Christmas Number Match-Up

Numbers! We love finding numbers in all the different things around us…especially when we find them in holiday-themed activities.

When students can connect what they’re learning to things that matter to them, like in games they play, telling time, counting ornaments, and even counting elves and reindeer, they will retain and really understand what we’re teaching them.

So instead of just talking about numbers and identifying them on paper, we bring in objects that our littlest learners can count, sort, take away from and add to.

We look for things to count, and numbers in our classroom and on the playground, and encourage our students to find them at home.

Making number posters for our kids to decorate our class with or take home to hang up is fun and can be done year round.

To further their learning of numbers, we show off our math skills with our Gingerbread Numbers Puzzles. It’s exciting to see our students connecting the holidays with math.

As our students become more confident with their number sense, we enjoy the challenge of our Stack a Cap Math Activity.

Because playing math games is a great way to get kids learning without realizing they’re learning.

And they can show what they know with this Christmas Number Match-Up. It helps our preschool and kindergarten students learn and review their numbers in a hands-on way that’s perfect for the holiday season.

Connect this Christmas math match-up to literacy with our favorite Christmas Books.

Helping our students to have a strong number sense will promote confidence in numbers as they build a strong foundation in math skills.

Want even more ideas using numbers in your classroom? Be sure to take a look at all of these Number Sense Activities to use across your curriculum.

Christmas tree and lights match up activity to help students identify and show numbers in different ways.

Learning and practicing our numbers has never been so bright! This resource is a great resource that will help your little learners identify and learn their numbers.

You can use this Christmas Number Match-Up during math stations, independent work time, or in small review groups.

This Christmas Number Match-Up helps students to develop confidence in number sense so they build a strong foundation in math skills.

Inside you will find:

20 sheets of Christmas trees covering numbers one through twenty.
20 sheets with bulbs. Each number has 6 bulbs, 1 with the numeral, and then 5 different representations of that number: fingers, dice, dominoes, tally, and checkers, in 3 different colors.
Another set of 20 sheets with bulbs, with the 6 different representations on each sheet in the same color to make this less of a challenge.
This resource also comes in black and white to save on ink, so it comes with 100 pages total.

Getting the Christmas Number Match-Up Ready

Once you purchase the match-up and download it, this seasonal math activity is very easy to prep. You’ll print it out (color or black and white) and cut using a paper trimmer. Gather all of the pieces and place in a plastic container. I like using plastic pencil cases to store centers like these. It helps me to keep everything in one place and does not use up a lot of space.

I recommend printing these out on cardstock and laminating them before you cut them so it can easily be used year after year.

Using the Christmas Number Match-Up

Students will start the activity by choosing a Christmas tree with a number on it. I always encourage my students to say the number out loud. This student chose the number 5.

Students will then sort through all the light bulbs looking for the representations of the number on the tree. Once the tree is decorated with all six bulbs that correspond with their number, they can pick a new tree and start again.

Another way this activity could be used is to have all of the numbers laid out on a table or the floor. Students will then sort the remaining pieces according to their number.

If you have younger students or students struggling with this concept that might be overwhelmed with all the pieces at once, you can differentiate this activity and provide them with only a few numbers at a time. Once they master the pieces you gave them, you can slowly add in more.

To simplify things a little more, you can give them only one representation of the number they are looking for at a time. As they grow more confident you can give them more options. You can also provide them with the bulbs that are all the same color so they can self-check as they gain confidence in this skill.

For Preschoolers or students who need one to one correspondence review, you can easily adapt the Christmas tree cards into a simple counting activity. My daughter had a blast counting small decorative light bulbs and placing them on the trees.

Students will deck the halls playing this number match-up and showing their mastery of number sense skills.

Download this Christmas Number Match-Up Now!

Are you ready to implement this into your classroom or home?

Get it here at a Dab of Glue Will Do

Get it here in our Teachers Pay Teachers Store

Introduce your students to different cultures around the world with our Winter Holidays Around the World Bundle!

This unit will expose your students to 10 different winter holidays and multicultural celebrations around the world with crafts, compare and contrast activities, writing, emergent readers, and an interactive book.