A variation of the game Go Fish!, Fish Plus One teaches basic addition skills up to the number 10. To play, children must be able to recognize numbers up to 10 and the teacher must provide a standard deck of cards. Players receive seven cards each. They take turns asking if the other player has a card in successive number order to one of their own. For example, the first player has a four. He should ask the second player if he has a five. If the second player does possess a five, he gives it to the first player, who places the four and five down as a pair, stating aloud, "Four plus one equals five." The game continues until all the cards are gone.
A Christmas holiday tradition, advent calendars provide a fun, day-by-day countdown to Christmas Day. Purchase an advent calendar with large numbers for easy reading, and post it in a highly-visible place. Explain to the kindergartners the purpose of an advent calendar. Each day, the kindergartners can take turns opening another door, and they can count up to the current day. You'll teach how calendars work as well as reinforcing number order.
Kindergartners will learn addition through tactile experience as well as obtain a snack during this delicious game. Choose a finger food snack the children like, such as clementine orange segments or a healthy breakfast cereal. Draw or print out a picture of two snack bowls side by side, with a robot standing next to one and a horse standing next to the other. Place a few pieces of snack food in each bowl. Ask the children to count how many each bowl has. Then, transfer a few from one bowl to another, and ask how many each has. After a few transfers, let the children eat the snack. You can also use this game to teach subtraction.
Get Into Groups provides physical activity, as well as teaching counting and grouping. The teacher should lead her students into a large play area. She will begin with the students in one large group. She explains that when she calls out a number, the students must group themselves according to that number. For example, if she calls out the number three, students should gather in groups of three. The teacher should count each group to make sure it's accurate before calling out another number. For a challenge, the teacher may wish to impose a time limit on each grouping.