If your kindergarten child loves to sing and chant, take advantage of his enthusiasm by teaching him songs and poems that involve counting. "The Ants Go Marching One by One" and "One, Two, Buckle my Shoe" are two examples. "Ten Little Indians" is a song that involves counting forward and backward. For subtraction practice, try "Five Little Monkeys" and for addition, "Ten Little Bees." Your child will not even realize he is practicing math as he sings along to these kindergarten favorites.
Classification in kindergarten is the concept of sorting things by size, shape or color. Provide practice throughout the day by pointing out how things are sorted by groups in places such as grocery or department stores. Ask your child to sort his collection of toy cars by size, then color. Play I Spy and use shape, size and color clues. Buy a container of geometric shapes and have your child practice sorting them by size, color and shape.
Playing games with your kindergartner is a fun way to practice number recognition, addition, subtraction and counting. Play the card games Go Fish, UNO and War for number recognition. For addition practice, play War by turning up two cards -- highest sum wins. Play board games such as Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders and Hungry Hungry Hippos to practice counting skills, addition and subtraction as players move their game piece back and forth along the board.
Role-playing is a great way to help your child grasp the concept of money. Set up a pretend store by putting price stickers on objects and placing them on a table or shelf. Make a cash register out of a shoe box and put a variety of coins and dollars inside. Give your child a white board and marker for calculations and let your child be the cashier. He will add up the purchase, count your money and give you the correct change.