5 Engaging Place Value Activities for Kindergarten & Year 1
We’ve all been there – that moment where your students can count to 100 perfectly, but then you ask them what the ‘1’ in ’14’ actually represents, and you get those blank stares! It’s one of those tricky hurdles in the early years. Moving from simple counting to truly grasping tens and ones is such a massive developmental milestone for our little learners.
If you are currently planning your maths rotations and looking for fresh place value activities for kindergarten, I’ve put together five of my absolute favourites – 5 engaging place value activities for Kindergarten & Year 1. These are the tried-and-tested activities I use in my own classroom to help that “lightbulb moment” happen just a little bit faster!
You can find all these resources in my Teachers Pay Teachers store!
1. Glittery Place Value Mats
Did somebody say glitter?! Oh, how I LOVE these glitter mats and number cards. My favourite way to use these is during small group rotations or with partners. Oh, and they are FREE!
How I use them
Students select a number card and use bundling sticks or MAB blocks to represent the tens and the ones on their mat. I always encourage them to ask a partner to “double-check” their work, which builds great math talk.
Why it’s a winner
The glitter makes the “hard work” of grouping tens and ones feel like a game. It really helps students visualise that a “ten” is just a group of ten ones hanging out together in their own column.
2. Place Value Task Cards
My students absolutely love these cards! They enjoy challenging themselves and their peers with larger 2-digit numbers.
How I use them
Using sticks or MAB, students build the number shown on the card. While this might feel similar to the mats, we know how important it is to expose our little learners to the same concept in different ways until it sticks.
Why it’s a winner
These are a staple for place value activities for kindergarten because they are portable. You can pop them in a basket with some MAB blocks, and they are ready for a quick, independent maths centre.
3. No-Prep Place Value Worksheets
While I’m a huge advocate for hands-on learning, I also know we need evidence of learning for student portfolios and reports. These are my “go-to” when I need to see who has really mastered the concept.
How I use them
I use these as a follow-up to our hands-on sessions. The pack includes a range of different worksheets, including cut-and-paste sheets in which students match numbers to pictures of bundled sticks or Ten Base Blocks. It also covers skills like 1 more, 1 less and 10 more, 10 less.
Why it’s a winner
These help students move from holding physical sticks to identifying pictures of them. It’s a great way to check in and see who needs a bit more concrete practice and who is ready to move on.
4. Place Value Match-Up
Who doesn’t love a matching activity? I love this one because it has so many classroom uses—independent work, partner games, or even as a quick “early finisher” task. It also includes bundling sticks or ten-base block images.
How I use them
Students match the digit cards to the corresponding base-ten block pictures. Because it’s a game-like format, students stay engaged much longer than they would with a standard flashcard.
Why it’s a winner
This activity is fantastic for “visual discrimination.” It helps them quickly spot the difference between a “long” (ten) and a “cube” (one) without needing to count every single unit every time.
5. “Build It” Hands-On Centre
Have you ever found yourself needing more hands-on materials? There are only so many sticks to go around! This activity includes all the little bundles and single sticks as cutouts, so you’ll never run out.
How I use them
Students select a tens-and-ones number and represent it using the bundling sticks or ten-base block cutouts. They record the number at the bottom of the mat, and their partner checks their work. I recommend laminating these so you can use them year after year!
Why it’s a winner
I love that it’s a partner activity. Having a friend check their work forces them to explain their thinking out loud, which is where the real learning happens.
Place Value Activities for Kindergarten – Shop the Resources
If you want to save yourself some prep time this week, you can find all of these resources in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. They are designed to be practical, easy to set up, and, most importantly, fun for your kids!
I hope these ideas give you some inspiration for your next round of place value activities for kindergarten! Let me know in the comments which one your students loved the most.
Happy learning, and remember to teach big and change the world!
Tess
Looking for more hands-on maths inspiration? If you enjoyed these place value ideas, you might love some of the other activities I’ve shared on the blog. Whether you’re teaching money, time, or number sense, I’ve got you covered with practical, teacher-tested ideas:
- Engaging Australian Money Activities for Year 1 & Foundation – Bring financial literacy to life with lunch orders and shopping lists.
- Shake, Spill, Record! – A classroom favourite for mastering partitions of 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10.
- Hanging Out the Washing – A fun way to combine fine motor skills with number sequencing.
- Engaging Paper Plate Clock Craft – A quick and easy way to tune your students into the concept of time.
