I love creating themed math to go with the letter we’re learning! We’ve been learning about the letter M this October, so a round-up of monster math games and activities seemed perfect. Browse through this list to find free math activities for kids from preschool through first grade!
1 – Counting, One-to-One Correspondence, Subitizing, Matching – Monster Dice Match
Your preschooler can practice a lot of basic math skills with this simple game. Each of you uses a game board. Take turns rolling a numbered die. Then cover the matching square on the board. The first to cover his entire board, wins. You can read more about it and get four different game boards in my original post. If you want to adapt this game for a younger preschooler, roll a dotted die and just practice matching it to one on the game board.
2 – Counting, One-to-One Correspondence, Matching – Monster Memory
My Three loves matching games, so I built on that by creating this matching memory game to help him practice counting objects up to 10. You can get the free download from my original post.
3 – Subtraction – Read and Subtract
A few months ago, I created Ten Little Monsters, a free book for early readers. I used my Pink Pueblo clip art to make a set of monsters, cut them out, and used them as manipulatives to teach my Three about subtraction. As we read the book, we counted the set of monsters and took one away each time a monster left. He counted the new total each time. You can get your own free copy of Ten Little Monsters by visiting this post. Get the monsters here: Pictures of ten little monsters – the measured mom
4 – Addition – Monster Mash Roll and Color
My Four and Six loved this activity. They took turns rolling two dice, adding them together, and coloring the sum. The one who colored the entire board first, won.
While they were playing this, my Three used a simpler version with numbers only from 1-6. He rolled the die and colored the matching number. I was quite surprised when he completed the whole page all on his own! Get four free monster game boards from Little Miss Kindergarten.
5- Odd/Even – Monster Math Odd & Even Packet
I just love this cute printable from Teach With Me! My first grader sorted the monster cards by odd and even. She placed odd numbers on Odd Twad. Even numbers went on Even Shteven. We used glass gems to help determine which numbers were odd and even. She also learned that you can tell if a number is odd or even by looking at the last digit.
6 – Addition – Missing Addend Monster Flip Cards
My just-turned-Five used these cards to find the missing addends from groups up to 10. He solved some problems in his head and used manipulatives on the tougher cards. You can read more about it and get the missing addend flip cards from my original post.
7 – Number Recognition, Number Sense, Counting – Monsters on a Hundreds Chart
My Five is quite proud that he has recently mastered counting to 100. To build on that, I created this simple Hundreds Chart and used my Pink Pueblo clip art to create a set of tiny monsters. I laminated the board and the monsters and put an adhesive magnet on the back of each one. (100 monsters come in the printable just in case you want that many – I only made about 15!)
Occasionally he gets a few numbers wrong, so I knew this visual would help him. He found patterns, practiced counting, and guessed which numbers I had covered. You can get the monster hundreds chart and 100 tiny monsters here: Monster Math with a Hundreds Chart – the measured mom
8 – Counting, One-to-One Correspondence, Number Recognition – Monster Count & Clip Cards
I have a weakness for count-and-clip cards — so simple, but so appealing for little hands. My Three practiced counting monster groups up to 10. My Five practiced counting sets from 11-20. Get your free printable here.
9 – Counting, One-to-One Correspondence, Subitizing — Say it, Count it, Write it
I love this free math mat from Learning and Teaching with Preschoolers! I laminated the board and got out a dry erase marker, googly eyes, and a die. My Five rolled the die, added the correct number of googly eyes, and wrote the corresponding numeral in the box. Then he erased the number and played again.
11- Patterns – Monster Pattern Cards
My Three definitely needed work with patterns! Here’s what it sounded like:
“Let’s look at our pattern. We have red, green, red, green… what’s next?”
“Blue!”
“Well, no, there aren’t any blue here. We want to keep the same pattern. Let’s try again. Red, green, red, green…”
“Yellow!”
It was all starting to come together after some more practice. 🙂 Get these from the monster pack from 2 Teaching Mommies.
10 – Addition – Monster Math Making 20
My Six played this addition memory game — she got to keep each pair that added up to 20. While she could figure out a few quite easily (0+20, 1+19, 10+10), she usually had to use her fingers to find the sums. If we played this enough times she would start to learn the pairs and begin to use some mental math to solve the problems. You can get this game for free by visiting this link.
11 – Ordering – Monster Math Ordering 3 Numbers
Since we’d done a lot of work with the monster hundreds chart (see earlier in this post), my Five had gotten a pretty good handle on reading numbers from 1-100. The question was – did he understand them? Could he order them from least to greatest? While he sometimes made some mistakes, he caught himself and did a great job ordering sets of three. To make this more challenging, you could give your child a larger set of numbers to put in order. Or set out a large set and give him a number to fit in its correct place.
You can download these monster cards for free by clicking on this link.
Check out these fabulous monster-themed math ideas from around the web!
- Get out the googly eyes and do this fun monster math on a tray – from No Time for Flashcards.
- Teach addition and subtraction with this cute and creative idea from Inner Child Learning.
- Create your own monsters out of boxes and do a variety of fun learning with with these ideas from Nurture Store.
- Combine math and playdoh with this idea by Crayon Freckles over on Learn with Play at Home.
- Count-and-fill Frankstein! See the idea over at No Time for Flashcards.
- You’ll find practice pages for addition, subtraction, counting, and comparing with this Monster Pack from 3 Dinosaurs.
- Monster Money Match from Me and My Gang
- Monster Math: Ordering Numbers from 1-100 by Moore Fun in Kindergarten
- Monster Snack Attack (counting, ordering, addition) from Heather’s Heart
- Tally Monster Freebie by Littlest Scholars
- Monster Addition Worksheet (sums to 10)
- Happy Monsters Tot Pack from 1+1+1=1
- Monster Kindergarten Printables from 1+1+1=1
- Match Monster Addition Cards & Sums from Pitner’s Potpourri
- Monster Math Subtraction Problems Worksheet
- Monster Math Problems
More great resources
© 2013 – 2020, Anna G. All rights reserved.
Meghan says
These are awesome! Just discovered your site and I am so excited as both a 1st grade teacher and mommy to a preschooler! Thank you so much for sharing!
Anna Geiger says
I’m so glad you found me, Megan! I love when teachers find my site. I’d love for you to spread the word : )
Anna Geiger says
Sorry, *Meghan!
Christine M. (Cool Mom) - Tech Support for Stanley & Katrina says
Wow! The monsters are adorable! LOVE, love them! Will be sharing. Thanks for visiting Stanley & Katrina’s blog this week. Have a very happy rest of the week and weekend ahead.
Anna Geiger says
Thanks so much, Christine!
Susan Evans says
What fun printables! Thanks for sharing. Monster Munchies has always been one of the favorite books of my kids.
Anna Geiger says
Thanks, Susan – that’s a book we’ll have to check out!
Kristina says
I cannot get over how much I’ve loved all of these! My kiddo is so excited to be doing them and we are having so much fun. I normally avoid linkies (too much to look at, not enough time), but I’m so glad I looked at all of these! Thanks for the share!
Anna Geiger says
Thank you, Kristina, you made my day : ) So glad you’re finding some fun learning ideas!
Anna Geiger says
Thanks so much for the feature!
Brittany says
Thank you for sharing! These are super cute and I can’t wait to use them with my 1st grader and preschooler!!
Anna Geiger says
Thanks for checking them out, Brittany! I hope you have a lot of fun.
Helen says
Wow, I love your ideas! I have just finished making the Frankenstein counting activity for my Kindergartens, I am certain it will be a hit.! Thanks for sharing your wonderful site and now off to start looking at all your pins!
Anna Geiger says
So glad you found things you can use, Helen!
Katie Currie says
I love all your ideas! I will be using these in my preschool classroom!
Anna Geiger says
Thanks so much, Katie! I’m so glad to hear it.
Julie Martinez says
I like this Monster Math.. This is so cute. My kids will love these…
Stephany says
I think that this hundreds chart is a great early finisher challenge choice for the end of math small groups, thank you for always having amazing resources!
Anna Geiger says
You’re very welcome, Stephany!
Shannon Kendall says
I am a student at university in Australia and have just found your website. These games and activities are awesome! You’re really helping me build up my resources. Thank you for being so kind and sharing them for free. Will be recommending you to my Uni friends.
Thanks!
Anna Geiger says
I’m so glad you found my site, Shannon, and a big THANK YOU for passing my site along to your friends!
Debbie Abbott says
I was so very excited to find your website. I teach in a self contained k-2 classroom with students that have Autism. Everything that I have printed from your site works fantastic with my students. Its easy to prepare and works great in my task boxes. I have shared your website with my teaching partner who is also now hooked.
Keep up the great job!!
Anna Geiger says
Hi Debbie! Thank you so much for your comment. I’m always so pleased to hear that children with autism are enjoying my resources. I really appreciate you sharing my website!
Emilie says
Hi ! I really like your website ! I use your math activity with my class. I’m in french so I can’t use all the others activities.
I have a question for you, where do you take your monsters (picture) ? My class is the class of the little monsters and i really like your monsters !
Sorry for my english, it’s not perfect !
Thanks !
Emilie
Anna Geiger says
You write very well, Emilie! Our younger daughter has “Emilie” as her middle name. 🙂
I bought my clip art from many different sources. The ones I used the most in these printables can be purchased here:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Cute-Monsters-Clip-Art-Clipart-Aliens-Clip-Art-Clipart-Commercial-and-Personal-1427918
Emilie says
Thanks !!
Fran C says
Thank you for sharing your wonderful materials with us. They are inviting to the kids, and cover skills in such a creative manner.
Anna G says
I’m so glad to hear that, Fran!
Grace says
I love your monster 100 chart! Thank you. Any plans to make a monster 120 chart?
Regardless, I appreciate all the wonderful learning you are facilitating with your website.
Anna G says
Not at this time, Grace, but I do have 1-130 monster number cards: https://www.themeasuredmom.com/free-number-cards-1-100-ideas-use/
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