5 Math and Movement Games to Play While You Wait
I had just said “stand still please” for the fifteenth time in ten minutes and my daughter sighed long and hard as she stomped her feet back to the space next to me showing me she was as annoyed as I was. We had been waiting to be seated for too long following eight antsy hours in the car. Both of our twin four year olds were tired, hungry, and bursting with pent up energy.
If your family are big fans of family travel and learning on the go, you also spend a fair amount of time waiting for things. Waiting for planes to arrive, waiting for food at restaurants, and such. My kids also spend extra time waiting for their mama at doctor appointments.
Are you always looking for ways to keep your preschoolers active but learning? These are two things that are hard to find combined, especially if you don’t have a lot of space or materials.
Over time I have learned and developed some simple ways to make this waiting time pass more pleasantly. Below are our favorite ways to move and practice math concepts with preschoolers while you wait.
5 Simple Math + Movement Games to Play While You Wait
1. Body Patterns
Materials Needed: Just your bodies
Skills: Variety of Gross Motor Skills, Patterning
Great for: Standing in a line.
Activity: We did this first in our backyard, but it works while you stand in line too. To play, one person picks a movement (ex. Clapping) and then the next person picks something else (ex. Jumping) and then you have a pattern to repeat. This game can be more or less active depending on the actions you choose.
2. Balance + Count
Materials Needed: Just your bodies
Skills: Balance & Counting
Great for: Anywhere You’re Standing & Waiting and need to be a little quieter.
Activity: This simple activity works on two things preschoolers are developing; the abilities to balance and count. To play, stand in an open space on one foot and count slowly. See how long you can balance. You can make this a competition to see who can balance (and count) the longest. You can make it more difficult by counting by 5s or 10s. You can compare how long you can balance on one foot to the other foot.
3. Toss + Add
Materials: Rolled Pairs of Socks, Playing Cards
Skills: Throwing and Adding / Number Recognition
Great for: Airports and other places you have more space
Activity: Spread a few playing cards with different numbers around in an open space. Take turns throwing a pair of socks and trying to hit a card. With younger kids, have them practice identifying the number they hit. With older kids, add or multiply everyone’s numbers together or compete to get the highest total.
4. Smallest. Tallest. Shortest. Longest.
Materials: Just Your Bodies.
Skills: Moving Your Body and Comparison Words
Great for: Airports and anywhere with more space
Activity: This is pure silly. While you are waiting, ask “who can make their body the smallest?” “how can you make your body the biggest?” etc and move your bodies to match the word. How can you make your body longer? Louder? Or quietest?
5. I Spy #s + Move
Materials: Just Your Bodies.
Skills: Gross Motor Movement and Number Recognition
Great for: Airports, Train Stations, and other places with signs and space
Activity: We like to play this in places where there are lots of signs such as the airport or while waiting for a bus. To play, take turns looking for a number. When you spot one say “I spy the number X, everyone must do X ___” For example, “I spy the number 3, everyone must do 3 hops.” You can also play with letters and try to think of a movement that starts with the letter, ex. “I spy an A move like an alligator or around the bench three times.”
also read: 7 tips for surviving the lines at disney with kids
No one is ever going to cheer when they see a long line, but now my kids file into line and then ask to play a game. “Mom, can we play I Spy?” and I reply with a simple, “of course!”
