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15 Hands-On Math Activities for Preschoolers

by Angela Thayer 21 Comments

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.

15 Hands-On Math Activities for Preschoolers

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

Patterns 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

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!

counting mats for preschoolers

 

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.

Money Muncher

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.

Jellybean Math

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).

Graphing Transportation

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

Shape Wheel- Free Printale

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.

DIY Shape Sorter

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.

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. Foam Shape Activity

Another fun way to practice shapes is with my shape rhymes!

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.

Dice & Number Game

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.

number cards

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.

Ladybug Math

Math Skill: Number Concepts

13. Balloons

Learn the order of numbers with this really fun game involving balloons! Check out the details here.

balloon number game   Math Skill: Number Concepts

14. Estimating with Water

We learned about estimation with a dropper last summer when we did water activities.

Estimation

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.

IMG_9623
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.

measuring with Unifix cubes

Math Skill: Measurement

Lastly, check out this really easy and fun way to practice counting!

15 Hands-On Math Activities for Preschoolers

If you’re looking for digital math activities, make sure to check out my counting activities using Google Slides.

counting practice using google slides

Hope you enjoyed this round-up of math activities!

Related Posts

  • Shape Rhymes PrintablesShape Rhymes Printables
  • Number Formation RhymesNumber Formation Rhymes
  • Learning Shapes with Spaghetti Noodles!Learning Shapes with Spaghetti Noodles!
  • Math Game with Race CarsMath Game with Race Cars
  • Teaching Math to PreschoolersTeaching Math to Preschoolers
  • Jelly Bean MathJelly Bean Math

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Filed Under: Math, Preschool, Printables Tagged With: math activities

Comments

  1. Nichole {youclevermonkey} says
    October 18, 2013 at 10:41 pm

    Great post. Particularly loved your 2D shape sorting wheel as I’d just been writing about teaching 2D and 3D shapes on my blog. Just added a link to your page, hope that’s okay 🙂
    Nichole {youclevermonkey} recently posted…Invitation to create – the first 15 daysMy Profile

    Reply
  2. Bien says
    October 20, 2013 at 11:20 am

    This is excellent work! Other teachers should see this. I will share it in my facebook!

    Reply
  3. cath says
    October 20, 2013 at 11:25 pm

    They all look such fun, am sure ill use them all thank you

    Reply
  4. Jenna says
    April 21, 2014 at 2:14 pm

    I used your sorting bears idea for my head start kids. GREAT IDEA!!

    Reply
  5. Carmen Ervin says
    August 11, 2014 at 12:09 am

    Each idea is great . Just what I needed. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  6. Linda Vossler says
    August 30, 2014 at 8:16 pm

    Just wanted to say Thank You! I used your pattern printable and I appreciate you having it on here to do so, saved me a lot of time from making my own! Kudos for all the nice things you have on here

    Reply
  7. Shecki @ Greatly Blessed says
    December 31, 2014 at 6:29 pm

    Thanks! I’m printing the pattern cards for my 4 year old, and you’ve given me the inspiration to pull out our foamy letters and use them in the bathtub. 🙂
    Shecki @ Greatly Blessed recently posted…Katie’s December Tot TraysMy Profile

    Reply
  8. Mrs. Amanda says
    September 20, 2015 at 11:23 pm

    I love your ideas they will definitely be put to use, thank you for allowing the free printables!

    Reply
  9. den says
    January 17, 2016 at 11:58 am

    Thank you. Your activities are awesome and fun! kids will surely love it.. It was great help for me as a preschool teacher.

    Reply
  10. Toki Castro-Tover says
    May 10, 2016 at 12:15 am

    I am so excited to try this with my 2-year-old! She can already count to 11 but doesn’t put it to physical things.. the stickers and balloon activity will be fun 🙂

    Thanks and Happy Mothers Day 🙂

    Reply
  11. Letha says
    December 7, 2016 at 4:45 pm

    Thank you your ideas have given me ideas.

    Reply
  12. Laura says
    January 11, 2018 at 4:11 pm

    Thanks for all these great resources!

    Reply
  13. Alechia says
    December 15, 2019 at 9:29 am

    If I had counting bears in my classroom I would use them at small group time as a math activity. I would also use them as a literacy activity to tell bear stories.

    Reply
  14. Robin Rasmussen says
    December 15, 2019 at 10:29 am

    I love counting bears for many areas in math. Patterns, sorting, counting, etc. A great tool! I’d love my own set instead of sharing with staff. 😊

    Reply
  15. Nicole Kampwirth says
    December 15, 2019 at 11:18 am

    So many possibilities! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  16. Marlene says
    December 15, 2019 at 2:09 pm

    I love all of these ideas! I only have a few hand-me-down bears f rom teachers but as an OT I only need enough for small groups I just dont k now if I have all of the colors. I think mine are only red and yellow. I would love to have them for in sensory bins to find, pull out and then do the patterns you provided, etc.

    Reply
  17. Hoisingotn Public LIbrary says
    December 16, 2019 at 11:41 am

    We have bins at the library that children can get out at their leisure. I would love to add a bin with the bears and some of the activity mats that you have available.

    Reply
  18. Dianne says
    February 26, 2020 at 11:09 am

    Great ideas! I teach future teachers, at the college level. Your site is a treasure trove!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Montessori-Inspired Color Activities Using Wooden Toys and Free Printables | LivingMontessoriNow.com says:
    October 31, 2013 at 11:30 am

    […] prepare a color-sorting activity with a specific number of each point, you could print out the free Color Sorting Mat from Teaching […]

    Reply
  2. Sorting And Comparison – Preschoolife says:
    October 3, 2017 at 10:56 pm

    […] Link: https://teachingmama.org/15-hands-on-math-activities-preschoolers/ […]

    Reply
  3. Educational’blog – Site Title says:
    October 3, 2017 at 11:01 pm

    […] https://teachingmama.org/15-hands-on-math-activities-preschoolers/ […]

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