Have parents and kindergartners play "Number Topper." Take a deck of cards and remove all the face cards. Shuffle numeral cards and place them face down in a stack. Have each players take one card from the pile and turn it over. The person with the largest number keeps the cards from that round. When the stack of cards runs out, declare the player with the most cards the Number Topper Master. For students ready for a challenge, teach families Addition Topper. This game is similar to Number Topper except each player draws two cards from the stack. Players add together the numbers on their cards. The person with the highest total keeps all cards from that round. Declare the person with the most cards in the end the Addition Topper Master.
Have parents and student work on making patterns. Give each parent and student one cup of fruit ring cereal. Have kindergartners show their parents how to make a pattern out of the cereal by alternating colors. A student may want to alternate two, three or four colors of cereal. Once parents and student have made a few patterns together, hand out 30-inch pieces of yarn. Have parents and students make patterned cereal necklaces by stringing cereal on the necklaces. Tie off the necklaces to wear. Encourage families to make patterns at home out of other types of food such as a small bag of colored chocolate candies or jelly beans.
Set out pieces of construction paper cut into small circles, squares, triangles, rectangles and hexagons on a table. Give kindergartners and parents a blank piece of construction paper and a glue stick. Invite families to create pieces of art using the shapes provided. For example, families might create a boat sailing on the water or flowers growing in a garden. Take time to discuss the shapes used in each picture. How many triangles are in the car picture? What about circles? What did you use the squares for?
Invite parents and students to make snack mix. On a piece of paper, write out this simple snack mix recipe. "In a plastic bag, mix 1/4 cup cereal, 1/4 cup pretzels, 3 tbsp. chocolate chips, 4 tsp. raisins and 5 tbsp. small cheese crackers. Shake and enjoy." Provide all necessary ingredients, plastic bags and measuring cups and spoons. Vary ingredients and amounts as needed. For example, if your school has a no-candy rule, substitute dried cranberries or granola for the chocolate chips. If you only have a small box of raisins, reduce this amount to 2 tsp. Show parents how cooking or following a recipe with their kindergartner helps build number sense and an awareness of measurements. Best of all, cooking together equals delicious math fun.