We love games and activities that can be used time after time and strengthen multiple skills too! This Mitten Number Match and Fine Motor Skills Activity is a fun game that builds number sense and fine motor skills. It’s perfect for your Pre-K or Kindergarten math centers and is sure to be a hit this winter!
*Pair with our Counting Centers and Activities for Pre-K & Kindergarten!
Mitten Number Match and Fine Motor Skills Activity
Matching activities are great for developing visual discrimination skills. These skills are needed when a child starts learning to recognize different numbers and letters.
This mitten number matching activity works on identifying numbers and pairing them with the corresponding number of dots! This game will have your students strengthening their number sense in a super fun way!
How to Prep
I made these mittens with felt (I love felt), but you can use craft foam or cardboard too. Simply draw and cut a mitten template. You can then use the template to trace and cut different color mittens, two of each color.
*Teacher Tip: The sets of colored mittens can also be used as a color matching activity!
Use stickers or labels for the numbers and dots. That way it is not permanent and can be changed out to practice different skills (for example, to match uppercase and lowercase letters).
Add clothespins to the setup and you are ready to play!
RELATED RESOURCE: Math and Literacy Clothespin Clip Cards for January
Time to Play!
The goal of this number matching game is to attach the correct numbered mitten to the mitten with the corresponding number of dots. I only used up to number five for this activity, but you can adjust that according to your student’s or child’s capability.
Students begin by picking a mitten and then counting the dots. Once they identify the number of dots they find the mitten with the matching numeral. Then they use a clothespin to clip the matching pair together!
Using clothespins to attach the two matching mittens works on those ever-important fine motor skills. It may seem easy but it can be a challenge for little finger muscles.
Options for Extension:
- For older kids, use simple sums. For example, one mitten is marked 1+2, another 3. That is the matching pair.
- Use as a memory game. Turn the mittens upside down and find the pairs like you would do with a memory game.
- Use these mittens for number ordering. Attach the mittens from 1-10 onto a “washing line” string. Or backwards to practice counting backwards.
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I love that the numbered mittens are different colours so the activity is focused on numbers rather than colours.
Yes! That makes it truly number focused – we love that too! Thank you! 🙂