Maths for preschool kids
Preschool Math Activities - Stay at Home Educator
Developing mathematics skills begin long before children enter formal schooling. This is why choosing out which preschool math activities to include in your lesson plans are all the more important.
In fact, preschool and toddler aged children are constantly playing with math. They naturally sort and organize. They build and design. These are mathematical skills children have a natural interest in and their beginning development comes through the very natural act of playing.
It is all good and well to say that math skills develop naturally, but young children also benefit from purposeful preschool math activities.
This article is all about how to teach math to toddlers and preschoolers.The 5 Disciplines of Preschool Math Activities Instruction
Teaching math to preschoolers isn’t about doing endless preschool math worksheets. Learning activities should be hands-on and engaging, while targeting important number skills.
But preschool mathematics is more than just teaching counting and number identification. There are five disciplines in mathematics, which are taught in the following units:
Number Sense
Graphing
Measurement
Patterning
Shapes
Sorting
Wondering What to Teach in Preschool Math?
Not sure what math skills you should include in your preschool math lesson plans? Or what kind of preschool math activities you should include? Grab a free checklist below.
How to Teach Math to Preschoolers
Young children love to play with mathematics, and through play is where some of the strongest mathematical connections will be made. These connections will provide them with the right foundation to learn formal math with ease.
Unfortunately, many elementary-aged children claim they hate math!
So this begs us to ask a question of ourselves as parents and teachers: What has happened to their enjoyment and confidence? Where has the joy gone? The joy they used to experience when building math skills?
And then we ask…what math activities for preschoolers are the most important? Am I planning the right preschool math activities so my students experience joy and excitement when learning math?
The early years allow children to explore mathematics in a natural way.
Through hands-on activities and play! Through preschool math games, too!
Think of the toddler who lines up his tractors in a neat row, or sorts her snack crackers by color. Or the preschooler who turns a puzzle piece to find the right fit or uses blocks to build a tower in increments of two. These are examples of preschool math activities that naturally occur in early childhood.
They are playful but purposeful. And meaningful, too.
And it is through purposeful and active lessons that preschoolers can be taught a strong foundation in all five disciplines in math.
The Five Disciplines of Math Explained
All mathematics skills are summed up into five disciplines or domains. They are not just for high school students, or middle school, or just for elementary students. The five disciplines of math also apply to preschoolers.
It may sound intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. The instruction in all five disciplines is absolutely necessary to give preschoolers the best beginning possible in mathematics.
They are:
- Number Sense
- Algebra
- Geometry
- Measurement
- Data Analysis
You might be thinking, “Seriously, I supposed to teach algebra to preschoolers?!”
Well, yes, but if you stop to think about it, teaching all five disciplines is easier than you think. And it is easy to make it developmentally appropriate for preschoolers, too! And, it is completely necessary for a complete and well-rounded preschool education.
What the Five Disciplines of Math Look Like in Preschool
Think about it like this: the following are some basic strands within each discipline.
- counting, number identification, addition and subtraction ( number sense)
- patterns, comparing and sorting (algebra)
- shape identification, shape differentiation (geometry)
- comparing sizes, lengths and weights (measurement)
- graphing, simple estimation (data analysis)
To learn more about each domain, and to see way preschool math activities that fit within each, click the following links:
Number Sense Activities for preschoolers
Algebra Activities for preschoolers
Geometry Activities for preschoolers
Measurement Activities for preschoolers
Data Analysis Activities for preschoolers
Did You Grab your FREE Preschool Math Skills Checklist?
Take the guesswork out of how to teach math with this free preschool math skills checklist.
Just click the image and a pdf will be sent to your email.
Printable Math Centers for the Entire Year
Having printable number cards, play dough mats, and other number activities for the entire year makes planning your preschool math centers even easier! Practice number matching and identification along with fine motor skills.
Free Printable Math Activities for Preschoolers
Hands-On Math Activities for Preschoolers
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links to Amazon. See my disclosure policy for details.
Math is so fun to teach to preschoolers because there are a lot of daily activities that incorporate math. Preschoolers don’t need worksheets for math…they should learn through play and hands-on activities.
1. Patterns with Bears
Counting Bears are a great math manipulative to use with preschoolers. You can sort, count, or use them with patterns.
I created some pattern cards to help with this.
The first page is an AB pattern, meaning two colors alternate in the pattern. The second page is an ABC pattern, meaning three are three colors in the pattern. For this activity, your preschooler will set the colored bear on top of the matching color to create a pattern. On the ABC pattern cards, the last circle is left empty. That is for your child to tell you what color it should be.
You can get the color patterns printable at the bottom of this post.
Math Skill: Patterns and Relationships
You can find more pattern activities here.
2. Sorting Colors with Bears
Sorting is a skill preschoolers should work on a lot. One way to sort is by color. We do this with our counting bears and a sorting mat.
You can get the sorting mat printable at the bottom of this post.
You can even use colored tape and pom poms to practice sorting! Add in some tweezers for some extra fine motor practice.
We also love counting mats! These are great for learning to count and working on one-to-one correspondence.
Math Skill: Patterns and Relationships
3. Money Muncher
A fun way to work on sorting is with the Money Muncher! It’s also a great activity for fine motor skills. To see all the fun details, click here.
Math Skill: Patterns and Relationships
4. Sorting Jelly Beans
Anytime we work with candy, my kids love it! You can sort M&Ms or jelly beans or whatever! To see how we did this with jelly beans, click here.
You can get the jelly bean sorting printable at the bottom of this post.
One more idea for sorting is by using toy animals. Have them sort by different characteristics, such as land animals and sea animals.
Math Skill: Patterns and Relationships
5. Graphing
Graphing is always good to introduce to preschoolers. It doesn’t have to be complex, but you can do a simple activity like graphing the types of transportation on a bar graph and use small pictures or toys (or I used erasers from The Dollar Tree).
Make graphing hands-on using apples! Even young preschoolers can begin learning about graphing with this activity.
Check out this free gumball graphing activity right here.
Math Skill: Patterns and Relationships
6. Shape Wheel
This is a fun activity for learning shapes! Just print this shape wheel and draw the same colored shapes onto clothespins. Have your child match the clothespin to the shape on the wheel. This is great for working on fine motor skills!
You can get the shape wheel printable at the bottom of this post.
Math Skill: Geometry
7. Shape Sorter
An easy way to practice shapes is with a Shape Sorter! I bought these shapes at Michaels Craft Store many years ago, but these 3D geometric shapes would be a good option if you’re interested in creating a Shape Sorter. Check out this post for details on how to make this easy math activity.
Math Skill: Geometry
8. Noodle Shape Cards
A neat sensory activity and a fun way to learn shapes are with noodles! See the post here to download the free shape cards.
Math Skill: Geometry
9. Foam Sticks
Learn shapes in the tub with these foam sticks! You can see how we did this here.
Another fun way to practice shapes is with the cookie shapes matching activity!
And my favorite way to teach about shapes is with my shape rhymes!
10. Dice Game
This is a really fun game! I took this Melissa & Doug wooden toy and put white circle stickers on the top of the pegs. I wrote numbers 1-6 and had 2 stars. I had my son roll the dice and whatever number it landed on, he would pound with a toy hammer. If the number he rolled was already down, he hit the star. Not only was this fun for him, but he was able to “subitize”, which simply means to recognize numbers instantly without counting the dots.
Math Skill: Number Concepts
11. Star Number Cards
Practice counting and recognizing numbers with star number cards. This one is great for working on one-to-one correspondence and fine motor skills.
You can get the star number printable cards at the bottom of this post.
Math Skill: Number Concepts
12. Ladybug Math
We made these adorable ladybugs and they were a hit! Not only were they fun to play with, but we did a lot of counting and sorting with them. Read all about it here.
Math Skill: Number Concepts
13. Balloons
Learn the order of numbers with this really fun game involving balloons! Check out the details here.
Math Skill: Number Concepts
14. Estimating with Water
We learned about estimation with a dropper with some fun, hands-on water activities.
Math Skill: Measurement
15.
Pouring and Comparing
We practiced pouring skills with rice into these beakers. Then I had my son line them up from biggest to smallest. Using comparative words like big/small or empty/full help teach preschoolers about simple concepts of measurement. This is simple and you could elaborate on this activity.
One more easy way to practice measurement is with Unifix cubes. Place different lengths of tape on the floor or poster board. Then have your child use Unifix cubes to measure the lines. This is a simple way to practice counting, measuring, and comparing lengths.
Math Skill: Measurement
Lastly, check out this really easy and fun way to practice counting!
If you’re looking for digital math activities, make sure to check out my counting activities using Google Slides.
If you’d like to download the 5 free printables I shared in this blog post, just click on the button below!
Math for children 4, 5, 6, 7 years old
Here you can find a lot of useful materials on the topic "Math for children for children 4, 5, 6, 7 years old", which you can print on a printer and engage with children as at home, and in preschool and school institutions.
Learning math in a playful way is a very interesting activity even for those children who do not show much love for learning. Also, such tasks are great for little fidgets who cannot sit in one place for 5 minutes. Each game task is designed for a younger child - it is designed in such a way that the child does not get tired, and at the same time receives a useful portion of knowledge and skills. The main thing is not to solve all the tasks at once, only one at a time!
Mathematics for children 4, 5, 6, 7 years old - choose a section for learning
Mathematics for children is presented here in several sections, each of which develops certain skills in teaching a child. For example, counting up to 10 and 20 is intended for children who are learning to count objects, but still do not know numbers well and do not know how to solve mathematical expressions. In the section with tasks in mathematics, more complex tasks are presented, in which examples, tasks, and various tasks for adding, subtracting, dividing the number of objects into equal parts, etc.
can be found. In tasks with geometric shapes, children will get acquainted with the shapes and names of geometric shapes, perform simple tasks to consolidate the learned material. Also, tasks with mathematical signs (greater than, less than, equals sign) are given separately.
Learning to Count to 10 - Fun Picture Activities
In this section we are learning to count to 10 with fun picture activities for preschoolers. Learning to count in a playful way is a very interesting activity even for those children who do not show much love for learning.
Learn to count to 20 - Picture game tasks
Here we learn to count to 20 by doing interesting picture game tasks. The activities below are suitable for children who have already mastered counting up to 10 and are starting to learn counting within 20.
Fun math pictorial tasks for kids
Here are some fun and colorful math pictorial tasks for kids who are getting ready for school or are in 1st grade.
Assignments can be very useful for teachers in kindergartens and elementary schools to teach children about mathematical expressions more effectively.
Geometric shapes for children - Interesting tasks
Here you can download and print geometric shapes for children in the form of interesting tasks in pictures, the implementation of which will not only benefit the child, but also a lot of fun.
Numbers for kids - Download, print and cut!
Numbers for children in various designs are presented here - numbers in the form of flowers, three-dimensional, gold, with various textures, ice, puzzle numbers, as well as simple numbers in black and red.
Mathematical signs and symbols - Picture tasks
Learning math signs and symbols with interesting picture tasks. By completing tasks, the child will learn to distinguish between greater than and less than signs, as well as plus, minus and equal sign.
Other interesting topics with mathematics
Educational games "Mathematics for Toddlers"
Games developed by the Chudo-Yudo children's portal especially for the youngest children (from 2 years old), who are just starting to learn to count to 10.
Such games contribute to faster memorization of numbers, and also allow the child to understand the technology of counting, which is difficult for his age.
Math games for children from 4 to 6 years old
Games are designed to prepare a preschooler for the first mathematical knowledge and numeracy. Here you will find interesting colorful games in which the child will need to find and count the specified number of objects or living beings. Children of this age really like to count, especially in a playful way.
Math examples online
A great opportunity for younger students to practice their knowledge of mathematics. After all, in these tasks you need to be able to quickly solve examples, because a certain time is allocated for the passage of each task. When the time runs out, then you are credited with points only for those examples to which the child managed to answer.
All educational materials presented in the section "Mathematics for children 4, 5, 6, 7 years old" are very useful for preschoolers to prepare for school, as well as for younger students to practice and test their knowledge.
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FROM THE WORK EXPERIENCE OF TEACHERS OF THE SENIOR PRESCHOOL AGE. 
This work is devoted to the problem of the formation of mathematical abilities of children of senior preschool age through didactic games. The authors of the article note the importance of creating a full-fledged development by providing organized, purposeful activities. And also reveal modern technologies of the educational process. 
10.2022 17:01 
10.2022 21:08 
Under the mathematical development of preschoolers, the pedagogical community notes changes in cognitive activity that occur as a result of the formation of elementary mathematical representations and related logical operations, mental skills and abilities that make it easy to learn new things. [2] 
Trenkasinsky kindergarten "Rodnichok" Completed by: Bezherova V.N 2022 
09.2022 19:47 
How to ensure the development of mathematical abilities that meet modern requirements? 
L. Art. Staromyshastovskaya 2022 
09.2022 11:01 
A., teacher MADOU "Kindergarten No. 70" 
