Preschool Math Activities.

Preschool Math Activities for the classroom [Number]

All preschoolers love numbers.Why is that I wondered?

Then I realised, that when kids first first come to school, all the Preschool Math Activities they do are fun! They don't realise that by throwing bits of newspaper into a bucket and counting how many actually went in, they are learning to count.

What a shame it has to change as they grow older!

So mums and teachers please share some of these preschool math activities with your kids and enjoy them while you can! There are so many incidental learning opportunities you can get out of these play activities. Also by asking the right questions you can assess how your child ticks!

Jigsaw Numbers

I like this preschool math activity because of the ease of finding the materials to make it. All you need is a cereal packet from the junk box and a pair of scissors.

What to do.

Firstly, cut out the front of the cereal packet and before you cut it into 10 pieces turn it over onto the plain side and write the numbers 1 through to 10. Then,making each chunk a different shape, cut out each of the 10 numbers to create you own jigsaw.

You have a picture on the reverse side. Giving you 2 for the price of 1!

Stacking Boxes

Another easy preschool math activity from the junk box! Kids love building things and this simple task will keep them happy for ages!

You simply empty all the cardboard boxes out of the junk box. All shapes and sizes will do! Then ask them to build a tower as tall as they can and count how many boxes they use before it falls down.

It was interesting to see if they realised that it was better to put the bigger boxes at the bottom and smaller ones at the top. If not I asked them what they thought they could do to make a taller tower which wouldn't fall down so quickly?

Car Park Numbers

This independent preschool math activity is one that the kids can incorporate into their play.

Although I think to get the optimum learning potential out of this, and all other preschool math activities,there needs to be an adult around, joining in the game and asking appropriate questions!

On a large piece of white paper you draw a sketch of a town with a basic road layout, houses,shops post office etc and most importantly, a car-park as shown in the picture. Each bay is numbered from 1 to 10.

You then give them the small world people and lots of cars of different colours. This is important for when you ask questions!

The kids are asked to tell you how many cars will fit into the car-park.

I found it interesting to watch how they found this out.Some counted each bay and others realised that 10 was the largest number so the answer must be 10.

When they have done this you can ask them to put a car in each of the bays and say 'What number bay is the red car parked in?' or 'Can you tell me what number bay the blue car is in?' etc etc.

After you have done the teaching bit they can carry on with their free play by themselves!

There is an awful lot of teaching material to gain from this preschool math activity. Addition and subtraction can be taught with slightly older kids by asking them questions such as 'If the blue car drove out of the car park, how many cars would there be left?'

Number Piercing

I loved doing this game with my kids. It's good for their number recognition as well as their hand control and physical dexterity.

You will need a small piece of carpet, a bit of coloured paper and a plastic needle.

Then you write a large number on each of the pieces of paper, place the paper on top of the carpet and ask them to pierce little holes all around the number.

The more holes they make,the more effective it will be.

When they have finished, if they hold it up to the light the number is clearly shown.They can put it on their window at home or on the classroom window.

They used to like choosing their age to do first but often wanted to go on and do a few more.

You can then ask them to put them in the right order!

This preschool math activity can be used for anything! I have used it for letters, names and even pictures of mum!

Paper Ball Activity

I found this preschool math activity a good one for days when the energy levels were high!

All you need is a bucket and lots of pieces of newspaper.

Tell the kids that they have to make their balls first by rolling up the newspaper as tight as they can,

Then we counted how many balls we had made and took it in turns to throw the balls one at a time into the bucket.

The winner is the one who got the most balls into the bucket in one go.

Once again I squeezed as much learning out of the activity as I could by asking them to count the balls that did not go into the bucket to see if they could work out from that how many were in it!!

Make sure they wash their hands afterwards. Newspaper can leave your hands rather black!

I hope you have found these preschool math activities useful..

There are plenty more ideas on other pages of my site. Go on have a peek!