Printable pumpkin numbers cards

Use these cute printable pumpkin number cards with these ideas for pumpkin math games to add a seasonal, multi-sensory element to your math lessons.

 

Printable pumpkin numbers cards

 

Add some cute pumpkins to your math lessons to make them seasonal, visually interesting, and hands-on.

 

Materials needed:

:: pumpkin number cards from Super Fun, Not Scary Halloween Unit

:: orange and green pencils

:: acorns, conkers or other math manipulatives

 

 

Print the pumpkin number set from the Super Fun, Not Scary Halloween Unit and colour it in with orange and green pencils.

Cut out each section and you have a cute set of pumpkin numbers to bring a hands-on element to your Halloween-themed math activities.

You might like to laminate the cards to make their more durable.

 

 

Five ways to uses these pumpkin numbers:

1 :: Hide them around the house, garden, or woods and invite your children to treasure hunt to find them all.

Line them up from small to big, or big to small, and count them out going up or down. You can peg them up to make a number line. (And you’ll notice the pumpkin shapes are split between odd and even numbers.)

 

2 :: Hide them in a sensory tub filled with leaves, sand or rice and let your children dig for them.

Seeing numbers in their play helps children become familiar with them, however they are playing. Maybe Mr 1 Pumpkin will have a chat with Mrs 3 Pumpkin!

Playing with numbers in the early years is as important as doing specific math lessons.

 

 

3 :: Print off two sets and play a matching game.

Young children could simply work to spot the pairs. With older children you can play ‘Memory’: place all the number pumpkins face down and take it in turns to turn over two cards. If they match, you can keep them. If they don’t, you turn them back over. The person who has the most pairs at the end of the game is the winner.

 

4 :: Use them to practice arithmetic, working on addition, subtraction, multiplication or division to suit your child.

Children could use manipulatives such as pebbles, acorns, conkers or fir cones to help them work out the answers: using real objects (even fingers) for as long as they need to is a good strategy for children to use. We need to understand the real principle of what we are doing before we can move on to doing sums abstractly, using only the digits rather than real things. Encourage your child to use objects for arithmetic for as long as they need to.

 

 

5 :: Use them as quick flashcards to practise facts your child has already learned.

If your child knows their four times table you can help them become faster at recalling the answers by having little practices often. Hold up a pumpkin card and see if they can tell you what four times that number is.