Mouse Counting Activity with Stamps

Preschoolers will love practicing counting with our DIY mouse stamps. This mouse counting activity with stamps also works on number recognition and subitizing. I get commissions for purchases made through the affiliate links in this post.

Mouse Count by Ellen Stoll Walsh

Mouse Count is a favorite for kids. They love watching the snake place the mice in the jar and counting them one by one. And course, the best part is when the mice trick the snake into going for another mouse (which is really just a rock). While the snake is away, the mice work together to knock over the jar. They run away and we count them one by one again.

Mouse Counting Activity with Stamps

Today we’re counting mice with DIY mouse stamps. To make the stamps, I used a milk cap and a piece of sticky back craft foam (sent to us by CraftProjectIdeas.com). I cut the foam sheet into a mouse shape. Then, I attached the foam to the milk cap. If you don’t have sticky back foam, just use a regular foam sheet and then glue or tape it to the milk cap.

For my toddler, I simply gave him a piece of paper and stamps. He used one of our mouse stamps and a snake stamp from the Melissa and Doug Rain Forest Stamp-a-Scene Set.

He was able to stamp his paper to his hearts content. He was also listening to his sister count and he tried to copy her.

For Lily (age 4), I cut 5 pieces of paper in half and numbered them 1-10.

I asked her to read the number on the paper and add that many stamps.

It took her a few tries to get the hang of the stamping. She wanted to stamp all of the mice before reinking the stamp.

The edges of our foam stamp hung over the milk cap, so the mouse stamp wasn’t perfect. I made a smaller mouse for my toddler. His stamp did not hang over the milk cap and it worked better. Lily didn’t want to use the small mouse stamp, so she made due with the bigger stamp.

After Lily stamped the mice, we added eyes, ears, and tails to make them look more like mice.

More Preschool Math Activities

• Barnyard Math Games – Use farm animals to practice counting, number recognition, addition, and subtraction.
• Dinosaur Number Maze – Take your dinosaurs outside to play. Can you help them make it through the number maze?
• 40 Preschool Math Activities Inspired by a Book

Subscribe to the Inspiration Laboratories newsletter. Each issue has exclusive hands-on science explorations for children, a recap of our latest activities, and special resources selected just for you!