Fun Fine Motor Counting Game

Fine Motor Tennis Ball

Do your students need more fine motor practice? This is a super fun math game for your pre-k or kindergarten class that incorporates fine motor skills.

This tennis ball idea has been around forever and it’s always a huge hit. I tweaked the idea a bit to include some math skills and this is what I came up with.

Super FUN Fine Motor Math Game

READ MORE: https://www.pre-kpages.com/fun-fine-motor-math-game/

supplies:
(affiliate) Pocket Cubes http://amzn.to/1UklLbv
(affiliate) E6000 Glue http://amzn.to/1UklIwp
(affiliate) Counting Chips http://amzn.to/1U9VP2J

Posted by Pre-K Pages on Thursday, March 17, 2016

Supplies to Make Your Own Fine Motor Math Game

Here are the supplies you will need to create this math game in your own classroom:

  • Tennis Balls
  • Box Cutter
  • Plastic Discs {poker chips, bingo chips etc}
  • Two Wooden Cubes {craft store}
  • Permanent Markers in same color as plastic discs
  • Wiggly Eyes
  • E6000 Glue

Fun fine motor math game for preschool or kindergarten via www.pre-kpages.com

Preparing the Fine Motor Math Game

At home, cut a “mouth” in each tennis ball using the box cutter. Next, attach the wiggly eyes to the tennis balls using the E6000 glue.

Then, use the permanent markers to color a circle on each side of one wooden cube. The colors of the circles should match the colors of your plastic discs. If you don’t have enough colors of discs for a different color on each side just repeat one.

On the second wooden cube write the numbers 1 and 2. I chose just two numbers because squeezing the tennis ball is much more difficult than you might think and their little hands will get too tired if they have to “feed” the ball too many discs at one time.
Fun fine motor math game using tennis balls via www.pre-kpages.com

How to Play the Math Game

This game can be played in a small group or pairs. Give each child a tennis ball. Players take turns rolling the cubes and feeding their tennis ball the appropriate color and number of discs.

When the tennis ball is squeezed the mouth will open, see picture above. For example, if a player rolls a red and the number 1 then he or she would feed the tennis ball one red disc.

I spent $2 on a package of tennis balls and $1 on the wooden cubes, all other items I had on hand so I spent $3 total on this game.

Be careful with the tennis balls in the pet section at the Dollar Store, they aren’t very “squishy” and won’t work well for this activity, make sure to test the tennis balls before you buy them.

More Math Activities

Feed the Dog Number Counting Game
Building a Natural Preschool Math Center
Teaching Positional Words to Preschoolers
How to Teach Shapes with road mats
How to teach sequencing skills
Preschool Pattern Block Activities
Learning Shapes with Geoboards
Measurement Activities for Preschool

16 thoughts on “Fun Fine Motor Counting Game”

  1. Love it and my K’s will love it even more! Where did you find a container of tennis balls for $2? I don’t think I’ve seen them that inexpensive. Thanks for another wonderful idea!

  2. This is really cute and I can only imagine the extra joy that will happen when they make it throw up to get the chips out! My K-1 kids at the aftercare facility I work in will LOVE this. Thanks!

  3. I have a package of plastic flys…so Im going to make my tennis balls look like frogs.
    We use games at my centers every afternoon. Thanks!

  4. I absolutely love this! I can see doing this for Thanksgiving and making the tennis balls look like turkeys or at Christmas, making them look like a reindeer.

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