problem solving with subtraction during outdoor play

17 Awesome Outdoor Math Activities for Preschoolers

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17 outdoor math activities for preschoolers. Encourage an early love of math with teacher-designed games to teach mathematical concepts.

In my life as a teacher, I was always trying to encourage my students to problem-solve or add an educational value to any games we played.

This wasn’t just in my classroom, but during time spent with my nephews and friends’ children too!

Combine this with being outdoors or in the garden , where children can be free to roam and explore, with a plethora of natural apparatus and stimulus to inspire them.

Your possibilities are virtually endless.

Having a teaching background has obviously made it easier for me to bring math activities into any play with little ones. But you can too, with little to no equipment needed!

It’s more about a mindset and a questioning brain that can twist any activity into one that involves learning. And most of the time your child won’t even know that what they are doing is educational! They’ll just be having busy fun!

Any learning you do with your toddlers is beneficial and will put them in a great place for when they begin preschool or kindergarten. In fact, most of these math activities can be tailored and adapted to such children into kindergarten, first grade and beyond, too!

As well as activities to practice math, I’ve also included ideas to extend the learning through questioning and adapting the math games too.

Plus I’ve split the activities for kids up by the mathematical concept that will be practiced for each one (for some there will be an overlap)!

Let nature and the outdoors be your classroom, teaching early math education to help your child get school (or preschool) ready.

Outdoor Activities to Learn Counting with One-to-One Correspondence

Counting is great, and a lot of parents are always very proud when their children can count to 10 (or higher!) .

But once your child knows the words, it’s important for them to use the words in relation to their numerical meaning. Otherwise, it’s just like reciting a song (and the words have no actual meaning to them).

This is called one-to-one correspondence.

It’s what happens when your child counts and recognizes one object per number – counting while pointing – and it can be a lot trickier that you’d expect, and done in plenty of different ways!

Here are 5 outdoor math activities and math games to help your kids practice one-to-one correspondence.

Head Out on a Counting Nature Walk

There are so many things you can count outdoors: leaves, stones, jumps in puddles…. You literally have endless options!

Use a walk in the garden, forest, or even your neighborhood to encourage counting. Anywhere outdoors will work for to get active and practice their maths!

Keep the learning fun by switching between different activities, using both concrete items and abstract ideas.

• Counting how many leaves you collect or pinecones you can spot (counting concrete items).
• Guessing and then testing how many bunny hops it will take to reach the next tree (relating to abstract ideas).

As the adult, you can model counting objects in a random layout and showing the result is always the same as long as each object is only counted once.

For example, take a set of three leaves and count them in a line, pointing to each as you say one, two, three .

Then mix them up into a random order or make them into pile and count them. Will there still be three?

While this is obvious to adults, activities like this help kids understand the one-to-one correspondence of numbers!

Lead an Outdoor Math Scavenger Hunt

Host a scavenger hunt while on your walk, or picnic in the park.

However, rather than just sending your children to find random things as with an outdoor bingo game, add a number quantifier to make it trickier.

Some ideas of what to ask them to find or collect:

• 3 yellow leaves
• 2 pinecones

You can also combine quantifiers and objects with shapes and measuring/comparing skills.

Asking them to find 3 leaves that are bigger than their hand. Or 2 sticks shorter than their leg. Or 3 pinecones, 1 each in small, medium, and large.

All of this counting will become second nature, and by the time they go to preschool, they’ll be skilled up!

Have a Game of What Time is It, Mr. Wolf?

If its been awhile since you played this game, I’m going to let you in on a secret: this old classic doesn’t actually have much to do with telling time (although it does get kids used to the o’clock expression!).

Here’s how to play:

• One person is the wolf (take turns being the wold with your child or children).
• Whoever isn’t the wolf asks, “What time is it, Mr. Wolf?”
• The wolf replies with an “o’clock number” (anywhere from 1 o’clock to 12 o’clock)
• The non-wolf children take however many of steps that correspond to the time the wolf said (eg. 1 o’clock equals 1 step)
• Occasionally the wolf can choose for it to be ‘dinner time!’ and cause lots of giggles as they chase everyone back to the start!

This outdoor math game can be played with zero equipment, any place, any time!

Counting Songs

There are lots of songs to encourage counting and math, and preschool kids love singing!

Find some favorites, such as 5 little frogs, 5 little ducks, or 10 green bottles, and act them out to make them more fun.

For 10 Green Bottles, for example, set 10 green (non-breakable) bottles on a wall, and knock them over (or even use a Nerf gun!), counting and singing as you do.

You can help your child develop a further understanding of the math and numbers by asking questions:

• When one more frog jumps in, how many will there be in the pool altogether?
• When one bottle accidentally falls, how many are left on the wall?

Human-Sized Board Game

Have hours of fun drawing out a life size board game with chalk on the driveway or in the yard.

Use your imagination, but just make sure there are enough spaces to jump on.

Then roll a dice and have your little one move themselves the right number of squares.

On different squares, you can also add challenges for your little one to complete, like do 5 jumping jacks or touch your toes 3 times!

In addition to improving their math skills, this will help to burn some active toddler energy too!

Ideas for Number Recognition

Number recognition is being able to see a digit represented in its number form, and know what it is.

Simply put, number recognition means your child can see a 5 and know – hey, that’s a five!

Outdoor Number Hunt Walk

When you look closely, there are actually so many numbers in our everyday, outdoor environment.

From house numbers on front doors, or mailboxes, to speed limit signs, and numbers on license plates.

Take a walk through your neighborhood and play a number spying game.

Spot as many numbers as you can, and have your kids name them (say them) when they see them in digit form.

Sidewalk Chalk Number Line

Use sidewalk chalk to draw a long number line. Let your kid jump along as they count the numbers, landing on each one.

This can be set up for open-ended play.

If they want to add a new challenge to it, they can also collect things (in the matching quantity) that match each number on the line, too.

Number lines are also useful when teaching ‘more than’ or ‘less than,’ or solving basic math problems . Children can move back and forth along the line to solve problems.

They will enjoy the active aspect of moving to solve the problems.

Water Spray Numbers for Recognition or Basic Math

If you’re outdoors, there’s definitely more scope to get a little messy. This activity includes getting a bit wet too!

Children love playing with a spray bottle, and this outdoor math activity is tons of fun, especially in the summer as it warms up.

You can also do this with water balloons, too. However, the water balloons version requires a bit more – preparation, and be prepared to get a lot wetter!

• Write numbers on a large wall or fence using sidewalk chalk, at a child accessible height.
• Call out a number and have them squirt the correct number with their spray bottle!
• If you have siblings, you can make it a race and let them run across the yard to squirt it!

For older kids, you can make it trickier by giving them a simple addition or subtraction calculation to solve and squirt the correct number that is the answer.

Math Games with Number Rocks

Painting numbers onto rocks is a great learning resource.

I’d suggest making 2 sets: Pain one set of 10 rocks with the numerals, 1 to 10. At the same time, paint a second set of rocks with pictorial representations of the numbers 1 to 10 (i.e. 5 spots to represent the number 5).

The pictoral rocks don’t have to be over-the-top cute – simple spots will do!

You can play a ton of games with these:

• Hide them around your outdoor area and have children find them.
• Have them search for a certain value and only bringing it back once they find the correct one (this will also improve their memory as they recall where the other rocks were).
• Match the numeral and pictorial representation rocks.

For more advanced little ones, you can begin early addition. Ask them, can you find me 2 rocks that make 7 altogether?

These games are great when played with friends or siblings too, and encourage gentle competition and collaboration.

Number Trails

Make “number tracks” by drawing or painting a number on paper plates. On the opposite side, draw or paint the spots on to show how many, as this will make the game more flexible!

Lay out the plates, like stepping stones, around your yard or on a patio.

Then have your little one follow them, counting each one in order.

You could also lay them out randomly and shout a number. Then you child has to jump on the correct plate as fast as they can.

Or you could scatter them around the yard in a random order, and have your child gather them and place them in the correct order.

Outdoor Activities to Teach Mathematical Language

Mathematical language sounds intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be hard. In fact, it’s an easy way to fit math activities into your day, and not just at playtime.

Using mathematical language can be as easy as using number words in meaningful contexts: Here is your other mitten. Now we have two .

You can also talk about the math in everyday situations, for example, when doing up a coat: one hole for each button.

Good vocabulary to introduce to start with, as well as the number words themselves, can include: ‘lots’, ‘fewer’, ‘more’, ‘less’, ‘in’, ‘on’, ‘inside’, ‘under’, ‘long’, ‘longer’, ‘longest’, ‘short’, shorter’, ’shortest’, ‘heavy’, ‘light’, ‘full’, ‘empty’, ‘how many?’, and ‘count’.

Plan a Picnic

If you’re going on a walk anyway, why not plan a picnic to go with it. Have your little one help you to plan and pack for it.

Question them: Will there be enough drinks for everyone? How many sandwiches will we need to make?

This will encourage thinking skills and estimation.

Small World Activities

Kids love playing, and mathematical vocabulary can lend itself to all sorts of play.

If they are playing with their dinosaur figures, have them organize them from longest to shortest, or tallest to smallest.

If they have diggers and dump trucks playing at a building site, discuss which machine can carry ‘more’ soil, and which ‘less’

If they are playing with dolls, ask them how many shoes the dolls will need.

Talk to children, as they play with water or sand, to encourage them to think about when something is full, empty or holds more or less.

Outdoor Math Games to Teach Early Addition and Subtraction

Number recognition and counting skills need to be practiced before you can delve into the world of early addition and subtraction.

However, even if that isn’t quite secure, you can still play some of the math games listed here without the extended number value concepts.

Bean Bag Buckets

Set out some buckets in your garden and throw 1 beanbag into each bucket. Explain that each time you get a bean bag into a bucket, it’s 1 point. And then ask your child to add up the points you just got in your example.

Sounds simple enough? This can be extended in so many ways.

One change could be to number each bucket with a points score, with smaller buckets or the buckets that are further away being worth more points.

If your child gets 1 beanbag in the 1-point bucket, and 1 beanbag in the 2-point bucket, ask them how many points they have in total.

You could make each beanbag have a different value, too.

Or have your child aim to get a certain score – how can they get 4 points with 3 throws?

You can challenge your child through questioning: If each bucket is worth 2 points and I throw 3 beanbags can I score 5 points? Could I score 4 points? What’s the highest score I could get? Or the lowest?

If you don’t have buckets and beanbags, you can always do a similar game by drawing targets with sidewalk chalk to throw pebbles/chestnuts etc at.

Play Backyard Bowling

Kids love playing skittles/bowling. As well as encouraging their motor skills, you can use them to teach math, too.

Playing with a set of 5 skittles/bowling pins will help smaller children begin number skills. Older toddlers can work with 10.

Through your language, you can use them to begin early subtraction skills.

Ask your little one, if I have 10 pins and I knock down 4, how many are left standing? Act it out by knowing down 4 to help them see the relationship.

As you play and question, enourage them to count the objects and use 1:1 recognition to count clearly and accurately.

If you don’t have a set of bowling pins, they are easy to make too by using old water bottles that you can slightly fill with dirt or stones from the garden to weigh down a little.

Children can have fun decorating them, too.

Outdoor Math Games to Teach Shape, Space, and Measurement

Shape, space, and measure is a huge part of math. And it’s often overlooked when sharing math games for preschool kids.

Developing this knowledge helps your preschooler with problem-solving and understanding different aspects of the world.

Natural Patterns

Collect stones, flowers, and leaves and make patterns with them.

They can be a simple recurring pattern, such as a line of leaf, flower, leaf, flower. Or you can make it trickier with a third object: pebble, leaf, flower / pebble, leaf, flower.

You can also look at making symmetrical patterns using natural objects.

Maybe draw a chalk outline of a head and have your child make the other half of the face using things in the garden.

Draw a Race Car Track

Use chalk to draw a track for toy race cars. You can extend and adapt mathematically by having children make a ‘longer’ way (or some shortcuts) or add in different routes to get to the finish line.

Not only will they love zooming their cars along the track, but you can develop vocabulary too.

You can also use plastic and wooden tracks, which encourage problem-solving and use of space.

Challenge them to make a track that loops back together, or that fits within a confined area but uses all of the pieces.

It’s not necessarily about them getting it ‘right’ but the design and learning skills they develop while changing and adapting.

When you head out on your walks, you can look for shapes.

Encourage children to talk about the shapes they see and use, and how they are arranged and used in the construction of buildings and spaces around them.

You’ll be surprised at how many triangles, squares, and circles there are in the outdoor world once you start looking!

Final Thoughts on Outdoor Math Activities for Kids

As an educator, I hope you can take these outdoor math activities and games and use them to support your children’s development and school readiness.

They can be played and adapted in many ways so you can keep it fresh and exciting.

Plus your kids won’t even realize they are learning. They will be way too busy having fun and playing games with their family to know that!

If you think this outdoor math activities article will be useful for other parents with kids who are preparing for preschool, kindergarten, or even first grade, feel free to share it with them too!

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Laura Pulling

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Taking Math Learning Outdoors into Nature

Nature and outdoor spaces offer many opportunities for teachers, parents, and caregivers to engage young children in high-quality math learning. When exploring the outdoors, children naturally play with math in a joyful way that is meaningful to them. Early math experiences that occur through play can help develop children’s math skills and positive math attitudes.

Caregivers can build on children’s interests and ideas to promote math learning without taking over their outside playtime. Some ways to do this are to support children’s problem-solving, prompt children to reflect on problems, introduce new and relevant words and concepts, and create an environment where children are likely to discover a problem that needs solving in the first place!

See Outdoor Math Learning in Action

Supporting Nature-Based Math Education

Below, we highlight some ways that caregivers can support children’s mathematical thinking during outdoor play. The goal is for caregivers to recognize math opportunities in nature and to support and plan for learning around them.

For children who enjoy collecting things: Suggest that children pay attention to a certain feature, such as weight, length, or color. “Wow, notice how those leaves are all different sizes?” Then see how children’s thinking inspires them to generate ideas or more questions, such as how they can line up, build, or compare the leaves.

For children who enjoy exploring: Offer a question a child can test. “I wonder why that stick rolls down the hill but the other one does not?” or “I wonder how you can make sure your twig house is big enough for your toy truck to fit inside it.” These suggestions prompt children to consider concepts that support early math development, such as the shape, speed, and density of the rolling stick, or the length and width of the twig house.

For children with high energy: Find ways for children to engage in active learning outdoors. “How far you can throw that ball? How fast can we run from this side to that side? Which tree is the farthest from here? Count your steps to find out!”

Benefits of Outdoor Math Play

Lots of space for fun, energetic play. Early math is playful, in part because it involves creative problem solving that children naturally engage in during free play—especially if their environment is set up for it! Whether your outdoor environment is a natural outdoor space, a constructed playground, or a combination of both, outdoor spaces offer more room to move around compared to typical indoor spaces for preschoolers. Outdoor settings also provide a variety of real life, hands-on materials like leaves, plants, twigs, rocks, holes, hills, puddles, swings, sidewalks, or slides. Caregivers can encourage children to count, examine, and manipulate objects as part of early math discussions on topics like measurement and data collection.

Opportunities for children to develop their own goals and questions. Children naturally gravitate toward outdoor activities that interest them. They are also more motivated to learn and problem-solve when engaged in activities that are interesting to them. For example, one child may enjoy collecting objects in nature, and another child may use the objects to achieve a goal they have in mind, such as using twigs to build a house in the sand box or arranging larger sticks to create a fort.

Teachers and caregivers can help spark children’s ideas by making available tools that invite exploration, such as:

• Shovels left by the dirt so that children can dig holes of different depths and for different purposes.
• Weigh scales left near collections of pinecones and acorns so children can compare weight, size, and surface characteristics between them.
• Collections of items left out so children can sort, toss, roll, or count their newfound treasures.

Recognition that math is meaningful and everywhere. Incorporating natural objects (e.g., leaves, twigs, stones) and naturally occurring landforms (e.g., hills, trees) into children’s learning demonstrates that math is embedded in nature. Further, answering questions that children think of while playing outdoors helps them see math as a tool to solve real-world problems. By using math to solve problems that arise through play, children begin to understand the importance of math in everyday life.

Supports children’s overall development. Children who regularly play outside have opportunities to engage in physical activity, and outdoor play can improve attention skills and elevate mood. Research suggests that physical benefits are especially prominent when playing in natural outdoor environments, such as a forest, compared to surface playgrounds.

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Rachel Olson, Michèle Mazzocco , and Sheila Williams Ridge

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The Measured Mom

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PS PK K 1 2 3 21 Comments

Outdoor Math Ideas for Kids Ages 3-7

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Sometimes the best way to sneak in a little learning is in unlikely places.  How about teaching some math at the park or in your own backyard?  Here are some outdoor math ideas for kids.

After a long cold winter, it finally feels like summer! My kids have been spending a lot of time outside, so I’ve put together this list of ways that we’ve done some math in the great outdoors.

Outdoor Math Ideas

Counting, number recognition, one-to-one correspondence –, count the pine cones.

Under our pine trees we have thousands of tiny little pine cones. So following an idea from Peaceful Parenting , I drew boxes with the numbers 1-20 on the driveway.  Then my just-turned Four worked at filling up the numbers through 10 and my Five counted pine cones for the larger numbers.

Sorting, Measurement – Sort sticks by size

Despite my nervousness around little boys and very long sticks, my Four and Five love to collect the big sticks they find in our yard and the little wooded area in the back.  They rang the doorbell to show me all the sticks they had collected… and sorted by size.   You could also have your child put the sticks in order from shortest to longest.  You could do the same thing with leaves or wildflowers.

Measurement – Very Big & Very Small Hunt

Last spring, I printed this set of action cards and had my kids (ages 2,4, and 5 at the time) hunt for objects in the yard.  They loved this very active scavenger hunt, and it was great for teaching my almost-three-year-old about size.  I think we’ll have to pull it out again this year!  Learn more and get your free printable action cards in this post .

Patterns – Create nature patterns

 Addition, Subtraction, Number Recognition –

Water balloon math.

This game can be modified in so many different ways. Prepare some water balloons and write either a single number or an addition or subtraction fact on each one.  Then write matching numbers (or answers to the addition and subtraction problems) on your driveway or sidewalk. As your child chooses a balloon he throws it on the matching number or answer.

My kids loved learning and staying cool at the same time!

Fractions – Giant Fractions on the Driveway

Fractions can be a difficult concept, but this short lesson seemed to do the trick for my Five.  I drew a large rectangle on the driveway.  We talked about how this was one whole rectangle. Then I divided it in two equal parts (okay, they weren’t exactly equal, but the kids didn’t notice).  I had my Five stand in one part to show “one half.”  Then his sister stood in the other half to show “one half.”  We talked about how two halves make a whole.

Then we worked together to show different fractions. In the above picture we made “3/4.”

The kids liked finding ways to make fractions all by themselves.  Here my Seven is showing “4/4.”  This also gave us the chance to talk about equivalent fractions.  “4/4”  is the same thing as “one whole.”

My Five likes to find any opportunity he can to demonstrate standing on his head.  This worked well for “1/4.”

Number Recognition, Counting – 

Mr. wolf, what time is it.

This game was designed for my just-turned-Four, but it wouldn’t have been fun without his older siblings playing along. I had written the numbers 1-12 on pieces of construction paper.  I was the Wolf and stood at the end of the yard.  The kids stood facing me at the other end of the yard.

They called, “Mr. Wolf, what time is it?”  Then I showed a number, and they took turns reading it.  When I showed the “2,” for example, one of them would say “2:00!”  Then they walked toward me that number of steps.

Periodically I would put down the pages and call out “Lunch time!”  At that point the kids would try to reach the tree behind me or run back to start, where they were “safe.”  I ran after them to try to catch them. If they reached the tree behind me safely, they could be the next Wolf.

Hint: wear shoes you can run in. This is excellent exercise for the mom.

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Reader Interactions

21 comments.

Stacey Marsh

April 8, 2019 at 5:22 am

Thank you for sharing all your great ideas. My first graders love these engaging activities. This is the first sight I visit when looking for new ideas to teach. Thanks again.

April 27, 2019 at 8:36 am

You’re welcome, Stacey!

October 4, 2018 at 9:54 am

These are really neat! I like the stick sizes and the counting objects in groups! thanks so much!

October 23, 2018 at 5:54 am

I hope you get a chance to try some of these with your learners, Stephanie! 🙂

May 20, 2018 at 1:24 pm

Your site is amazing! Thanks so much for all the great resources! Stephanie… Northern Ireland 🙂

June 2, 2018 at 3:36 pm

You’re welcome, Stephanie!

Edna Laserna

March 15, 2018 at 2:46 am

Thank you so much for accepting me in your blog. Your activities really help me to improve my teaching in different areas.

March 15, 2018 at 6:49 pm

You’re very welcome, Edna!

Milagros Montalvo

March 7, 2017 at 10:26 am

I’m working on an article for Scholastic Teacher magazine. In each issue, Teacher compiles lesson ideas on specific topics to share with teachers. (Readers total about 100,000 K-8 teachers in print and many more online.) You can see an example of these lesson ideas here.

I’m currently working on ideas for outdoor math activities for grades K-1. I came across your outdoor activities and would love to include one or two. They are so creative! I’m reaching out to ask your permission for me to summarize the lesson and quote from your blog post. I’m on a tight deadline and, as such, would appreciate your response by Friday, March 10.

Please also send along the following information for me to include: Full name (as you’d like to see it published): Grade you teach: School where you teach and city/state: Would you like for me to include your blog’s name (and link to it in the online version of the article)? Anything you’d like to add about the activity: A photo of the activity w/a photo credit

I look forward to hearing from you!

Anna Geiger

March 10, 2017 at 8:49 am

Thank you for reaching out! While I would love to be included, I do not have high quality photos of any of these activities. We are still having winter weather, so I wouldn’t be able to take new pictures for you. Thank you anyway!

June 14, 2015 at 3:48 pm

Nice ideas, I hope it works well with my pupils. Thank you

modernsensefurniture

August 23, 2014 at 7:08 pm

I do not even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was great.

I do not know who you are but definitely you are going to a famous blogger if you aren’t already 😉 Cheers!

July 9, 2014 at 8:00 am

I love these math activites! Good for both my 8 year old and 4 year old!

July 12, 2014 at 8:44 pm

Thanks for commenting, Susen!

June 11, 2014 at 10:47 am

You have the best ideas! Thanks for sharing already used a bunch for my 3 and 1.5 kids, and I look forward to incorporating them into my classroom next year!

July 6, 2014 at 9:34 am

Thank you so much, Carmen! I hope your students enjoy them.

June 5, 2014 at 2:11 pm

These look fun! I will definitely try these with my kids!

[…] Giant fractions on the drive from The Measured Mom […]

[…] Outdoor Math Ideas for 3-7 year olds […]

[…] Mr Wolf, what time is it? from The Measured Mom. Anna has quite a few ideas here. Skim down the page to find this old favourite. […]

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Outdoor Math Games – 50 Ideas That Really Work

Getting maths into the outdoors is one of the biggest concerns many practitioners have. It is probably the thing I am asked about the most where maths is concerned.

This post is by far the most comprehensive quantity of high-quality outdoor math activities for children aged 3 to 6 that you will be able to find all in one place.

Why do maths outside?

The benefits of maths outdoors are many, which include:

• You can do things on a bigger scale
• Maths can become really active and physical
• You can use a wider range of found objects
• You have the space for large games
• Some children prefer being outdoors and will access maths opportunities more freely than indoors

Outdoors offer both an opportunity to learn new things, as well as practice basic math concepts they already understand with bigger and more active resources.

Here we go – let’s get stuck into some of the best and tried and tested outdoor math activities that will get your children loving maths outside.

Table of Contents

Number Stones

I have created quite an array of different types of number stones. These are actually great for use either inside or out. Lots of the math games I will demonstrate below can be played with these, although you can use many other things such as sticks, leaves, or conkers.

I just bought lots of white pebbles from a hardware shop and some acrylic paint.

If you’re looking to buy similar pebbles, something on Amazon like this will work.

For acrylic paint, some bog-standard primary colors like these will do the job.

I painted the stones with acrylic paint in different ways, and sometimes used a Sharpie pen if I needed to put an outline on them.

The number stones I have created include:

Sets of 1-10 Stones

These are alternately colored, yellow, white, yellow, white, to begin the idea of odd and even in a visual way. Great for ordering or using to label.

If you don’t want to create your own stones, you can also buy beautiful number stones, thus saving you time. Yellow Door painted number stones are a good choice (check out the latest price on Amazon here.)

Matching Numeral To Quantity Stones

Have some stones with numbers on, and some with quantities. It could be dots, or it could be something like insects.

These are brilliant for one to one correspondence in particular. If you want to find out what one to one correspondence is, and the best ways to teach it, then check this out.

Animal Stones

I have some ladybird stones, some leopard ones, as well as some zebra and bee stones. Any animal that has a multi-colored pattern can be copied. These stones are great for games.

2s, 5s And 10s Stones

Great for higher-ability children in the early years, and for challenging younger kids who are starting to count in different ways.

These are perfect for ordering numbers in a range of ways.

Outdoor Models and Images

Mathematicians think in pictures.

Models and images seem to work really well outside because you can make them big, and they can be the focus of active games.

The benefits of using models and images include:

• They present maths as pictures
• They are visual
• They allow for problem-solving
• They allow for the manipulation of physical objects
• They can be used again and again, often in different ways

Chalkboard Paint

A lot of the resources that I have created are using black chalkboard paint . This is one of the ultimate resources in the early years. It is great for painting large surfaces for mark-making, such as fences, sheds, pallets, or old furniture.

I imagine any can of chalkboard paint would work, but I use American Crafts DIY Chalkboard Paint (check out the current price on Amazon) . It does the job great.

I have painted several pieces of MDF from a hardware shop and then used these for games. However, you could just as easily chalk the games on the floor. I also once painted tree stumps with lots of games using acrylic paint. They lasted for at least a year, even out in the rain.

Addition Triangles

These are great for exploring number bonds. They represent the part-part-whole model used in Singapore Maths.

I have painted my addition triangles onto a piece of MDF. Using the animal stones (or another resource such as leaves and sticks), you can explore number bonds.

For example, start with five stones in the top circle. Split them up into different quantities, and put the stones in the two lower circles. For example, it could be 1+4, or 2+3.

Higher-ability children could try to record what they have found.

2 Sets For Addition

This math game is another good one when children are beginning to add. You can use painted stones, or just found objects from the area.

Place some objects in either circle and then simply count how many you have got altogether. This is an excellent way of adding two sets and finding the total.

Trellis Models And Images

One of the best things I ever tried was sawing up a big trellis that I found at a garden center. I am pretty sure I saw this on Pinterest but cannot remember where. I cut it up into many different models, such as:

• A ten frame
• A five frame
• A two-part addition frame
• A four-part frame

There are so many games that you can play using these. Children really love finding objects to experiment with in the frames.

Ten frames are a key resource to introduce to young children both inside and out . To find out more about what ten frames are and the many ways to use them, take a look at this .

Board Games Outside

Board games are fantastic for a range of mathematical skills. They encourage:

• Counting for a purpose
• Recognizing numbers
• Problem-solving
• Find more/less

Some examples of fantastic outdoor board games include:

Noughts And Crosses

This seems to be known more by the modern generation as tic tac toe.

It is a brilliant game for problem-solving and simple counting, as well as turn-taking. You can easily create simple boards on wood or logs, and use painted stones or objects such as pine cones and conkers.

I have recently seen a board made out of rope.

It is good for simple counting, doing mental math and subitizing, as well as thinking ahead.

Connect Four

Another classic game from the old days.

If you play this game on the floor it is actually easier to get four in a row than if you play the standard plastic version.

Create a large grid board, and then use different objects for each player. It could be stones vs. conkers. Put one on at a time, and try to get four in a row. You can actually have more than 2 players if you want as well. Great for counting, subitizing numbers, tactics and problem solving.

Racetrack 1-6 Game

Have a dice with numerals on it and a board that is a simple grid, with numerals 1 to 6, and some other boxes. Pick which number you think will win, and put your colored stone at the top of the grid for that number. Then roll the dice multiple times. Every time you roll it, put a stone on the right numeral on the grid. The first number is the number that fills up its grid.

This is a fantastic activity for number recognition. If you want to find out my favorite 16 games to teach recognizing numerals, then take a look at this article.

Racetrack 1-12 Game

This is quite a bit harder, and has a lot of probability and calculating involved. But this game makes math problems and math equations more enjoyable to solve.

Have a racetrack that is a 12 x 4 grid. Have the numbers 1-12 written on the bottom of the grid.

You will need two dice, ideally a dots dice and a numeral dice.

To start with every player predicts which number they think will win. They use something such as a colored stone to signify this by putting the stone at the top of the grid in the number column.

Then you take turns to roll a dice. For example, you might get 3+4. Put a stone on the first box in the 7 column. Keep going, adding stones to the number columns. The ‘winner’ is the first number to come out 3 times and make it to the top of the grid.

This game is excellent for multiple things:

• Calculating
• Counting on
• Probability – Numbers 6 and 7 are the two most likely to win. They have the most combinations of numbers possible. Number 1 can never win as you can never throw a 1 with two dice. Children may start to get a bit of an idea of this when they play.
• Thinking about ‘more’. I.e. how many more a number needs to win.

Number Line Race

This is a great way of exploring a number line.

Have a long number line either chalked on the floor (or painted on a piece of wood). Each child has one ‘counter’ such as a colored stone.

The idea is that everyone starts at the beginning of the line. The first child rolls a 1-6 dice. They move their stone along the line to that point (e.g. 5). Then the other children go. For the next go, you simply keep moving along the number line. The winner is the person that gets to the end first.

This is good for number recognition, and also problem solving (such as how far your opponent is ahead of you)

Blank Number Line Race

I also have a number line that has blank spaces on it. Children can add their own numbers to it.

They could be 1, 2, 3, etc., or they could mix it up. They could go backwards. Or they could start from a number that’s not 1. You could also do a game counting in tens.

Active Outdoor Math Games

Here are some physical outdoor games that can get children really engaged.

Stepping Stones

This is an excellent game of cooperation and teamwork.

I use rubber spots for this game with numbers on them. You can find similar spots to these at Amazon here.

You need one more spot than you have children, so if you have a team of six children you will need 7 spots (with numbers 1 to 7 on).

The children are in a line. The child at the front has all the spots (they have a hard job). The person at the back of the line actually has the hardest job, as they have to bend down and pick the spots up.

The idea is that the floor is now lava. You cannot stand on it. However, you can stand on the spots that are the stepping stones over the lava.

The child at the front finds number 1 and puts it on the floor. They stand on it. Then they put down number 2 in front of them, and step on that. Then number 3 etc. As there is a free stepping stone behind them, the others start to step onto the stones.

When number 7 is on the floor, the children should be standing on stones 2 to 7. Then it is the turn of the person at the back to pick up stone number 1 and pass it down the line.

They help each other to pass it down and the process starts again. The person at the back keeps on bending down and picking up the spare stepping stone.

I like to get them to say the number as they stand on it. This game is good for number recognition and ordering.

Using water spray-bottles

This is dead easy. Have water spray bottles and a dice. (A spray bottle lo oks a bit like this if you weren’t sure!)

Roll the dice and spray the bottle that number of times. It could be on the fence or on wallpaper. If you are brave you add a bit of paint to the water in the bottles.

Sticks Activities

There are so many learning opportunities can you perform with sticks including:

• Making 2D shapes.
• Ordering through size
• Making pictures – such as houses, vehicles, rockets, etc.
• Counting them
• Making ten-frames, or number lines

Balloon Games

Balloons are great for physical development, cooperation, and turn taking. Some great outdoor maths games with balloons include:

• Have a small group of children in a circle (approximately 4 to 6 children). Write numbers on a balloon in pen. Maybe put about 6 numbers on the balloon. One child hits the balloon up into the air, then another hits it up and continues. When you hit the balloon, say the number that you hit.
• Have lots of balloons, each with one number on them. Start with one balloon, keep it up, and when you hit it say the number. Then add another balloon to the circle, then another. Keep saying the number as you hit each balloon.
• Have one balloon again (this time with no numbers written on it). The first person says ‘One’ as they hit the balloon. Then the next person says, ‘two’. Continue like this.
• The harder version is counting back from 10 to 0. The first person hits the balloon and says ‘ten’. Then the next person says ‘nine’ as they hit it, and so on.

Maths Ball Games

All sorts of counting and number activities can really be brought to life with ball games . Here are some great examples:

Have Bibs With Numbers

This is one of the most fun outdoor math activities on this list!

Have shirts or bibs with numbers on that the children wear. The child-size version of these number sports vests would work well, as an example.

If you don’t have anything like this, you can write numbers on stickers and they stick them on their tops.

Stand in a circle.

The first child says a number that someone else is wearing and throws the ball to them. That person says ‘thank you’. Then that person chooses someone else, says their number and throws it to them.

This game can be done as a rolling game if they are struggling with catching.

Great for numeral recognition in a fun context. 

Write Numbers On The Balls

Either put stickers with numbers on onto balls, or write directly onto them if you don’t mind having permanent number balls. We use large rubber balls that look a bit like this (check them out on Amazon).

Again this could be a rolling game or a throwing game, depending on the skills of the children.

Start with one ball, but you want to quickly extend it to at least two and hopefully more.

One child says someone’s name and throws a ball to them. That child catches it and says the number.

Then they say someone else’s name and throw it to them. Repeat.

If you have two or three balls going at once there is lots of communication and teamwork required.

Pass The Number Balls Around The Circle

Using the same balls that you created for the last game, play a simple numeral recognition game.

The children sit in a circle and pass the balls around. When they are holding a ball they say the number that is written on it, before passing the ball to the next person.

This game is good because even if you don’t recognize all the numbers, you can listen to the person next to you and copy what they have said. Hopefully, in this way, you are absorbing what the numbers are in some way.

For those who know the numbers already, it is great for speed and quick recognition practice.

Symmetry – Building Half A Giant Outside

This is a great provocation for using outdoors with natural loose parts – things like sticks, leaves, conkers, reels, and building blocks. Just whatever you can find in the outdoor space. To find out the many resources you can use for loose parts play, take a look at this list of at least 100 ideas .

There is a simple way to do it, and a trickier way.

The simple way is for the adult to draw the silhouette of a huge giant on the floor with chalk. Draw a central line down the center of the body, from the top of the head down to the feet.

Now children ‘build’ the giant. Whatever they place on one side – for example, 4 conkers for hair – they try to copy on the other side.

There are harder ways of trying this game out. One harder variation is just draw a central line on the floor with chalk and nothing else. Then, once again, they try to build the giant on one side, and copy it on the other. This will create a much more random creation, and really get them thinking

Washing Lines

There are so many things you can do with washing lines , and it really is so simple to set up. Pretty much all you need is a piece of string.

You can put the string:

• Between two fences
• Between two walls
• I know several teachers who have put wooden broomsticks into pots and then filled the pot with concrete so that the brooms stand up. These are great for creating a washing line between two brooms

If you put a washing line up outside, the big thing to be careful of is that children do not run into it by mistake. The big threat is things like neck injuries.

Some ways to combat this include:

• Having the string next to a wall or fence
• Have it above their head height, maybe with a platform for them to stand on to peg things on to it
• Have it in an area where running is not possible

Anyway, here are some fantastic outdoor washing line activities:

• Hanging up the giant’s clothes. The trick is to bring some large adult clothes in, and you will be amazed at how the children are convinced they are giant clothes. Hang them next to baby clothes, and talk about the differences in size
• Hanging up pairs of socks
• Finding objects outside, such as sticks and leaves and pegging them up. You can peg found objects up in patterns, or you can add or subtract from them. For example, you could have three red leaves and add two brown leaves. How many have you got altogether?
• Ordering numbers. Ideally use something natural, like pegs with numbers on them or wood slices with numbers on them.

Parachute Games

Parachutes are another fantastic resource that can be used either adult-led outside or can be used independently if you model the games and how to use them to the children.

The parachute that I use looks like this:

These are really resilient and can create years of fun and learning. (Check out the latest price of this parachute on Amazon).

Here are some excellent maths parachute games:

• Number dive. Have some numbers underneath the parachute. Have several children holding the parachute. Pick a child to go first, and say ‘1,2,3 – lift!’ Everyone lifts the parachute high into the air. Then shout a number. That child dives under the parachute, grabs the number, and brings it out to safety. Repeat for other children. If the children are doing it by themselves, then the child that has just gone picks the person to go next, and also what number they will get.
• Shape Dive! This is the same as number dive but with shapes.
• Singing counting songs . This works really well if you have some toys to go with it. For example, five monkey toys so you can sing 5 Cheeky Monkeys Jumping On The Bed. Great for singing the song, and taking off one monkey at a time. (Check out these gorgeous monkey finger puppets you could use for this activity here.)
• Bean bag bounce. This is an excellent number bonds game. Have ten bean-bags on the parachute. You have a few seconds where everyone tries to bounce the bean-bags off the parachute. Count back by going 5-4-3-2-1-0. When you get to zero, see now many bean bags are left on the parachute. You will always have a number bond. If there are two on the chute, then there will be three on the ground. If there are four on the chute, there will be six on the ground.
• Hit The Number! Have some rubber numbers (or something similar) and balance them on top of the parachute as everyone holds it together. Have a rubber ball for this game as well. The adult says a number, and everyone tries to roll the ball onto that number. This is a game of cooperation as well as number recognition. You can potentially make it harder by saying things like ‘one more than three’ (and trying to roll the ball onto number four).

Outdoor Games Top-Tips

• Make everything big!
• Make it active
• Use lots of models and images for games
• Use found objects like stones, sticks and leaves
• Use balls, and floor games, and things like balloons

Outdoor math games have loads of fantastic benefits.

It makes maths fun!

It consolidates prior learning in an active and concrete way.

It helps children to link maths learning to the real world.

It is also extremely cheap and quite simple to set up. Pretty much all of these outdoor math activities use resources that are easy to source, and cost next to nothing or are free.

So why not give outdoor math games a go today?

If you are reading this and are based in the UK, then you may well be interested in my Practical Early Years Maths Training Courses that I run around the UK. Check them out to find a venue near you. All sessions are hands-on, practical, and based on numerous ideas to help you find success in teaching maths.

Outdoor Loose Parts Ideas – The Essential Guide

21 Circle Time Games – That Actually Work!

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Eight Ways to Encourage Math Learning During Risky Outdoor Play

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As parents and educators, we all know the importance of math learning in the early years. However, sometimes it can be challenging to encourage young children to focus on math during risky outdoor play. Fortunately, there are ways to incorporate math concepts into outdoor play that will help children develop their cognitive skills while having fun. Here are some tips to get started:

1. Counting: Use outdoor objects such as leaves, stones, sticks, or rocks to help children count and identify numbers. You can make it into a game and ask the child to find specific objects and count them.

2. Sorting: Collect natural objects such as leaves, flowers, or rocks, and ask the child to sort them based on size, shape, or color. Sorting helps children develop their ability to recognize patterns, a fundamental math concept.

3. Measuring: Use measuring tools such as rulers or tape measures to help children understand length, height, and depth. You can ask the child to measure objects such as trees, rocks, or sticks, and compare their lengths.

4. Geometry: Identify the shapes of objects found outdoors to teach geometry. You can ask the child to identify shapes such as circles, triangles, squares, and rectangles in trees, rocks, or leaves.

5. Addition and Subtraction: Use objects such as rocks or sticks to teach addition and subtraction. For example, ask the child to add three sticks to four sticks and count them to reach seven.

6. Problem-solving: Encourage problem-solving by introducing challenging scenarios outdoors. For instance, you can set up an obstacle course, and the child needs to move from one point to another in the shortest possible time.

7. Estimation: Encourage children to estimate the number of objects they see while outdoors. For instance, you can ask the child to estimate the number of leaves on a tree or the number of stones in a pile.

8. Graphing: Help children learn how to create and interpret graphs by using natural objects. For example, you can ask the child to count and graph the number of leaves, flowers, or rocks found.

In conclusion, math learning can be incorporated into outdoor play, making the process more enjoyable for children. Parents and educators can use the above tips to encourage children to develop their math skills during risky outdoor play. By creating playful and engaging learning environments, children will be motivated and more receptive to learning math concepts.    

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Easy and Fun Outdoor Math Games for Kids

June 13, 2019 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

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Math is one of those topics that children either love or seem to struggle with a little bit.

It’s no different in our family. I have one child who seems to “get” math concepts right away, but for the others, it takes a little time. (And preferably a lot of movement.)

So that’s why I love using  outdoor math games for kids to help my children practice some of their most difficult concepts.

With these outdoor math learning activities, kids get to practice their skills, move around, and even get a little messy. They’ll have so much fun they won’t even notice they’re learning!

These fun math games would be perfect for outdoor play over summer break, particularly if you’re trying to avoid the summer slide before school resumes in the fall.

Want more ways to keep learning over the break? Don’t miss our list of 40 summer learning activities for kids !

3 DIY Outdoor Math Games for Kids

Sidewalk Chalk Math

What child doesn’t love drawing on the sidewalk with chalk? The chunkier the chalk and the brighter the colors, the better.

Instead of setting indoors doing math worksheets on plain old paper, why not take your little one outside and do your math on the sidewalk? Your child will love walking (or running) around to answer oversized math problems!

Beanbag Toss

Head outdoors with several beanbags and some plastic buckets. Place the plastic buckets on one end and have your child and the beanbags on the other.

Ask your child a math question or write one on the driveway with chalk and have them then toss the correct amount of beanbags into the plastic bucket.

For example: If the math problem is 2 + 3, they would then need to toss five beanbags into the bucket. 

Counting Treasure Hunt

Setting up a treasure hunt for your child is a perfect way for them to get out and about in nature and have fun with math! Pick 10 different objects and place them around the yard.

Have your child find those objects and bring them back to you, counting as they go. Once they have found all ten items, it’s time for them to hide some objects from you!

Out of the 10 items, tell them to take three or four to hide. You can also practice subtraction by asking them how many objects are left afterwards.

10 More Outdoor Math Games for Kids

Need even more outdoor math ideas? Take a look at these math games and activities!

Arithmetic Hopscotch – Look! We’re Learning!

Rock Addition – Creative Family Fun

Chalk Number Game – The Educator’s Spin On It

Doubles Water Balloon Math – Fantastic Fun and Learning

Water Squirter Math Game – Kitchen Counter Chronicles

Outdoor Math Chalk Web – JDaniel4’s Mom

Butterfly Symmetry Nature Art – Childhood 101

Water Balloon Addition – No Time for Flashcards

Fishing for Numbers Game – Buggy and Buddy

Watermelon Seed Spitting Measurement – Schooling a Monkey

And try some of these fun math games for even more ways to make math into a fun activity with the kids! (This post contains affiliate links. For details, see our Disclosure Policy .)

Zingo 1-2-3 Number Bingo

Monkey Balance Math Game

Money Bags Coin Value Game

Check out these other math learning ideas for kids!

And follow my Math Mania board on Pinterest for more ways to teach math to students!

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7 Outdoor Math Games For Your Kids

May 27, 2021 | Articles , At Home Learning Tips , Math Activities , Math Tips

Outdoor Math Games for Summer Learning (and Math Joy!)

View the interview on WWLP News Channel 22’s Mass Appeal here .

Memorial Day weekend marks the beginning of a time when kids are counting down the last few days of school and caregivers are pondering how to prevent summer slide (and keep their children’s minds engaged in learning while still having fun!). Here are a few recommendations of outdoor math games for the 12 and under crowd, along with downloadable PDFs to guide you in game creation. Best part? Not only are your kids learning and having fun in the sun, but these games are fun to create and use recycled or cheap materials. Kid-friendly, budget-friendly, math-friendly! And research shows that math games can really help kids who struggle with math.

1. A Giant Numberline

What it teaches: Number sense, mental math, addition, subtraction, skip-counting, multiplication, spatial relationships, joy in math.

Ages: Toddler and up!

The gist: This math game is just plain fun! And so easy to make. Grab a piece of chalk and create a number line with your child, starting with zero. Then just let them jump, play, explore, count! For older kids, you may want to let them go beyond or below zero. Ask them: How low can you go? How high can you go? What’s fun?

The details: Find the PDF here with suggested adaptations for the 3rd grade and under crowd. For older kids, you can create a number line with both positive and negative integers. 

2. Coordinate Plane Twister

What it teaches: Coordinate grids/planes, geometry, negative and positive integers, graphing, joy in math. 

Ages: 3rd grade(ish) and up (though don’t discount that a younger child couldn’t understand graphing coordinate points!).

The gist: Create a coordinate plane with paint and an old shower curtain for a more-forgiving grass-play game, or with chalk on the sidewalk. Players roll 2 dice and then put one appendage on a correlated spot on the coordinate grid. The next player then goes, alternating turns, until there is a big tangled, mathy mess of a math game!

The details: Find the PDF with directions for grown-ups here .

3. Coordinate Plane Battleship

What it teaches: Coordinate grids/planes, geometry, negative and positive integers, math joy.

Ages: 3rd grade(ish) and up

The gist: Each player has a coordinate plane in front of them, hidden from the other player. Perhaps a trampoline or a car can hide the players’ boards! Find objects to be your boats (we used cones). Place cones on the coordinate plane and take turns firing “shots” to sink the other player’s boats. The last one with a boat still “floating” wins this math game!

4. Frisbee Math

What it teaches: Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, positive and negative integers, number sense, number recognition, math joy

Ages: Toddlers on up

The gist: Take an old frisbee and a permanent marker. Write numbers around the edge of the frisbee. Throw the frisbee to your partner and encourage them to catch it with two hands (or one hand then place the other hand on it). The catcher then must find the sum, product, difference, or quotient of the numbers that each hand is touching. For younger kids, a simpler math game could be to identify the number their hand is touching and then finding a group of objects that represents that number.

The details: There are so many variations of this game and ways to make it simple or more complex. Find the PDF here with directions for grown-ups.

5. Equation Creation Bowling

What it teaches: Mathematical thinking, mathematical reasoning, applying arithmetic to algebraic equations, problem-solving, and strategy

Ages: 2nd grade on up (but who says a first grader couldn’t give it a try and conquer this!).

The gist: It’s bowling with either 2-liter bottles or empty aluminum cans as the pins. Use index cards to write and place numbers on the pins. Set up a challenge prior to bowling: Who can create the largest number? The smallest number? Get the closest to zero? Then you try to complete the challenge by creating an equation with the numbers that you have knocked over while bowling.

The details: Find the PDF here with directions for grown-ups. 

6. Product Water Squirt

Ages: Toddlers+

What it teaches: Addition, subtraction, number recognition, multiplication, division, mathematical reasoning

The gist: Use empty toilet paper tubes or empty aluminum cans. Place numbers on each and put them in a line. Grab a water squirter and take aim! Find the sum, difference, product, or quotient of the tubes you knock over. 

2 player variation: Be the first player to reach … (number). Take turns knocking down targets until the goal is reached!

The details: Find the PDF here .

7. Place Value Toss

What it teaches: addition, place value, building number sense

The gist: Love cornhole? Then you’ll love place value toss, its mathy cousin!

Grab some old pie tins, cardboard boxes, paper bags, or plastic cups. Anything you could toss a ping pong ball in! Place an index card or write on each a certain place value. Toss balls into each! Add up the total at the end (whiteboards, sidewalk chalk, or paper may help).

Don’t have ping pong balls? You can use small rocks too!

Looking for more resources for your kids?

• These outdoor math activities
• This list of teacher-recommended math games
• These directions to create your own math walk.

We also can match you to the perfect tutor for your child. Find out more here .

Pictures courtesy of Jessica Carey and Megan Allen. Special thanks to Jay Bright , Community Classroom tutor, for her contributions to this post!

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Playground Design

Stimulating playground resources for exciting mathematical lessons outdoors.

Physical movement is known to be useful in helping young children grasp mathematical concepts. They can learn through jumping, hopping, climbing and moving as they count. Offering more space enables many elements of maths to work more effectively as children can explore these concepts fully.

Whole class mathematical activities can be taken outdoors such as jumping along a caterpillar number line, counting things they can see or large objects and exploring simple concepts like addition and subtraction.

We have explored 6 stimulating ways you can take maths outdoors to help children grasp important mathematical concepts through play.

1. Maths Through Sports 

Involve children in active mathematic activities as they will remember what has been taught, be encouraged to count and use their mathematical knowledge outside the classroom.

A MUGA encourages children to count as they play a game, which involves them to keep score: promoting addition. Games can include kicking a ball at the goal or scoring baskets with a basketball or netball.

Children can be split into two teams to encourage friendly competition as they count the score together. Depending on the children’s ball skills, subtraction can be added into the game as a point gets subtracted every time a team member misses the goal or basket.

Goal Targets and Shape Targets are also a fantastic way of challenging children. The shapes target can be used for simple, single digit addition while the goal targets are excellent for children who are beginning to add and subtract double digit numbers.

Not only will these activities develop children’s mathematical skills, they will also develop fine motor, hand to eye coordination, lower body strength and other vital sporting skills while getting children active.

2. Messy Maths

Sand tables, water tables and mud kitchens are wonderful resources children can not only enjoy during playtime but during maths lessons, too.

Providing plenty of loose-play resources for measuring and weighing encourage children to explore capacity and weight. This can be advanced by including labels and challenges that enable children to begin to recognise different units of measurements and weights.

The Mud Kitchen can be used to explore recipes and measurement. Ask children to follow a recipe to make a mud pie, mud cake or mud muffin, or task children with writing the recipe of the delicious bakery good they are making on the chalkboard counter top; contributing towards literacy skills, too.

• 500ml of water
• 2 cups of mud
• A teaspoon of glitter

Including resources that benefit mathematical concepts through messy play enhances learning. They provide children with a sensory experience and develop fine motor skills as children manipulate, scoop and dig materials like sand, water and mud.

3. Mathematical Construction and Den Making

Den making and construction are stimulating, collaborative activities.

They promote mathematical learning as children explore concepts like estimation and testing. To build dens, children have to think of ideas, estimate if they will work and then test these ideas by working together to create a wonderful den: contributing towards their problem solving skills, too.

Fine motor skills are also developed as children thread materials through the holes to construct their den.  

Construction can be taken into the playhouse, dedicated den space or even a performance stage when providing children with loose-play resources such as large blocks or other construction materials.

Children will naturally wander to the area, using the resources to build something that relates to their imaginary games: experimenting, estimating and testing to create their masterpiece.

4. Maths Through Natural Play

Natural Playground Equipment like the Bug Hotel and Planters are amazing outdoor resources for maths in the playground.

The bug hotel includes wonderful bug pods that children fill with their own materials to create the perfect hotel room; helping to develop children’s early science learning about habitats.

Once their mini beasts have moved in, mark making materials can be provided and children can be tasked with counting how many of each mini beast they can see in their bug pod.

These insects can be counted with a tally chart or simply just writing the number next to a photo. The bug hotel provides a naturally exciting environment where children will run to check who’s moved in each week.

Planters are another wonderful resource which lends itself to maths. Plant a few seeds and task children with measuring how big their plant has gotten week by week. Extend learning by asking questions to grasp their understanding of the plant lifecycle and what plants need to survive.

5. Active Play Mathematics

Some children are young balls of energy who just want to get up, run and climb. These children may not want to or be interested in learning mathematics in the classroom, where they sit and participate in classical activities including counting objects or sorting objects.

They can be stimulated and learn through a more active approach to teaching mathematical concepts. Using Active Play Equipment is an energising, fantastic approach to mathematics.

Use the climbing walls multi-coloured holds to aid subtraction and addition, by challenging children to count how many of each coloured holds they have to use to traverse across the wall.

Subtraction can be included as children are tasked with counting the colour hand holds they want to use but subtracting another hand hold colour from the number; visually showing subtraction and addition while providing an active challenge.

Climbing frames are another thrilling resource for mathematics. Children can be tasked with counting how many different logs they must step on or ropes they must grasp to reach the top. They can also estimate how many they think it will take before they begin.

Fine motor skills, upper and lower body strength and gross motor skills are all developed through these fantastic, exciting activities.

6. Playground Number Lines

Thermoplastic Playground Markings can include a variety of designs - even designs which promote mathematics.

Number lines and hopscotch can be included on your playground and children can be challenged with creating a certain number on the hopscotch or throwing bean bags onto the numbers on the number line.

Vibrant playground markings will inspire imaginative play which results in children including these colourful playground markings and numbers into their imaginative playground games.

These playground activities promote mathematics in the playground and enable your lessons to take outdoors, stimulating every young child and creating exciting lessons that help children learn important mathematical concepts.

Children will excitedly begin participating in these activities and including them in their imaginative play games during play time - enhancing children’s learning.

We design stimulating products and areas that promote the curriculum and enable teachers and practitioners to take the learning outdoors: promoting learning through play. View our full range of products here or contact us here if you’d like to develop a fantastic outdoor learning area that enhances children’s learning.

Our experienced team will work with you to design an amazing space that perfectly suits your play and learning requirements. Contact us today for free, expert advice.

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Some Exciting Outdoor Math Games for Your Child

Created on Apr 05, 2022

Updated on January 14, 2024

Concentrating during a math lesson might be tough for youngsters. However, if your youngster has trouble understanding math, you might break the learning barrier by taking the lesson outside. Keep reading to learn more about fun outdoor math activities to perform with your kids.

Outdoor Math Games

Fun outdoor math games can serve as a way for kids to channel the excess energy they use for jumping, screaming, and running into learning math . The simple pleasure of being outside might be reason enough to play fun outdoor maths activities. If you’re looking for some math games for your kids to play outside, here are a few ideas:

The Number Line Game

The number line game is similar to the number line found in many mathematics textbooks. You can play this game with your youngster on the driveway or playground. A bit of chalk and some empty ground are all you need to play this game.

To play math outdoor games like a number line, draw squares on the ground with numbers within. You can use either positive or negative integers on the number line, depending on your child’s arithmetic skills. Encourage children to participate in the counting by jumping on each number as you say it.

If you want your kid to learn subtraction, say 6 – 3, have them jump on the number 6, then direct them three steps towards the left. When dealing with positive numbers, progress is made to the right. Playing this game will get your kids excited about learning basic arithmetic skills like adding, subtracting, and recognizing numbers.

The Frisbee Game

One of the most well-liked mathematical pastimes in the great outdoors is the frisbee game. You’ll need a Frisbee, a permanent marker, and some paper to keep score. Before you pitch your Frisbee, you should number it from 1 to 10. Whoever gets their hands on it will be presented with math problems based on the positions of their fingers.

Preschoolers may have fun learning math outside with games like these. With this outdoor math activity, children may learn to recognize numbers by feeling them and then go on to collect toys that symbolize those numbers. For instance, if your kid touches the numbers 3, 9, 2, and 10, they could add to get 24.

Bowl, Sum Up, and Create!

Balls, index cards, cello tape, plastic bottles, paper, pens, and plastic containers are all required for this activity. Label the index cards with numbers and tape them to the containers. You may then position the numbered bottles far from the learners in a line.

The next step is to have the students bowl with the balls. They should keep track of how many targets each ball makes and add the totals on the paper. Your kid will learn to plan, apply arithmetic concepts, and solve problems, all while having fun with this outdoor math game.

Gather your army’s arsenal: empty aluminum cans, sticky notes, pencils, and a water squirter. Put the sticky notes on the cans and label them with numbers from one to ten. The cans should then be lined up in a neat row.

Show the kids how to aim and knock over the empty aluminum cans with a water squirter. The students may choose to find the total, difference, or product for each overturned container. Learners may benefit from math outdoor activities like War Game in many ways, including learning to recognize numbers, add, subtract, and multiply. Children of various ages may enjoy the game.

1:1 Math Lessons

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It takes more than one student to participate in maths outdoor games such as the Egg Race. You need eggs, spoons, and baskets for this game. The kids may sprint to the finish line by stacking ten plastic eggs on a spoon.

If an egg drops during the race, competitors must return to the beginning to collect a replacement. When a child crosses the finish line, they should subtract the number of eggs they brought over from the initial number (10). This entertaining game may help your children cement their understanding of subtraction.

Ping Pong Throwing

Ping-pong throwing is one of the best math games to play outside that can keep your youngster active while teaching them to count and recognize numbers. To play this math game outside, you need baskets, ping pong balls or tiny stones, index cards, and chalk. Gather some index cards and use them to number the baskets.

Give your kid the chalk and a number to write down by calling it out. When they write the correct number, have them put that many balls in the basket. Children may benefit from learning to recognize numbers through ping pong.

Bounce and Shoot

You’ll need some number cards or chalk, a ball, and a tin can to play Bounce and Shoot. The numbers 1 through 10 may be marked on the pavement using chalk, or you can use cards with the corresponding numbers and place them on the pavement.

Get the students to solve easy arithmetic questions like “What is 10 minus 4?” Before returning to their seats, the youngster must run to the corresponding number on the floor, then bounce the ball six times before kicking it towards the tin can. Playing this game will let you know that your pupils are really learning the material and not simply guessing.

Roll the Die

Dice-based outdoor math activities are a great way to teach your kids number sense and fundamental arithmetic. Dice and paper are all you need for the “Roll the Dice” outdoor math game. Then, have the students roll the dice and record the number of black dots they get from every roll.

Let them do some math on the results after a certain number of rolls (say, two or three). For example, assume that a kid rolls the dice three times and gets 6, 2, and 3. Depending on their level, you may have them add or subtract the numbers.

Times Table Quest

You’ll need a soccer net, balls, and chalk to play the Times Table Quest. Mark off a field from 1 to 20 with numbers and place the soccer goalpost at the other end. Put the kids to work by asking them questions like, “What is 2 x 5?”

If a kid gets a question right, they should attempt to score a goal by standing on the corresponding number. They need to be awarded points for every goal they score. Kids should tally up their points after the game to choose a victor. A child’s timestable knowledge may be boosted via friendly competition with math games outdoor like this one.

Water Balloon

To play this maths games outside, you’ll need water, balloons, and chalk. Fill the balloons with water and name them whatever numbers you want. Create equations on the floor using the chalk; the results should correspond to the numbers on the balloons. 

When a student solves an equation and obtains the proper solution, have them choose and burst the balloon with a matching number. The numbers that may be written on the balloons can be determined in advance with the help of a worksheet with answers.

What Does the Clock Say?

You’ll need chalk and a big empty area to play this outside math game. To get the kids’ attention, draw a large circle on the playground and add minute markings in various colors of chalk to make it seem like a clock. Pick two youngsters randomly to represent the clock’s hour and second hands.

You may have one youngster stand where 6 o’clock would be and another child stand where 12 o’clock would be. You might make the game more difficult by having them stand for half past 9, quarter to 10, etc.

Math activities outside may include jumping and leaping. This activity requires nothing more than a measuring tape and the instruction to have your children jump from one end to the other. Then, kids may see how high they jumped by measuring their distance. Measurement is the focus of this fun outdoor math activity for youngsters.

Math Fact? Jump!

You’ll need some flashcards, a piece of paper, and some chalk for this fascinating outdoor math game. Start by making a grid with lines and numbers. So that children can’t predict where the answers lie, you might scatter them in a format such as 24, 32, 1, 4, 64, etc.

Put two youngsters head-to-head and have them compete on opposite sides of the grid line. Have the youngsters solve the problem on the flashcard and then race to the right solution by staying completely inside the square.

Race Against the Flashcards

For these math games outside, you need masking tape and flashcards. You may express equations on the floor by taping six to ten flashcards, such as 12 + 42 = x, 13 + 34 = x, etc. Then, have your child record the response or call it out.

They can only advance to the next mathematical problem after correctly answering the previous one. Kids may practice their math skills and develop their ability to think critically while playing this game.

Brighterly is an online math learning platform with tutors who understand that math doesn’t have to be boring for its students. Therefore, it is recommended that adults engage youngsters in outside math games at recess or after school. The site also recommends exercises that might help youngsters forget they’re studying math in the first place.

Jessica is a a seasoned math tutor with over a decade of experience in the field. With a BSc and Master’s degree in Mathematics, she enjoys nurturing math geniuses, regardless of their age, grade, and skills. Apart from tutoring, Jessica blogs at Brighterly. She also has experience in child psychology, homeschooling and curriculum consultation for schools and EdTech websites.

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Outdoor Learning and Advanced Problem-Solving

By Leslie Morrison, CTD Summer Leapfrog Coordinator

“There is no such thing as bad weather—only inappropriate clothing.”

                                    -Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Alfred Wainwright

School curriculum and daily lessons are typically anchored in rooms with walls, and play is often associated with the outdoors. And yet just the words “outdoor learning” seem to open new and exciting possibilities for students. Outdoor learning offers challenging problem-solving opportunities as well as a chance for students to learn from failures and rediscover their strengths.

How might an outdoor classroom enhance learning for younger students? In outdoor learning environments, students can experience hands-on opportunities for learning, and engage in authentic problem-solving in ways that could not be experienced with the same depth in an indoor classroom. For example, in one study , a small group of children wanted to create a rope swing in an outdoor area. The teacher provided the rope and modeled how to tie knots, and then the students took charge at that point. The students figured out that there were important steps they needed to take to create a functioning swing, from deciding that a large stick would be used for the seat to measuring out the length of the rope. This was a collaborative, higher-order problem-solving activity that was also highly motivating for students. Additionally, rich conversations developed as they worked towards completion of their unique swing.

Mistakes and Persistence

Outdoor learning experiences allow students of all ages to experience risk and adventure at a developmentally appropriate pace. Risk-taking is critical to advancing children’s learning. But in some instances, and often for gifted and talented children, students can become risk-averse. Because some GT students are perfectionists, they may not want to risk failure in unfamiliar tasks. Their motivation can waver, and they may not want to try, or try more than once. When students “play it safe” in their learning, their creativity and higher-order problem-solving can be stifled, leaving messier but fruitful learning experiences to the side.

With outdoor learning, such as a wilderness challenge, students work collaboratively on projects. They can quickly identify mistakes and make modifications, since the learning experiences are so immediate and concrete. Students often draw on skills that they likely don’t exhibit in a traditional classroom, which builds confidence and excitement for learning. Outdoor learning offers students a new way of discovering how failures can lead to new understandings. They can figure out how to make a lean-to shelter that doesn’t fall down, or propose new ways to make a working solar oven, or just keep trying until they make a swing that actually works. 

This summer, CTD is offering a class on outdoor learning for grades 2-3. In Wilderness Challenge , students will hone survival skills while putting STEM concepts into practice. These immediate, concrete learning experiences make math and science a lot of fun!

Forest Schools: Fires, Trees, and Mud Pies

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/dec/09/the-school-in-the-woods-outdoor-education-modern-britain

Self-esteem and Successful Interaction as Part of the Forest School Project

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.0268-2141.2004.00337.x/epdf

The Effect of Environment-Based Education on Students’ Achievement Motivation

http://www.seer.org/pages/research/AthmanandMonroeJIR2004.pdf

Preschool without Walls

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/31/fashion/outdoor-preschool-in-nature.html

Back to School, Back Outdoors: Executive Summary

https://www.nwf.org/pdf/Be%20Out%20There/Back%20to%20School%20full%20report.pdf

5 Benefits of Outdoor Education

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/5-benefits-of-outdoor-education-michael-becker

Early Childhood Education Takes to the Outdoors

https://www.edutopia.org/early-childhood-outdoor-education-waldkindergarten

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Taking Math Learning Outdoors into Nature

Nature and outdoor spaces offer many opportunities for teachers, parents, and caregivers to engage young children in high-quality math learning. When exploring the outdoors, children naturally play with math in a joyful way that is meaningful to them. Early math experiences that occur through play can help develop children’s math skills and positive math attitudes.

Caregivers can build on children’s interests and ideas to promote math learning without taking over their outside playtime. Some ways to do this are to support children’s problem-solving, prompt children to reflect on problems, introduce new and relevant words and concepts, and create an environment where children are likely to discover a problem that needs solving in the first place!

See Outdoor Math Learning in Action

Supporting Nature-Based Math Education

Below, we highlight some ways that caregivers can support children’s mathematical thinking during outdoor play. The goal is for caregivers to recognize math opportunities in nature and to support and plan for learning around them.

For children who enjoy collecting things: Suggest that children pay attention to a certain feature, such as weight, length, or color. “Wow, notice how those leaves are all different sizes?” Then see how children’s thinking inspires them to generate ideas or more questions, such as how they can line up, build, or compare the leaves.

For children who enjoy exploring: Offer a question a child can test. “I wonder why that stick rolls down the hill but the other one does not?” or “I wonder how you can make sure your twig house is big enough for your toy truck to fit inside it.” These suggestions prompt children to consider concepts that support early math development, such as the shape, speed, and density of the rolling stick, or the length and width of the twig house.

For children with high energy: Find ways for children to engage in active learning outdoors. “How far you can throw that ball? How fast can we run from this side to that side? Which tree is the farthest from here? Count your steps to find out!”

Benefits of Outdoor Math Play

Lots of space for fun, energetic play. Early math is playful, in part because it involves creative problem solving that children naturally engage in during free play—especially if their environment is set up for it! Whether your outdoor environment is a natural outdoor space, a constructed playground, or a combination of both, outdoor spaces offer more room to move around compared to typical indoor spaces for preschoolers. Outdoor settings also provide a variety of real life, hands-on materials like leaves, plants, twigs, rocks, holes, hills, puddles, swings, sidewalks, or slides. Caregivers can encourage children to count, examine, and manipulate objects as part of early math discussions on topics like measurement and data collection.

Opportunities for children to develop their own goals and questions. Children naturally gravitate toward outdoor activities that interest them. They are also more motivated to learn and problem-solve when engaged in activities that are interesting to them. For example, one child may enjoy collecting objects in nature, and another child may use the objects to achieve a goal they have in mind, such as using twigs to build a house in the sand box or arranging larger sticks to create a fort.

Teachers and caregivers can help spark children’s ideas by making available tools that invite exploration, such as:

• Shovels left by the dirt so that children can dig holes of different depths and for different purposes.
• Weigh scales left near collections of pinecones and acorns so children can compare weight, size, and surface characteristics between them.
• Collections of items left out so children can sort, toss, roll, or count their newfound treasures.

Recognition that math is meaningful and everywhere. Incorporating natural objects (e.g., leaves, twigs, stones) and naturally occurring landforms (e.g., hills, trees) into children’s learning demonstrates that math is embedded in nature. Further, answering questions that children think of while playing outdoors helps them see math as a tool to solve real-world problems. By using math to solve problems that arise through play, children begin to understand the importance of math in everyday life.

Supports children’s overall development. Children who regularly play outside have opportunities to engage in physical activity, and outdoor play can improve attention skills and elevate mood. Research suggests that physical benefits are especially prominent when playing in natural outdoor environments, such as a forest, compared to surface playgrounds.

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Using Outdoor Play to Build Social Skills

Slowly but surely, it’s starting to feel like spring. After a particularly snowy winter, we’ve all gotten used to being cooped up inside. Many children have grown accustomed to spending weekends playing video games, watching movies, or finding other ways to stay entertained in the house. But now that things are starting to warm up, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t start switching to more outdoor activities. Not only is it nice to change things up, but there are also social benefits to getting out and getting active.

These benefits can include better concentration, and a better ability to handle stress. Research also suggests that outdoor play leads to improved impulse control and less aggression. I definitely see this in my own children. If we are all in the house and the kids are getting a bit cranky and stir crazy we always head outside. Whether it is a little game of soccer, some gardening or chicken care it is only a matter of time before everyone feels happy and is having fun.

Author John J. Ratey, MD in his book The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain discusses how exercise influences learning at the cellular level.  It also increases blood flow to the brain and stimulates neurotransmitters that are needed for attention, learning and happiness. This is a big help to children when they’re interacting with their friends. I think we can all agree that it’s much easier to socialize when we are in a good mood and can focus on what others are saying. While you probably won’t see a total turnaround in your child’s social skills just by encouraging outdoor play, odds are it won’t hurt.

On the other hand, we know lack of real play does hurt children. Children need to use their imagination to develop their creative thinking and problem solving skills. Plus, outdoor play makes it much easier for children to play together than most indoor activities. It’s true that they can watch TV together in the house. But watching TV doesn’t allow kids to practice important skills like taking turns, agreeing on rules, negotiating, and conflict resolution. A lot of popular outdoor games both allow and require kids to work together and communicate in order for everyone to have fun.

And there is another benefit to being outside playing. There is a bacterium in soil that has been found to increase serotonin in the brain and improve mood. So relax and let them get dirty. They are actually getting smarter and happier!

Here are a few outdoor games that reinforce important social skills:

• Freeze Tag: This variation on traditional tag calls for children to freeze when they are tagged by the person who is “it.” The only way to get unfrozen is to be tagged by another player who has not been frozen. The game ends when “it” is able to freeze all the players. Social skills enforced by the game include patience, rule-following, taking turns, and team work.
• Red Light, Green Light: The game calls for one person to stand a good distance from the rest of the group with his back turned. When he says “green light” the other players run toward him. When he says “red light” he turns around, and the other players must freeze. Anyone who doesn’t freeze must return to the finish line. Social skills enforced include listening and following directions.
• Any kind of imaginative play: Sometimes children have the most fun when there is no organized game. This way they can invent their own stories and scenarios. Allowing your child to explore his (or her) imagination with their friends will help them with creative thinking and problem solving.

Read the Study: Clemson University Finds Hazel Health Teletherapy Program Drives Clinically Significant Outcomes in School Mental Health 💡

Outdoor play: why it’s important for students

Children produce more energy aerobically compared to adults. Children are able to maintain their high energy levels throughout the day without feeling fatigued as quickly as adults. Integrating outdoor breaks, such as recess or outdoor lunch, allows children to exert their energy in a healthy and manageable way. Outdoor time offers many cognitive, emotional, and physical benefits. While prioritizing outdoor time may be a challenge to some,  it’s important to emphasize and raise awareness of the importance of outdoor play and recess. 

Outdoor time offers many benefits to a child’s physical and mental health . In this post, we will discuss why outdoor play is necessary for a child’s development regardless of their age.

Recess improves social skills 

Outdoor time during school hours encourages children to interact with one another and work on socialization, a lifelong trait that will guide them through their life. Learning how to share, work together, and communicate clearly are best learned through continued practice. Kids learn numerous communication skills, like adaptation, problem-solving, and negotiation through outdoor play. 

Outdoors encourages creative thinking

Outdoor time boosts imaginative thinking and creativity –   children take an average of 15 minutes to decide what to play and who to play with. Through unstructured play, children are free to create their own worlds and have control over what narrative they choose, which is a fun break from their busy schoolwork. When exercising their creativity, they are able to broaden their views and  ways of thinking. Activities and free play during recess provide an opportunity to grow creatively, which directly impacts their classroom performance by improving their concentration and retention.   

Reduces stress and anxiety 

Stress is the reality of everyday life for most students. Luckily, unstructured play is the best means for reducing stress and anxiety during school hours. Nature provides a restorative environment and stimulates all senses, relieving a child from any built up emotions they may undergo. From hearing the birds chirp to seeing the trees or touching the grass, recess provides an open space for play with endless possibilities to get all energy out in a robust way. Because outside time reduces stress and other negative emotions , acknowledging opportunities for outdoor activities is not only beneficial to students, but to the teachers and staff as well. 

It boosts self esteem and encourages problem solving

Connecting with peers through imaginative play or mastering physical skills in the playground are opportunities for children to flourish. In an environment where a child is taking risks or experimenting with skills, their confidence is likely to boost as they feel comfortable enough to step out of their comfort zones. During recess, students often have to practice their problem-solving skills to compromise or settle disagreements with peers. It’s vital to allow them to resolve issues between themselves in order to build resilience.

Establishes healthy sleep cycles and mood stabilization  

Vitamin D from sunshine helps improve mood stabilization and healthy sleep cycles. The physical benefits the sun provides to children are many, one being that they are able to focus for longer periods of time without disruptions. Outdoor activity also supports both heart and brain function. There is no doubt that physical activity is healthy for a child’s development. Having a scheduled time during their 6+ hours of school gives children a period to exert their energy in a safe space.

Recess contributes to student success 

Prioritizing outdoor play is essential to a child’s development regardless of age. Encouraging children to take advantage of outside time will help them learn new physical skills, such as balancing or sliding, while also evolving their social skills and academic achievement. The combination of fresh air and sunshine are known to increase overall health and spirit. Whether it’s imaginative play or social play with fellow classmates, recess is crucial to their physical and mental health. The CDC recommends a minimum of 60 minutes a day of physical activity for children. Though physical education classes or recess may meet part of that need, it’s important to raise awareness of the value outdoor time offers.

About Hazel

Hazel Health, the leader in school-based telehealth, partners with school districts to provide mental and physical health services to K-12 students where they are–at school or home. Hazel’s diverse, culturally competent providers specialize in the health challenges of children and teens and partner with parents and school staff to make the best care decisions for students. Hazel is committed to improving health care equity and is available regardless of family income, geography, insurance status, or ability to pay. Hazel’s mission is to transform children’s access to health care, because when students feel better, they learn better.

Learn more at hazel.co .

Hazel Health is the nation’s largest and most trusted provider of school-based telehealth. By partnering with districts and health plans across the country, Hazel transforms schools into the most accessible front door to pediatric healthcare. Today, Hazel’s licensed providers deliver teletherapy and virtual care (in school or at home) to over four million K-12 students, regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay. Hazel aims to remove all barriers to the mental and physical health care that children need to thrive: in school, at home, and in life.

Hazel Health, the leader in school-based telehealth, partners with school districts to provide mental and physical health services to K-12 students where they are–at school or home. Hazel serves nearly 2 million students across 100 school districts, helping to reduce chronic absenteeism and unfinished learning by addressing gaps in health care access. As an extension of the school health team, Hazel helps schools immediately address student physical and mental health care needs. Hazel’s mission is to transform children’s access to health care because when students feel better, they learn better.

Learn more at Hazel.co/hazel-in-schools .

Hazel Health, the leader in school-based telehealth, partners with school districts to provide mental and physical health services to K-12 students where they are–at school or home. Hazel helps school districts address chronic absenteeism, unfinished learning, and school enrollment, by addressing gaps in health care access.

Hazel Health, the leader in school-based telehealth, partners with school districts and families to provide mental and physical health services to K-12 students where they are–at school or home. Instead of waiting for an appointment with a doctor or therapist, children can see a Hazel provider for a telehealth visit, at no cost to families. With guardian permission, Hazel’s telehealth platform allows children to connect with a health care provider within minutes, or a therapist within days of referral. Hazel’s providers can help with everything from allergies and stomach aches to anxiety and depression. With Hazel, children can get the care they need when they need it.

Learn more at Hazel.co/how-hazel-works .

Hazel Health, the leader in school-based telehealth, partners with school districts and families to provide mental and physical health services to K-12 students where they are–at school or home. At no cost, and regardless of insurance status, Hazel’s providers can help with everything from allergies and stomach aches to anxiety and depression. With Hazel, children can get the care they need when they need it.

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Related content

The Teacher’s Role During Play

In my last blog, I shared stories about my experience playing with children and my belief that play was important for teachers and children.

However, I soon realized that playing with children is one of the many roles a teacher can take during free play.

In my work with pre-service early childhood teachers, we spend time learning about the various roles and how they support an emergent play-based curriculum.

Below are three additional play roles for teachers. What are yours?

1. Play Facilitator

Most children do not need our help engaging in free play.

With the right props, space, and time they can play freely without guidance from adults.

However, there are times when children need the teacher to help facilitate their play experience.

When I was a preschool director, I visited one of the 4-year old classrooms to give the teacher a break during free play.

Most of the children were busy engaging in imaginative and cooperative play in the various centers but three boys were running around the room chasing each other.

Had we been outside this activity would have been fine. But as they ran around indoors they frequently interrupted and disturbed the free play of other children.

When I asked the teacher what they were doing she said, “ They’re playing. It’s free play .”

I talked with my staff about the value of true free play, but I failed to remind them that some children would require some adult play facilitation.

To model this, I simply waited until the boys ran past the art area which had no children in it, and I said aloud, “ Wow look at these long strips of paper. I bet they would make great superhero belts .”

Two boys stopped running and came over to see what I was up to.

I took the paper and began decorating it and then I measured it to see what size belt I needed.

The third boy soon joined us and another girl who was in the library area came over.

Soon we had a spirited discussion on whether girls can be super heroes, what the super hero belt should do, and how to measure and tape the belt so that it fit.

This is my favorite example of play facilitation.

2. Play Supporter

When I taught kindergarten, during free play (yes we had 45 minutes of free play every day) I spent most of my time as a play supporter.

I would visit each center and talk with children about their play and offer support where needed.

In the blocks, children typically needed help problem solving a part of their structure.

Careful, not to do it for them, I would scaffold them as much as I could.

By verbally describing what they were trying to do (“ I see you are trying to build a ramp for the ambulance bay .”) to posing thoughtful questions (“ What would happen if you make the ramp higher or lower? ”) I supported their play and their problem solving.

Other children needed social support especially when they got into disputes with other children.

I believe play time was the best time for children to work out many issues, but sometimes support from adults during play helps to provide a rich experience.

3. Play Assessor

When I taught a college course on the educative value of play, my students learned how to do a play-based assessment.

Many teachers observe children play, but I focused on how to use play to assess children’s strength and plan activities for areas of growth.

The beauty of a play-based assessment was that it focused on what children could do well instead of most assessments that took a deficit view of what children cannot do.

My students loved doing play-based assessments at their field experience and they learned so much about how children develop and learn and how important free play is to a developmentally appropriate environment.

You can read more on developmentally appropriate learning and assessments on DEY’s monthly blog .  You can also listen in to The DEY Podcast with Kisha Reid .