Ice Cream Activities to Boost Number Skills

Ice cream activities pair perfectly with preschool counting activities during the warm summer months! Grab these ice cream counting cards and pack your summer themes with fun preschool number activities that reinforce early math skills in all the right ways.

Preschoolers love anything ice cream-related, so why not blend learning with seasonal excitement and have fun learning how to count and order numbers at the same time? That’s exactly what these ice cream counting activities will do! They are a pretty sweet way to build counting skills while keeping your preschoolers super excited to learn.

These delicious ice cream counting cards will have your preschoolers begging for more number activities. They are life size which makes them all the more fun, and you can’t beat using chocolate chips for a counting manipulative. When it comes to summer counting activities, these are always a hit!

These counting cards are free! They are also a part of our summer themed Number Order Activity Pack. These fifteen number order activities feature a range of summer based themes, making learning counting and number skills even more fun for your preschoolers.

What Kids Learn From Ice Cream Counting Cards

Research indicates that children gain a deeper comprehension of numbers with increased experience in counting. So, exposing your child to frequent opportunities to count various objects can improve their understanding of numerical concepts.

Counting exercises a regular activity to assist with your child’s mathematical development. Number recognition, quantification and number order hold equal importance to number sense development. Learn more here:

• The Ultimate Guide to Teaching Number Sense in Preschool
• Quantification in Preschool – Part 1 of Number Sense Guide
• Counting in Preschool – Part 2 of Number Sense Guide

Ice Cream Cone Number Cards for Counting Activities

Everyone has a fondness for ice cream, right? Well, let me tell you – every preschooler will have a fondness for these ice cream counting cards, too!

What’s Included

The free download comes with counting cards 1-10. The cards fit three to a page, making them life size and big enough for preschoolers to handle with ease.

Additional Materials Needed

Our favorite counting manipulative to use with these cards are chocolate chips. If you prefer not to use something melty or edible, try some of these cheap alternatives:

• brown buttons
• small pebbles
• dry black beans

If you want to add a sensory piece, you can make this chocolate playdough recipe and the kids can roll their own chocolate chips for counting!

Ice Cream Cone Math Activities

These ice cream cone counting cards are perfect for all sorts of preschool number activities. Learning numbers, counting, ordering numbers and learning about more and less concepts are important in preschool, and these cards can do all those things. 

Counting Ice Cream Cones Activity

The first way to use these since cream theme counting cards is by using them as traditional counting cards.

• Draw a card from the pile and identify the number at the top.
  • If your preschooler does not know the number, then say the number and have your preschooler repeat it back to you.
• Count the number of chocolate chips on the ice cream cone.
  • Do this first by pointing to each chocolate chip as the number said, reinforcing one to one correspondence.
• Then, have your preschooler count again by placing a real chocolate chip on top of each one, counting again while doing so.

Practice Number Order with Counting Cards

Since these cards feature numbers 1-10, you can also have your preschooler put them in order! This is good work for a preschooler.

• Set out the cards in random order and ask your preschooler to find the cards with one on it.
• Place it at the beginning of a line.
• Repeat with the rest of the numbers.
  • If your preschooler isn’t confident in numbers 1-10, then start with 1-5.

Tip for Teaching Number Order

If your preschooler struggles to find all the numbers in the correct order, try some of these tips.

• Offer two ice cream cones and have your preschooler choose between the two for which one comes next.
• Use visuals like a number line.
• Use manipulatives in a line to compare what “one more” looks like.

What Comes Next? Preschool Number Activity

This is another fun math activity that helps preschoolers understand number order.

• Take the counting cards from the activity above, all lined up nicely from 1-10 and have your preschooler count each number in order with you as you point to each card.
• Flip over two cards so they are face down on the table.
• Then, have your preschooler point to each card and read the numbers again.
  • When your preschooler stops at the cards that have been flipped over, ask him what number he thinks the card is and why. If he cannot verbalize his reasoning, then help him articulate it.

Practice Counting On with Ice Cream Coutning Cards

Counting on is an important skill for preschoolers because it helps solidify number sense skills needed for learning addition and subtraction.

• Have your preschooler order the cards from 1-10, and then stack them up, face down, so that number one is on top.
• Draw the first card (it should be one) and identify the number.
  • At this point, you can also have her count the chocolate chips on the card and add the corresponding number of real chocolate chips.
• Ask your preschooler to say the number one more time, and then ask, “What comes next?”
• Repeat this until all the cards have been drawn and placed on the table.

If you have an advanced preschooler or a kinder student, you can also ask, “What is two more?” Your student would then count on in her head and then draw two cards to check her answer.

Remember, the idea here is to teach your preschooler to count on from the last number, not to recount all the numbers previously drawn. So, if she just drew the number three, then when counting on she would say, “three, four,” rather than starting over at one.

Ice Cream More or Less? Activities

This number activity helps preschoolers solidify their number sense skills by learning about more and less concepts. Of course, these concepts are the beginnings of addition and subtraction.

• Draw a number card from the pile, identify the number, and add the corresponding number of chocolate chips to the ice cream cone.
• Draw a second card and ask, “It is more or less?”
  • Have your preschooler do the same as the first card. Identify the number and add the corresponding number of chocolate chips, and then answer.

If your preschooler struggles to “see” if the quantity is more or less, then have him take the chocolate chips from the cards and line them up in rows. Then, compare the two lines.

Ice Cream Preschool Theme Activities

If you like these counting cards, you’re sure to love these other preschool ice cream activities, too!

• Ice Cream Missing Letter Mats
• Ice Cream Theme Playdough Mats
• Sponge Painted Ice Cream Craft
• Ice Cream Cone Measurement Cards
• Ice Cream Beginning Sounds
• Ice Cream Preschool Activity Plans

Counting Lesson Plans for Preschoolers

Counting lesson plans for preschoolers should be simple, hands-on, and engaging. Using familiar objects and playful themes helps young learners build number sense with confidence.

• Daily Lessons in Counting Preschool Math Lesson Plans
• Daily Lessons in Preschool Mathematics Curriculum

Read this: The Ultimate Guide to Teaching Addition and Subtraction

Grab Your FREE Ice Cream Cone Activity Cards Here

Think you want to try out these counting cards with your own preschooler? Just click the image below and a pdf will be sent to your email.