15 Hands-On Math Activities for Preschoolers

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 free printable here —> Color Pattern Printable

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. To download your free copy of this click here —> Color Sorting Mat

Math Skill: Patterns and Relationships

You can even use colored tape and pom poms to practice sorting! Add in some tweezers for some extra fine motor practice.

Check out these free counting mats!

 

3. Money Muncher

A fun way to work on sorting is with a 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 jellybeans or whatever! To see how we did this with jellybeans, click here.

You can also use this printable with sorting candy —>Jelly Bean Math

Math Skill: Patterns and Relationships

One more idea for sorting is with using toy animals. Have them sort by different characteristics, such as land animals and sea animals.

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 with 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!

To get your free shape wheel, click here —> Shape Wheel

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 for just $1! Check out this post for details.

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 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. Grab the printable here! This one is great for working on one-to-one correspondence and fine motor skills.

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 last summer when we did 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!

Hope you enjoyed this round-up of math activities!

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