Make learning magical with these elf-themed number recognition games. These activities are a festive, hands-on way to help young children practice identifying numbers from 1 to 20. They also help build important social skills like turn-taking, patience, and good sportsmanship.
How to Play the Elf Number Recognition Game
These games are ideal for small groups of 2–4 players. They are the perfect pairing for Christmas-themed math centers or small-group instruction. If you are working with a larger group, you can always print extra sets of the game boards so that everyone can take part.
To begin the game, start by having all the children place their game tokens on or near the spot marked “START.” Then, choose who goes first. You can have the kids roll to see who gets the highest number, draw a name from a festive stocking, or let the youngest elf-in-training begin.
Players will then take turns rolling a standard six-sided die and moving their token forward the number of spaces shown. When they land on a number, they will call it out loud for fellow players to hear.
Have non-verbal learners in your group? They can participate too! Use communication boards or speech generating devices so they can select the number they’ve landed on.
Depending on the tone you are trying to set, you can end the game in one of two ways. For a little friendly competition, declare the first player to finish the winner.
For a more inclusive approach, continue playing until all players have reached the finish line. This route may be best if you have players with varying ability levels.
Supplies You’ll Need
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- Cardstock
- Printable game boards (towards the bottom of the page)
- One game token per player (These Christmas minis are perfect!)
- One standard six-sided die
- Laminator (optional)
Differentiation and Adaptation
This elf number game is designed with flexibility in mind and comes with 3 different difficulty levels. For beginners, you can use the 1–10 board game. For more advanced learners, you can use the 11-20 or 1-20 boards.
For kids with fine motor delays, try using bolsters to thicken the grip on the game pawns or ring-style game pieces that can be slipped over a student’s finger. You can also hot glue game pieces to popsicle sticks for an easier grasp.
If you need simple number cards for sticking to felt boards or communication devices, we have a great printable for that here.
No matter your students’ abilities, we hope these elf-themed number recognition games are a huge hit. Merry Christmas!
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