Play ideas and books for kindergarten children

Is your child already interested in learning reading and maths in kindergarten ? Then you will find exciting book tips and game ideas here.
Text: Claudia Landolt and Florina Schwander

Pictures: Frisch Photography

Whereas first grade used to be the place where children learnt to read, write and count, today one in three children can scribble little letters, recognise numbers and read letters even before that. Should parents encourage this? And are such children better pupils later on?

You can find the full text from the special kindergarten booklet for year 2/autumn here: When children can already write and do maths in kindergarten

On this page you will find game ideas and book tips for early readers.

Game ideas for early calculators

  • The number path: Here, movement is combined with arithmetic operations. Draw numbers from 1 to 10 or 1 to 20 with chalk on the street or on paper and lay them out on the floor - outside or inside. Recite the numbers while walking, aloud or quietly. First forwards, then backwards. If the children are confident, you can also walk along the number path in pairs or threes. This way, the even and odd numbers are always emphasised. If you like, you can also decorate the number path with marbles or flowers, the number 1 gets one object, the number 2 gets two, etc. The aim is to combine the ordinal and cardinal aspects of numbers. A treasure can also be placed on a single number and found with a dice and the correct number.
  • Heaven and hell: The magic square, i.e. the numbers from 1 to 9, are laid out in groups of three. The child throws a stone at a number and thinks of a task that results in this number. Then, for example, they hop off the addition on one leg.
  • Parlour games such as hurry up or games that require dice. The child learns to recognise and count the eyes of the dice.

Game ideas for spring girls

  • Place individual letters on a sheet of paper with string and stick them on. This way, you can write your own name, for example.
  • Stamp ABC
  • Change lyrics and sing entire songs anew.
  • Guess shapes, imitate sounds, count syllables
  • Invent words and puns, make the most beautiful word in the world out of them
  • Read verses or invent rhymes
  • Making letters tactile, tracing shapes. Knead.

Book and game recommendations

The ABC playbook. From A for monkey to Z for zebra. Rotraut Susanne Berner manages to fit an astonishing number of letter words onto one letter picture. And this sets the stage for playing: taking turns in the group to find the letter words, remembering the letter words in memory, forming sentences with the letter words, telling a whole story from these sentences in turn and more. Recommended age: 5 to 10 years. Jacoby & Stuart 2010. 64 pages, approx. 19 francs.

Can you do the maths? Exciting treasure hunt for 2 to 4 players aged 5 and over. Kosmos Scout 2009, approx. 10 francs.

66 exercises for kindergarten. Writing and arithmetic. Playful exercises on the topics of colours, first numbers, opposites, pairs and more. Recommended age: 4 to 6 years. Loewe 2011, 136 pages, approx. 9 francs.

My big book for learning to read. 4 steps to reading success. Learning to read step by step: reading along and first reading fun for children aged 4 and over. Fischerverlag 2018, 96 pages, approx. 19 francs.

Hoppe, hoppe rider... The most beautiful nursery rhymes for the little ones. For all language-loving children and parents. Ellermann 2013, approx. 18 francs.

Writing numbers with the little raven sock. Numbers from 1-10, with swing exercises. Esslinger 2017, approx. 7 francs.

A journey through the ABC universe. Children playfully discover the world of the Abc! Travelling by train through the ABC universe. Recommended for ages 5 and up. Duden 2019, approx. 30 francs.