Skip Counting Activities

It's easier to learn things that have meaning for you, or are placed within a framework you already understand or a perspective to which you can relate. That's why including movement to skip counting can really help kids. When counting all the numbers, but emphasizing the skip count numbers, kids will remember the emphasized numbers in proper context. (Rather than some random pattern memorization they might not understand) 

This can be simple bean bag passing or full body movement, etc.

Bean Bag Passing

1. Emphasize each pick up and place down.

2. Emphasize each place down (not pick ups)--even numbers.

3. Pick up, tap on lap, place down (emphasize).

4. Pick up, tap on left knee, tap on right knee, place down (emphasize).

5. ....keep coming up with your own ideas!!

Body movements (works great with dance movements or learning music)

1. Tick tock big arm movements around a clock.

2. Use a line (left, right, left, right)

3. Use a triangle (down, over, up)--prepares them for leading music 3/4 too

4. Use a square (down, right, up, left) or lead 4/4 (down, left, right, up)

5....the sky is the limit!

Hop scotch (just write a bunch of numbers on sidewalk that are sequentially close to each other)
1. Hop in order
2. Hop every other number (can do odds in one color and even in another)
3. Draw triangles (sets of three) and hop on each point....emphasizing/writing only the third number, but having kids say each number as they hop the corners.
4. Draw a square?
5. Draw a star?
6. ......
Or just draw a numberline and have the kids do different versions on the same number line.

Counting Everyday objects
We like to use peas in pods or our hands to show various ways to skip count or group things into sets. Just count normal, but emphasize the evens, if you are skip counting by twos, etc. pea pods are fun for lower numbers, just group them by how many they have in them (so a bunch of t-pea pods would be skip counting by threes). Skip counting is a great way to help kids understand both addition as well as multiplication at the same time.


Chinese jump rope and hand clapping games can then be used to reinforce the skip counting learned.