Inside: I have a fun counting and cutting activity for your preschoolers and get them excited about math and haircuts. That’s right – haircuts!
We’ve combined haircuts with numbers, counting, and subitizing in this activity. Your little ones get to pretend to be the hairdresser and trim their client’s overgrown hair while building math skills. Children will be able to snip, snip, snip the paper “hair” from the printout and learn numbers and counting at the same time!
Jump to:
Choose between two versions of this cutting activity for preschoolers:
- Hair Cut Number Game 1 for the young preschoolers (3 to 4 years old) to learn counting and subitizing
- Hair Cut Number Game 2 for the older preschoolers and kindergarteners (5 to 7 years old) to learn addition to 12 and subitizing
How to play Hair Cut Number Game
- Use 1 die for young preschoolers and use two dice for the older preschoolers.
- Toss the die or dice. If two dice are used, add up the numbers on the top of the two dice.
- Cut the segments of hair that correspond with the numbers on the die.
Try this cutting activity for preschoolers before their haircut appointments!
In the same way that letting kids brush our teeth can take away some of their anxiety about going to the dentist, letting them cut some hair with scissors can alleviate some of their haircut worries, too. But since most of us don’t want to walk around with haircuts given to us by our preschoolers, paper haircuts are a terrific substitute. Give this activity a try and see how your little one likes it!
Scissors for preschoolers when learning to cut
Now, if you are looking for the best scissors for your children, this is our favorite brand: Fiskar Blunt Tip Kids Scissors (affiliate link). You can also check out more of my recommended home learning supplies.
If your child is taking interest in cutting with a scissors, read this Guide to Scissor Skills Development in Preschoolers or watch this video for all my best tips about teaching children how to cut with scissors: Best Scissors for Children + A Fun Cutting Activity!
Give them lots of practise with the scissors with fun activities, like this Raindrop Shapes Cutting Practice, and this Save the Dinosaurs Rescue Activity.
Sign up for Happy Tot Shelf mailing list and get this Hair Cut Number Game and many more fun learning printables inside our Printable Library.
Let me know how your kids enjoy playing hairdresser with this number and cutting activity!
More Early Math Activities
If you're keen to try more math activities with your child, here are some fun and easy ones that you can do at home!
Kari Blake says
Love this for number recognition, counting and fine motor !!
Paula says
I love this!
Mary says
Thank you
Tamilselvi says
Hi,I'm preschool teacher and mom of 2 year old boy, i learnt many from your social media thank you for sharing all your thoughts and ideas
vivi says
That very good idea.
Julie Grace says
This is going to be a class favorite with my kindergartners. Thank you for sharing!
Atikah says
Good idea for sharing with me teacher from Malaysia, thank you fynn
Kate says
This is adorable!
Nikki says
I love this!
Joanna says
Love the haircut game!
hair perming services Singapore says
Great post!
Moira O'Neill says
Hi! I love this activity! It looks so fun and I would love to try it in my classroom. I've tried a few times to get the password needed to download the activity, but it hasn't come to my e-mail or junk folder. Would you be able to send me the password or the link so I could access this resource. Thanks so much!
Moira
Fynn says
Hello Moira, sorry to hear about that. Please write to hello@happytotshelf.com and my admin will assist you.
Belmarie says
Very nice idea!!!
Nicole says
We are really enjoying this thank you!