Playdoh Meatball Math

Are you looking for a way to make early math engaging for kids? This play doh activity makes for a fun way to master early counting skills in a manner that kids are going to want an extra helping of.

We are a play doh family through and through. Over the years I have created so many hands on lessons for my kids as well as invitations to play that started with a simple can of squishy play doh.  From a prickly cactus craft that my tween was enchanted by, to  DIY food puzzles for toddlers. I have always felt that playdoh was one of the best toys to have on hand because it doubles as a learning tool.

This idea is so much fun! It starts with 2 cans of play doh and a cute little pan. Grab a few dominoes and your little learners are ready to jump into this awesome activity.

Supplies:

Play doh. I used yellow, a little red and a little orange.

A small pan

Dominoes

Directions:

Create a pan of noodles from the yellow playdoh by rolling out into thin strips between your hands and tear them off at various lengths.

Combine a ball of red and orange dough together to make the meatballs. 

Now tear off small sections and roll them into balls.

Place the noodles into the pan.

Leave the meatballs over to the side.

Invite your preschooler to select a domino from the pile and count the dots.

This is how many meatballs this spaghetti needs. Count the meatballs as you add them to the noodles.

Repeat as desired until you have used all of the dominoes or mastered your counting lesson. I know your kids are going to love this take on early math!

Find more epic playdoh activities here.

Favorites include:

Play Doh Pie Counting

Lollipop Counting

Play Doh Pre Writing Activity

Play Doh Snails

Play Dough Ornaments 

Find more fun math ideas like these math games for kids.

Fine Motor Counting Activity

This activity is perfect for small hands. It combines counting and fine motor work for a fun, hands on approach to learning. This introduction to math is perfect for preschoolers. Best of all, you can get everything you need to set this up at Dollar Tree.

Little hands love pinching, so this activity is perfect for making math fun while engaging fine motor skills! My kids both loved this early introduction to counting when they were smaller, and I often pull this activity out when we have little guests in our house who need something to do. This is the ultimate boredom buster and will always have a place in my busy bag collection.

All you need to make this is some tiny clothespins from dollar trees craft section and a few craft sticks. Mark the numbers you are using on the craft sticks and hand the kids some clothespins. Encourage your child to count the clothespins and put them on the craft stick. 

This is one of those activities you will want to supervise, to keep the pins from mouths, noses and ears. 

If you enjoyed this easy activity for kids, you will want to check out some of my other preschool projects.

Play Doh Stamping 

Itsy Bitsy Spider Craft

Apple Tree Addition Activity

This apple tree addition activity is perfect for kindergarten and first grade students. It gives them a hands on chance to practice their skills and work hands on play into their lessons. This is an all around engaging way to teach addition to kids.

This semester both of my kids are attending virtual school. They have a great curriculum that they follow, and the kids seem to be ok with the change in how we learn.  But, I like to make sure they are learning offline too. This apple tree math activity is perfect for little kids who are just grasping math concepts. Plus it is easy to set up and it is a lot of fun to work with. 

Using play doh is a great way to make this more than a math activity. Play doh is great for sensory play as wee all know. Adding it to math? Thats an equation for fun learning! Adding pony beads gives the activity a fine motor element, so I guess this math lesson has a lot of layers to it!

Supplies:

Green and Brown Play Doh

Pony Beads

Small wooden letters or stamps

Directions:

Encourage your child to roll out a tree trunk with brown play doh.

Instruct your child to flatten out a can of green play doh for the leaves of the tree.

Select two numbers and stamp them into the leaves. Add a +  between them.

Offer your child a few pont beads.

Encourage your child to count out enough for the first number and press them into the doh.

Instruct your child to count out enough beads for the second number and press them into the doh.

Ask your child to count all of the beads to get the sum.

Remover the beads. 

Remover the "leaves"

Smash the green doh into a fresh pile of doh.

Repeat with more numbers.

If you liked this easy math lesson idea you might like these reader favorites:

Fine Motor Counting activity

Play Doh Pumpkin Faces

Play Doh Lollipop Counting

Give early math lessons a sweet spin with this play dough lollipop counting activity. It  combines counting, fine motor skills and a touch of creativity to provide lots of hands on educational fun.

Play doh is my go to tool for hands on learning fun. There are so many ways to use it to learn. This play doh lollipop counting activity is fantastic because it uses basic supplies like craft sticks and play doh to create a math lesson little kids will love!

Supplies:
Assorted colors of play doh
Craft Sticks
Numbers or dice


Directions:
Invite your child to form the lollipops with a small bit of play doh and the craft sticks.
Encourage your child to pick a number from the pile or roll a dice.
Whichever number they come up with, encourage them to roll out that many itty bitty tiny balls of play doh in a different color.
Decorate the lollipops with the small balls of doh.
Repeat with more numbers for a hands on math lesson that works in fine motor skill work too!

You can find all of my play doh ideas here
Reader favorites include:
Play Doh Pie Counting
Play Doh Pre-writing
Play Doh Stamping

Play Doh Flower Counting Activity

Make counting and learning early math tons of fun for little ones with this hands on activity that combines early math with hands on tactile play. 

Play doh is the ultimate tool for play or learning at my house. We love to squish, mold and create with it, plus there are so many ways to learn with it. Adding it into our math lessons was a natural choice.

I was looking for a way to get Harper excited about early math, but it is hard to focus in the spring. There are so many colors, sights and smells to take in after months of indoor confinement.

As I took in the sights of spring, my inspiration was blooming all around me. 

This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase I will earn an advertisers fee at no additional cost to you.

Supplies:

Play Doh; green and any 2 other colors

Buttons

Number Stamps

Directions:

With green play doh, form 2 flower stems

With any other color of play doh form the flower body

Tear off 10 pinches of play doh and shape it to look like petals.

Select two numbers.

Stamp them on the flowers.

Offer your child buttons and the petals of play doh you formed.

Encourage your child to say the number stamped on the doh.

Now, add the coordinating number of buttons to one flower.

Add the coordinating number of petals to the other flower.

Repeat with other numbers.

Find more play doh ideas here Reader favorites include:
Sunscreen Play Dough

Fine Motor Counting Activity

This easy activity is perfect for practicing early math while developing fine motor skills.

Before I was a mom, I was a developmental psychology major. In my studies, I was intrigued by sensory and fine motor development then. Now that I am a mom, I love setting up activities for my own kids that give them hands on fun and learning opportunities without spending a ton of money to do it.

This fine motor counting activity is perfect for preschoolers.They can work on their fine motor skills while practicing counting. You might have all the materials at home to do this, making it fuss free and frugal. If not, I have included some affiliate links you can use to get your supplies.

Supplies:
Rainbow Bands
Large Craft Sticks
Sharpies

Directions:
Write numbers on large craft sticks with sharpies.
Use the largest craft sticks you can find to make the activity challenging.
Offer your child small rubber bands, like the rainbow loom style of bands and encourage your child to count the number of bands that need to go on each craft stick and slide that number of bands on to each craft stick.

If you are looking for more fine motor activities for kids, check out these posts:
Unicorn Fine Motor Bin
Play Doh Pre Writing