This engaging holiday counting game is a great way to practice so many math skills (counting, number recognition, addition, and subtraction) AND make it fun! We’ve included the free printable below so you can use it at home or in your preschool classroom.

You will need:

Free tree counting mat printable (linked below!)
Dice (1 or more)
Skittles, M&Ms, or any other colorful counters you’d like to use

How to play:

There are so many ways to adapt and change this game to work on a variety of math skills. Here are some ideas to get you started:

Roll one die and place that number of counters on the mat. Roll again and continue adding to the tree until the whole thing is covered in “ornaments.”

When the tree is full, you can try subtracting! Roll the die and take that many “ornaments” off.

Keep playing by filling the tree again once it’s empty.
You can also use two dice and practice adding the numbers together before you put the counters on the tree.

Helpful Tip: If your child cannot recognize numbers yet, simply draw a number line on a piece of paper. Every time they roll, use your finger to touch the numbers on the number line and count up to it. For example, if you rolled a three, point and count on the number line “one, two, three, this is what a three looks like!”