Subitizing, the mouthful of a term for “being able to look at a set and know the amount without counting it,” is one of those cringey teacher words that makes parents’ eyes glaze over, you know? But it’s a critical math skill that we teach in Pre-K, as ugly as the word is itself. And one of our absolute favorite free subitizing games is Snail Subitizing from Life Matters Foundation.

Snail Subitizing is colorful and super cute, and requires few items to play. We laminate the game page and provide dice and either bingo chips or a dry-erase marker and eraser. This activity rocks because once shown how to do it, kiddos can progress through the board at their own speed.

Most importantly, however, is that the snails don’t always display the typical dot pattern represented on a standard die. We LOVE that it makes our kiddos think beyond the standard dot configurations they’ve come to know. It makes them think about how different combinations still make up the same number, and it reinforces knowledge of the concept thoroughly.