Pipe Cleaner Counting Activity for Kids

We have the cutest pipe cleaner counting activity for kids to share with you today. Several of you have reached out recently, asking for counting activity ideas. We love counting activities, and are excited to share some of our favorites with you over the next few weeks.

Educational activities are best when they are interactive and fun! It also helps if they are inexpensive and easy to set up. When you get all of that in one activity, you have a real winner.

This pipe cleaner counting activity meets those requirements. It will take you less than 5 minutes to put together, and should cost less than $2!! If you have paper cups and pipe cleaners in the cupboard, it will cost you a big whopping nothing. Sweet!

To set up the activity, start with paper cups. Styrofoam cups will work as well if you have those on hand. Turn the cups upside down.

Use a sharpie to write numbers on the front of the cups. We are working on numbers 1-10 right now, but you could probably go a bit higher if you need to.

Then, take a mini phillips screwdriver, and poke a matching number of holes in the bottom of the cup.

Next, grab a handful of pipe cleaners, and cut them into halves. We used a variety of fun colors, but whatever you have available will work.

The pipe cleaner counting activity is now ready. To complete the activity, the children must read the number on the front of the cup. They then count out the right number of pipe cleaners, and push them through the holes at the top of the cup.

This is a fantastic fine motor activity as well as counting. The kids have to shift and shuffle a little bit to get the pipe cleaners lined up just right to go through the holes. The smaller your screwdriver, the more challenging this activity will be.

When you have finished, stack the cups, place the pipe cleaner pieces inside, and store it for another day. We hope you enjoy this simple, fun pipe cleaner counting activity for kids.

Happy Counting!