If you have a preschooler, then you know that they like to move, play with things, touch everything, and are just plain curious….which is AWESOME! But, have you ever tried to get them to sit and do a worksheet for more than five minutes? With a few exceptions, it is not happening. And really, why should it – preschool aged kiddos learn so much
better when movement is incorporated with their learning.
So, how do we make sure our little ones are learning all they should to be ready for kindergarten AND having fun and moving around while they do it?
I’m so glad you asked! Today I’m going to show you 5 activities you can use to teach preschool math and NONE of them use a worksheet! Actually now that I’m looking at the list, none of these math activities for preschoolers even requires a pencil! I’ve used each of these activities with my own daughters when they were younger and the girls just loved them. Woohoo, let’s get started!
Go Fish
This is a game that everyone knows, but did you ever stop to think how useful it is for preschool? Your child will be learning numbers 2-10 (1-10 if you use Aces as 1s) and matching pairs while you play this fun game together! Just grab a standard deck of cards and remove the jokers and face cards. Here are the directions for Go Fish if you need a refresher:
1) Deal out seven cards to each player face down.
2) Spread out the remaining cards between the players to creating “the pond”.
3) Choose a player to go first.
4) He or she asks another player if they have one of the cards they are looking for. (“Mom, do you have a 7?”) If the player has it, then they have to give it to the first player and player 1 gets to go again. If player 2 does not have the card, they say “go fish” and player 1 picks from the “pond.” Play moves to the next player.
5) If a player runs out of cards at any point during the game, they may draw two cards from the pond.
(We usually play with an additional rule that you can only go 2 times in a row to keep one person (often an older sibling, lol) from getting to many matches in a row.)
6) The player with the most matches at the end of the game wins!
There are lots of ways you can use this for working on preschool math skills. You can play with a regular deck of cards to learn numbers 1-10, you can make your own cards from index cards with colors on them and work on color names, or you could draw shapes on index cards and work on shape names! Be creative and have fun with it!
Memory Match
This is a super simple one. Kids love playing memory match! If your family is like mine you probably have a gazillion different themed versions of this game on your shelves. For the math version, just grab a standard deck of cards with jokers and face cards removed. Shuffle them and arrange them face down in rows and columns. Choose a player to go first. Player 1 flips over two cards and says the numbers on each card. If they are a match, they get to keep the cards and go again. (We use the only 2 times in a row rule here, too.) If the cards are not a match, player 1 flips the cards back over and play moves to the next player. Continue around until all the matches have been found. The player with the most matches wins!
The key step in this game is to make sure each player says the numbers as he or she flips over the cards. This will really help with number recognition!
Counting with Pipe Cleaners
My girls LOVED to string beads when they were little! For preschool we would use pipe cleaners because the added stiffness of the wires makes it easy for little hands to get the beads on. To set up this activity all you need is:
10-11 pipe cleaners
masking tape
marker
beads (with holes large enough to fit on the pipe cleaners :))
Fold a small piece of masking tape around the end of each pipe cleaner and press the sticky sides together to create a little tab. Write the numbers 1-10 on the tabs. If you are using 11 pipe cleaners you can label one as zero, too.
Give your child the pipe cleaners and a bowl full of beads and have them put on the number of beads written on the tab. That’s it!
This is a perfect activity to keep little hands busy during read aloud time or when you need a little activity during dinner prep. At first you might have to help your child say the numbers or count while they are still learning, so feel free to do that as needed.
Count and Stick Pages
Stickers! What is it about stickers that kids just LOVE?! Let’s use that to our advantage here and get them counting while they enjoy some sticker time. And – BONUS – fine motor practice, too! I made these cute count and stick cards for number 10-21, so fee free to grab those if you are working on higher numbers with your little learner. If you are just sticking to 0-10 for now, then you can just make some of our your own. It really takes about 5 minutes.
I searched on the internet for a fun scene that went with stickers we had on hand. We had mermaid and ocean stickers handy, so I searched for an under the sea scene. You could do construction, dinosaurs, a mountain scene for unicorns, or anything your child is really into! Copy and paste the scene into your favorite word processing program and add a number from 0-10. Then, just copy that scene, change the number, and repeat until you have all the numbers you want – then print! My daughters love counting out the stickers and this is a great quiet time activity, too!
Every Day Math
The last way to make preschool math fun that I’m going to talk about today is just bringing up how math is present in every day life all around us. At this stage in the math game we are focusing on counting, one-to-one correspondence, patterns, matching, colors, etc. and so much of that shows up as we are going through our normal lives. So, let’s talk to our children about how math is all around us! Math so often turns into this scary foreign subject that people don’t see as relating to their lives. When you count out plates while setting the table, count to 20 while you wash your hands, draw patterns with sidewalk chalk outside, or match socks in the laundry basket you are working on preschool math skills.
Next time you go for a walk around your neighborhood or go to the playground, see how many shapes you can find in the real world. Stop sign? A perfect time to introduce an octagon! Look at all the different types of triangles and rectangles that make up the roofs of houses! You could do a color pattern hunt and take turns finding things that are blue, then green, blue, then green, etc. There are so many ways to incorporate math into our normal routines (or start a fun new routine of going for a walk together) and your kiddos will love the undivided attention, too. It doesn’t have to be a half an hour walk. Just strolling for 10-15 minutes is enough time to get a lot of talking and observing in.
Have Fun
The preschool years are so fun – the giggles, snuggles, and wonder are such a special stage that we need to take the time to make it fun and enjoyable. I hope these activities are fun and useful to your family as you start your math journey together!
Surya is the founder of the blog Teach Me I’m Yours and the Facebook community Homeschooling Made Simple . She loves sharing ideas for keeping learning simple, effective, and FUN! You can connect with her on Facebook Surya lives in Iowa with her husband and 3 girls.
