I watched his eyes scan the isles of the store. “What number is this? Where’s the 3?” He asked over and over.
Three. The most important number on the planet. Jacob was 3, and he was absolutely obsessed. He wanted to wear his (one and only) shirt with a three on it every day. He wanted to find 3’s everywhere we went, and if we were warming something up in the microwave, he better be able to push the button with the 3 on it.
I know it’s time to work on number recognition, but how do you make that fun? Flashcards aren’t exciting enough to hold the attention of a 3-year-old so I needed to get my creative juices flowing.
Why is it important to recognize numbers?
Recognizing numbers is an important foundational math skill. Kids need to recognize numbers to add and subtract, write math problems, or even label items when learning to count.
Recognizing numbers is also an important skill that will help your child be more independent in the classroom.
At school, many items around the classroom are labeled with numbers. Mailboxes, lockers, desks, folders, and in some cases, even the line your child will need to get in to get on the correct bus is labeled with a number.
Number recognition is an essential beginning math skill that your child will need to learn early on.
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What age is a child ready to recognize numbers?
A child’s readiness to recognize numbers is more based on their previous academic experiences instead of a specific age.
A child who is 3 but has had no introduction to counting or numbers will not be ready, but a child who may already be able to count to 10 (or higher) will be ready to start learning to recognize their numbers.
Children are typically introduced to number recognition between 3 and 5 years old.
If you are looking for more guidance on what specific skills to teach during what stage, you may find our Education in the Early Years a helpful resource to know what skills to work on when to fully prepare your child for pre-school and kindergarten.
How do you know if a child is ready to begin recognizing numbers?
When your child can rote count or count objects, you can start teaching your child to recognize numbers.
Ideally, they will have been introduced to this skill before beginning kindergarten, although they don’t have to have them mastered.
Kindergarten teachers usually teach number recognition to 10 in the fall of the kindergarten year.
How can I help my child recognize numbers?
Start small. Start with recognizing numbers 1-3, and when they have that, work on recognizing numbers 1-5. After your child can recognize numbers 1-5 (out of order) work on 1-10.
When practicing number recognition, practice the numbers out of order. If you use flashcards (we will talk about some better alternatives below) don’t practice the flashcards in order.
If the numbers are in sequential order, your child can just count and you won’t know if they are counting or actually recognizing the numbers. By mixing up the numbers (instead of 1, 2, 3 – practice recognizing numbers 2, 1, 3), you will know your child is learning the number.
Continue to add on new numbers while reviewing the numbers already learned, instead of focusing on only new numbers. After your child has learned 1-5, and you are ready to start practicing numbers up to 10, don’t just practice 6-10. Continue to practice 1-5 as well because kids need constant review.
How do you teach number recognition?
Kids learn best when they are using hands-on activities and having fun. Here are some activities your child will love that teach number recognition – without a lot of prep or work on your end.
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Use What You Already Do
Life is busy. You don’t need to add a ton of activities to what you already do at home in order to teach your kiddo number recognition. Making learning meaningful by sneaking it into your daily routine is one of the best ways kids learn.
Jacob learned his numbers to 10 by looking for numbers that appeared in our daily routine. Recognizing numbers on the microwave, at the grocery store, on car license plates, and even on clothing made learning meaningful and exciting because they were in his natural environment. (Plus this took no preparation from me!)
- Whenever I use the microwave, he presses the buttons. I ask him to “find the three” and then “press the triangle.” He gets shape practice out of it too, not to mention when you’re three, pushing buttons is pretty much the coolest thing ever.
- At the grocery store or driving through a parking lot, go on a number hunt. Ask your kiddo to find the number 5.
- At bath time, play with bath numbers. Similar to how we taught Jacob letter recognition, we made up games to play in the bath. Have your kiddo use a water squirter to spray the number you call out. Hold up a number, have your kiddo identify it, and flick it at them. (It makes it more fun when the number sticks to their belly!) Kids also love to quiz you on numbers. They have to be paying attention, sometimes you might forget and give a wrong answer!
Use Your Body
- Air Write: The more we can use our bodies to learn the better we learn. Using your pointer finger, write the number in the air, and have your child copy you. Narrate what you are doing as you do it. So for the number 4, I would say “Down and over, pick your finger up, back to the top, and down some more!”
- Sensory Write: Fill a tray with shaving cream, sand, or put paint in a baggie, and have your child use their finger to write the numbers. The more senses we use to learn the better we learn…and the more fun it is!
- Use the Water Table: Toss foam numbers in the water table and have your child fish for them, catch them, or simply put the correct number of objects with each number.
Get Hands-On
- Number Matching: You can do this with anything you have around your house. Write numbers on post-it notes, and have your child find that many items to go with the number. For the number 3, your child would find 3 toys and match the group of toys with the written number 3. Some other fun toys you could use are:
This frog balance toy is a great way to learn number recognition. In a math training I attended as a kindergarten teacher, they taught us to teach kids to think about math equations as a balance scale. By doing this early on, we will set them up for success in algebra and higher-level math courses. Learning that five objects is the same as the number ‘5’ is a great way to start this way of thinking!
Playfoam was one of the most popular items I had in my kindergarten classroom. Kids loved to manipulate it, playing with it is great fine motor practice, and they can practice number recognition with these number cards.
Everything is more fun with cookies, especially these self-checking number recognition cookies!
These Number-Bots were another favorite in my kindergarten classroom. The kids couldn’t get enough of them.
- Chalk: We love to take our learning outside. The more you can make learning look like play, the better your child will learn. Write numbers (out of order) on the driveway with chalk. Have your child jump on the number as you call it out. You can also switch it up and tell them how you want them to travel to the number. Tell them to run, walk, hop, skip, crab walk, etc. to the number 3. When their interest in this is over, have them trace the numbers with a different color of chalk. Hop-Scotch is also a great way to practice number recognition using chalk.
- I Spy: This is one of my favorite games for on-the-go! Look at license plates, on the menu, around the store, etc., and spy numbers. When your child spies numbers, sometimes answer wrong and see if they catch your mistake.
- Puzzles: Puzzles are great for kids. They promote problem solving, creativity, and perseverance. Our favorite puzzles are:
These Match It puzzle pieces are perfect for number recognition. They are self-correcting to help your kids do the activity independently.
Another favorite self-correcting puzzle is from Melissa and Doug. We love playing with this wooden puzzle that has pictures of familiar objects to get kiddos excited about learning.
Kids can’t read yet, but this self-checking puzzle will also be helpful when teaching number words.
When All Else Fails, Play a Game
No seriously, games are one of the best ways to learn!
- Games: We love games, and they teach so much more than academics. Games teach turn-taking, process, following rules, cooperation, how to win well, how to lose well, and much more. Many important social skills are learned through games.
Games with dice will help kids learn to recognize numbers. Learning the pattern of dots is important for kids to learn to recognize, but while you are working on number recognition replace the dots with the written number. You can do this by writing the numbers on a sticker or piece of tape and covering the dots.
Add number cards to any game to make it educational. To make number cards, write numbers on index cards or cardstock. The first step of your turn is taking a number card and identifying the number. After that, continue with the normal procedure for your turn in the game.
We love to make Candy Land a little more interesting with a deck of number cards. Draw a number card and identify the number on the card before drawing our color card and moving the piece.
Some of our favorite number recognition games are:
Shelby’s Snack Shack is a fun number recognition game. Each player spins the spinner and collects the number of snacks the spinner indicates from the beach. The player with the most snacks at the end wins.
Younger players will love this Acorn Soup game. Follow the recipe cards to make acorn soup!
One of our family’s all-time favorite games, kids get their wiggles out to feed the Woozle gross foods like sand pizza and toenail cupcakes. You will have to add number recognition cards to this game to practice number recognition, but it’s worth it. This game also has different levels of play, so kids of different ages can play together and it will last your family for years to come.
This game is great for teaching number recognition, subitizing, and counting!
Get Crafty
- Rainbow Write: For older kids who are writing already, write the numbers out on a piece of paper. Have them trace the numbers with different colors. First, trace all numbers with yellow, and then trace again with blue, and again with red. By the time they are finished, the numbers will look like a rainbow.
- Use Dot Stickers: Kids love using stickers, why not use them to learn? Dot stickers are inexpensive and simple to use. Draw the number in different forms on the dot stickers. Using tally marks, the written numeral, dots, dice patterns, shapes, etc. This is important because it helps with subitizing, an important skill that strengthens number sense.
- Have your child match the stickers to the correct number. You can do this with large numbers (like the picture above), draw a train and on each train car write a number, or even use ice cream cones and the dot stickers as ice cream scoops.
- For more ideas on how to use dot stickers, check out 13 Genius Dot Sticker Learning Activities That Will Delight Preschoolers
- Have your child match the stickers to the correct number. You can do this with large numbers (like the picture above), draw a train and on each train car write a number, or even use ice cream cones and the dot stickers as ice cream scoops.
Most importantly, keep it fun!
Remember, the more fun you can make learning, the easier it will be! Our goal (always, but especially with littles) is to get them to fall in love with learning. If they are feeling pressured or stressed about learning they won’t enjoy it, and learning will become more difficult. Keeping learning fun and fitting it into your daily routine will help your child be more successful, and keep it less stressful for you!
Want More?
If you liked this, you’ll love:
How to Teach Your Child Letter Recognition
How to Teach Your Child to Write Their Name
Your Turn
What are your favorite number recognition activities?
