How to Teach Math

Click to read ideas to teach mathematical concepts to preschoolers.

Matching

• Help with laundry and match socks.
• Gather a bucket of shoes and match pairs.
• Match various lids with pots, pans, and dishes.

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Money

•   Lemonade in Winter by Emily Jenkins
Dawn suggested this book for teaching money. 

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Patterns

• Develop patterns through beading (Lacing Beads).

•   Using candy corn and candy pumpkins, make patterns.  This images shows ABB (left to right) or AAB (right to left) patterns.

• Create patterns using different colors and shapes for review.

•  Winter Pattern Winter Patterns - Create patterns using the Winter Images

•  Battleship  - Allow your child to create patterns and count the pegs. (Thank you, Shannon for sharing this idea.)

•  Make patterns using the game Connect Four, Checkers, or different colored post-it notes
•  Spring Patterns Spring Patterns - Create ABB patterns using the Spring Images.

•  At snack time, create a pattern using two different snacks

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Sorting

• Create a pile of candy corn and pumpkin candies.  Instruct the child to sort the two candies.
• A muffin tin makes a fun place to sort small items during meal preparations.
• Measuring cups in the bathtub are great fun and can be used to teach size.
• Using a bag of various beans for soup, let the child sort them into a muffin tin.
• Using train track pieces, sort the different shapes and lengths of pieces.
• Sort play food into vegetables, fruits, milk/dairy, meat or pantry, refrigerator, freezer; if you don't have play food, you can also use pictures of food.
• Sort UNO Cards  by colors or numbers.
• Free Sorting Worksheets from TLSBooks.com

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Spatial Concepts

Left and Right
Press Here Book

 

Frogs on a Log

 

Print the Frogs Spatial Concept Printable on green paper.  Cut out.  Place sticky tack on the back of each frog.
Place a brown “log” made of construction paper on a larger board or mat.  (We used an easil.)
Call out a spatial word (i.e. under, left) and have the child place the frogs around the log to correctly represent the concept.

Above, Under, Left, Behind...

Frogs Above Frogs Under Frogs Left Frogs Behind

Fall Tree

Spatial Tree Print the Spatial Tree .  Color the leaves using fall colors.  Cut the leaves out.  Place sticky tack on the backs of each leaf.
Post the tree on the wall.  Call out a spatial word (i.e. under, left) and have the child place the leaves around the tree to correctly represent the concept.

Hula-Hoop

• Place item in relationship to a hula-hoop.

Toys and Stuffed Animals

• Use toys or stuffed animals to place spatially with a chair or the child.
• Using a bridge or box, drive toy cars or tractors around, on, under, etc the bridge.

Spatial Words:

High, Low Up, Down Above, Below
Beside, Next To, Between Before, After Around, through
Behind, In back, In Front Left, right On, off
First, Middle, Last Top, Middle, Bottom Near, Far
Under, over  

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M&M Graphing

Lay a pile of 40 M&M's on the table.  Write the name of each color on the bottom of the M&M Graphing worksheet (red, blue, green, yellow, brown, orange).  Write the numbers 1-15 up the lefthand column.  Sort the M&M's by color.  Start with one color and count the number of M&M's in that pile.  Show the child how to graph the number of M&M's.    When finished, write the total number of each color on the graph.  Then count the total on the graph to make sure 40 M&M's are accounted for.

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