Math Manipulatives for Preschool
Math manipulatives are an important tool for teaching math to preschoolers. They provide a hands-on way to explore math concepts. There are so many awesome math manipulatives out there. I like to use them when I’m teaching math lessons and or use them in centers. Math manipulatives can be something simple, like cotton balls, or you can get higher-quality ones from stores like Lakeshore Learning or Learning Resources.
Today I’m sharing my top math manipulatives for preschoolers. These are the ones I’ve used and think are the most effective.
Counting Bears
So much learning can happen with these little bears! You can use them to sort, count, make patterns, and even for dramatic play! They are also great for teaching beginning addition or subtraction.
There are so many counting bears to choose from. We like the classic counting bear set. They also have a family bear set, which includes three different sizes of bears.
Math Link Cubes
We are also big fans of math link cubes! (Also known as Unifix™ cubes.) These are awesome for counting, sorting by color, making patterns, and simple addition or subtraction. I also love that these work on fine motor skills when you snap them together.
Ten Frame Manipulatives
Learning about ten frames (and even five frames!) is important for preschoolers. Having math manipulatives for this is so helpful!
I love this magnetic ten frame because you can use it while teaching a class without the counters falling off.
Pattern Blocks
These colorful shapes are great for making patterns, learning about shapes, sorting by color or other attributes, and making designs with shapes. There are really quite a few ways to use these pattern blocks!
Mini Erasers
Do you ever see those mini erasers in the Target dollar section? These are fabulous for math! You can use them for counting, practicing one-to-one correspondence, sorting, making patterns, ten frames, and more!
You can also find mini erasers on Amazon, but I usually just pick them up from Target.
Foam Dice
You can use dice for so many math activities! I love foam dice because they are soft, which means they are quiet! (All the teachers say hallelujah!!)
Using dice for games helps kids with subitizing (knowing what the dots are without counting every dot each time), counting, adding, subtracting, comparing, and more!
What other math manipulatives do you love?
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We use math manipulatives every day!
These are all great manipulatives I would love to have to use with my preschoolers.
I would love to add these to my classroom! THank you so much for sharing your talents with us!!
These are all really great ideas! I catch myself stopping at Target’s dollar section every time I go there looking for cute mini erasers, lol. My students love that they go with the current theme. Merry Christmas!!
These are great resources for teaching Early Childhood!!
These manipulatives are fantastic! You can never have enough.
I love the manipulatives! We use them daily to compliment math activities. The student i work with finds math challenging so we use maniulatives to turn math class into an advanture
As a pediatric OT in preschool I’d like to say all these manipulatives are great to develop fine motor and visual-motor skills too! The snap blocks are good for bilateral strengthening, dexterity, and coordination, bears and discs for grasp and in-hand manipulation skills, and the mosaics for visual perceptual skills!
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All great items to practice counting.
These would be amazing for our math learning!