Mitten Number Activity- preschool game

Here is a simple number activity you can make to use at home. I used a die cut machine to make mitten shapes, but you can cut any shape or buy shapes at a teacher store and many craft stores. I did each matching mitten a different color so the children just didn't match the colors; you could also make them all out of one color. I laminated the paper for durability, but you may not need to at home. The numbers were also made from a die cut machine, but you also could just write them with a marker. The small circles were made with a shape punch available at local craft stores.

You can do a variety of activities with just these:

1. Children find the matching number to amount of dots.
2. Children put all the mittens with the dots in order.
3. Children put all the numbers in order.
4. Children can put the correct number of clothespins on either the number or the dots- great fine motor skill
5. If you make them all one color, you can play a memory game, find the match for number and dots. You can play it with the multi color ones too.
6. Tie a small rope between two chairs and have the children clip the mittens using clothespins onto the rope like a clothesline in order.
7. Pull a number out of a bag and find the matching mitten in dots.
8. Pull a number out of a bag and find that number of objects.
9. As children get more skilled with numbers, they should be able to look at the dots and without counting each dot, be able to tell how many are there at a glance.
10. Use the dots as a simple adding game, take a mitten with one dot and a mitten with two dots and how many dots do you have now, can you find that number?

I am sure you will think of other ideas to do with an activity like this. It does not need to be mitten shape, use any shape you like.