Not only will your child love to play this math game, she will be thrilled to be part of creating her very own math board game as well. Start by cutting a piece of white paper to fit inside a cardboard shoebox lid. Work with your kindergartner to draw two paths leading from one end of the box to the other with approximately 20 spaces shaped like leaves, inserting a flower drawing every 3-4 leaves or so in each path. Glue two small match boxes at the end of the paths. After your kindergartner has finished decorating the game board, glue it inside the cardboard box lid so it forms a tray with raised sides. Create "frog" game pieces by painting bottle caps green and adding "googly" eyes or construction paper. Take turns rolling a die and counting forward on the leaf spaces. If a player lands on a flower pace, he must back up to the previous leaf. First player to her matchbox house wins. For more advanced kindergartners, let each player roll the die twice and add the numbers together to move forward.
Most kindergartners are familiar with the classic game of memory, so add a math twist by working together with your kindergartner to make this homemade math memory game. Cut 20 index cards into equal-sized squares and write one number per card, numbers 1 through 10. Place stickers on the other 10 cards in the quantities 1 through 10 to match the number cards. Shuffle the cards and lay them face down on the table between you and your kindergartner. Each player chooses two cards during his turn, trying to match the numeral card with the sticker amount card to practice counting and number recognition. The game ends when all the cards are matched. Make a more challenging memory game by writing addition or subtraction facts on one set of cards and the answers on the other set of cards.
Kindergartners enjoy learning that lets them get creative, so combine an art project with a math game to keep them interested. Cut off the tops of at least 10 clean, empty single-serve milk or juice cartons. Let your kindergartners decorate the boxes with construction paper and markers to make houses. Let each child decorate wooden craft sticks with faces, hair and clothes to make the people. Number each house and let children take turns putting the correct amount of people in each house. If your child needs more of a challenge, write addition or subtracting problems on the doors of the houses instead of numbers, and instruct kindergartners to put the correct amount of people in the house by solving the problem.
Most kindergartners learn by doing, so help them practice their addition skills by putting the pieces right in their hands. Paint 10 large dry lima beans blue on one side, leaving the other side white. Put five beans into a small paper cup and let your kindergartner shake the beans and then pour them onto a white piece of paper. Instruct your child to draw five beans on an index card and color them in as they were poured out from her cup, white or blue. Keep shaking until you have found all the ways to create the number five with the different colors, coloring them in on separate index cards. Staple or tie the index cards together to make a small book showing all the ways to make 5. Repeat for other numbers up to 10, adding the addition fact to the bottom of the page as appropriate (1 + 4 = 5 for 1 white bean and 4 blue beans or 1 blue bean and 4 white beans).