Counting is the most basic of math topics that kindergarteners must understand, not only to move through their daily lives, but also to learn the more complex lessons they will encounter later in their school careers. To help students build this skill in an engaging manner, kindergarten teachers can prepare counting bags for their pupils. To make these bags, fill resealable bags with different quantities of an assortment of items. For example, fill one with five or six pieces of cereal, another with four cotton balls and so forth. Give each table of kindergarten students an assortment of these bags and ask them to work together to count them. As they build their counting skills, make the task more difficult by also asking them to rank the bags from the one containing the most items to the one containing the least.
Though they will certainly participate in experimentation later in their schooling, for kindergarteners, science is primarily about observing the world in which they live. Allow your students the chance to hone their observation skills by giving them pictures of natural scenes and asking them to point out different things they notice. For example, if you give one student a picture of trees filled with colorful leaves, he may say that he notices that it is fall, because the leaves are different colors.
Simple addition is another topic high on many kindergarten agendas. Instead of providing your students with the same boring practice again and again, allow them to engage in game play to build this skill. Instruct the student to roll dice. Each time he rolls, ask him to determine how many dots are on each of the dice, write these numbers down and then add them. To make this game more competitive, have the students add the sums they receive when adding their dice numbers together and reward the first student who gets 50 or a similarly high number.
Acquaint yours students with some animals as an engaging science lesson. To prepare this activity, print out pictures of an assortment of animals, ensuring that you have enough for each student to have one photo. Assign the pictures to students and ask them to look at the images and come up with three things they can say about each animal. For example, the student who receives a pig may say that he looks slightly hairy, he is pink and he appears to like mud. Allow each student to present her findings to the class.