Pancake Number Stacks

As your child transitions from counting by route to counting out and number recognition it’s important to get hands-on with the activities and for this week’s Virtual Book Club for Kids Theme of Pancakes we’re getting hands-on with numbers stacking pancakes in order from smaller to biggest, biggest to smaller, odd numbers and even numbers. I love simple activities like this that you can set up once and use in lots of different ways. Although we haven’t done I would recommend you laminating the pancakes before you add the numbers that way you can use dry wipe markers to add numbers that you are working on with your child. See our extended activities at the bottom for how you can further use these Pancake Number Stacks even with older children.

If you give a Pig a Pancake

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Whether you use this week’s theme and book recommendation at this point in the year with Shrove Tuesday around the corner or Pancake Day as it is called in the UK or you use the theme as a breakfast/food theme at any point in the year you will love our featured book. If you give a Pig a Pancake is by Laura Numeroff is a fun book to read together with your toddlers and preschoolers and had fantastic illustrations by Felicia Bond.

Materials Needed for you Pancake Number Stack Game

Brown Cardstock – I used 2 colours

Compass to draw circles

Scissors

Marker

Laminator + Dry Erase Marker (optional but recommended to extend the use of the pancakes further)

Toy Plate and Spatula

What are we working on?

In this activity primarily we are working on Number Recognition and Number Order – Counting forwards from 1.

We also looked at odd and even numbers with older preschoolers putting these numbers in order.

See the extended activities at the end of further suggestions.

Preparation Needed

1. On your brown card draw out some circles – I drew 6 on each card so as not to waste paper – each pancake was approximately the same size as our toy plate.
2. Cut out the circles.
3. If you want to make this Number Game useful for different ages or last longer then laminate the pancakes.
4. Label the pancakes with numbers starting at 1 going forward.

Playing your Pancake Game

1. Lay out the pancakes in a random order.
2. Ask your child to find pancake number 1.
3. Get them to lift up the pancake with the spatula and place it on the plate.
4. Find pancake number 2 and continue adding the pancakes in order.

Now reverse the game – taking off the pancakes and counting backward.

You can easily adapt it by finding the even numbers and finding the odd numbers.

Extending this Pancake Number Stack to Older Children

With your pancakes laminated it’s possible to use this number stacking pancakes with older children. It’s especially useful when you start counting on from random numbers e.g. 26, 55 or even counting in 10’s, 5’s, 3’s, 25’s etc…

Use a dry wipe marker and label your pancakes with the number pattern you wish to use and then get your child to stack them in the order that you have decided upon.

More Pancake themed Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers

How to Make Swedish Pancakes – Mama Smiles

Kids Cooking Lesson: German Pancakes – Teach Beside Me

Felt Pancake Busy Bag – Views From a Step Stool

Snowman Pancake Decoration Station– Toddler Approved

Shapes for Kids Pancake Matching Game – J Daniel 4’s Mom

Hands-on Pancake Math Activity – The Educators’ Spin On It

If you Give a Pig a Pancake Math Activity – Sugar, Spice, and Glitter

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