the year because not only do you get a much-needed break, but you get to see all of the progress your students have made throughout the year and celebrate them for it. Seeing how far they have come in their reading levels or math skills is just wonderful. Even better, it’s amazing to see how their confidence has grown throughout the year! 

With the long relaxing break, however, comes one not-so-fun thing. The summer slide. 

summer packets for 1st grade pin image

What is the summer slide? 

This is the tendency of students to lose some of the achievement gains that they made during the school year and regress academically. This is especially prevalent in low-income areas. 

How do you beat the summer slide? 

I know, the last thing you want is for your students to go backward. But what can you do? One of the best ways to keep that knowledge fresh is to assign some educational activities for students to complete during summer break. Another idea is to keep them reading with some fun reading summer challenges. You could send home a reading log for students to fill in with everything they read on their own during the summer and if they bring it back completed they get to go to an ice cream party. 

For more reasons to keep students learning during summer break, check out my post here! 

How do you engage students over the summer? 

You’ll want activities that are engaging enough that they will stick to it and be excited to do. Need summer activities for students? Don’t worry, I have you covered! 

These summer packets for 1st grade are all you need! 

summer packets

I love these packets because they are completely digital. This means that you don’t need to print out a bunch of packets and spend time putting them together. Students can complete it all online! 

This is designed with Google Slides. It includes a parent letter, physical and oral suggestions, a reading log, and a review of math and language arts activities. Students do not need to have Google Classroom to participate.

Here’s what’s included: 

  • How to use this packet and Parent Tips
  • Oral and physical activity suggestions
  • Reading Log
  • Sight Word List
  • Sight Word Sort Review Activities
  • Word Families
  • ABC Order Printables
  • Correcting Sentences
  • (Nouns, Verbs, Proper Nouns, Long and Short Vowels)
  • WRITING – Narrative, Opinion, Creative (Some printable to encourage handwriting)
  • Comprehension & Fluency
  • MATH Number Bonds, Addition, Subtraction, Shapes, measurement, 10 More 10 Less

Check out the summer packets for 1st grade video tutorial here! 

If you love this summer packet, make sure to check out the packet for each grade in elementary school! 

summer packets bundle preview

These are perfect no matter what grade you teach. The activities can be explained by the adult, but on most pages, it should not be necessary since it is a review. Children should be able to complete most activities independently. 

I recommend setting a 20 to 30-minute block of time for the student daily to work on these activities. They should enhance their vacation! Each packet includes a summer journal, sight words, reading logs, math, and LA printables.

Do you assign summer activity packets? Let me know in the comments!

Bring March Madness Fun Into The Classroom

March is officially upon us and that means March Madness has begun! March Madness is a yearly NCAA Division I basketball tournament. It takes place every year from the middle of March to the beginning of April. 

68 college basketball teams play against each other for the chance to win the spot as the year’s National Champion. Needless to say, it’s pretty exciting! 

March Madness pin image

Even for people who aren’t usually basketball fans, this time of year can still be fun. Everyone chooses their teams and predicts who they think will win. It’s also so fun to watch the games with family and friends. 

Given that it is so thrilling for students and teachers alike, I created some resources so that you can easily bring the March Madness fun into the classroom and celebrate while reviewing skills in math, language arts, and STEM.

First up, I wanted to share my March Madness Math and Literacy worksheets. 

March Madness Activities

These basketball-themed worksheets will enhance learning language arts and math skills during March Madness. It includes over 60 worksheets that you can easily print and go. Perfect for using all throughout the tournament!

This resource was designed for kindergarten and first grade students. It even includes some fun games to get your students excited to learn! 

march madness activities

You’ll get answer keys to the activities to make them easy to implement. Check it out here!

The second resource I wanted to share is my March Madness STEM Catapult Challenge! 

march madness stem activities

This hands-on STEM challenge is guaranteed to get your students engaged! Students will build a hoop and catapult to launch their “basketball”. This resource is great for learning about basketball and levers. 

This resource includes 3 days of plans and is perfect for kindergarten, first grade, or second grade students. It comes with 30 printables, 2 posters, print and go plans, answer keys, rubrics, and a journal. Everything you need! You can add your own materials or use the premade version. 

march madness stem activities

Check it out here! 

I hope you love these basketball-themed activities! What’s your favorite part of March Madness? Let me know in the comments!