Children can begin to recognize numbers and patterns at the age of 12 months, which is one of the wonders of the human brain. If you’re looking for ways to spark a love of numbers, look no further than these math activities for young children. They will entertain your children… It also allows them to explore foundational math skills such as counting, sorting, number recognition, patterns, measurements, and shapes, which will help prepare them for future student success.
So, if your early math memory was all dusty blackboards and rote worksheets… Think again! Math can be more fun for toddlers and preschoolers. Evidence? These 12 fun activities you can do at home with minimal materials!
Rubber Duck Math Competition for Preschoolers
This fun game will help your child learn Xi read the numbers on the dice as well as count them in order… Have fun at the same time. In this math activity for toddlers, toddlers roll the dice and then build a path for their duck with the corresponding number of tiles. Bonus: It also teaches turns!
Ice Cream Math Activity for Toddlers
This ice cream math game for toddlers will help kids sort numbers, giving them excellent counting skills while also practicing Xi fine motor skills. Here’s how it works: starting with a cut in the cone, each cone is marked with a number. The children then pile the appropriate number of “spoons” (aka colored pompoms) high.
Number Puzzle Math Activities for Toddlers
Number puzzles (encouraging children to match a certain number of items to their corresponding numbers or numeric names) are a very simple math activity for young children. It helps the little ones learn Xi different ways to recognize numbers.
Measure the Amount of Math Activity in Young Children
The kitchen doubles as a great math lab! Evidence? Math activities for preschoolers and toddlers, such as those that introduce the concept of volume. All you need is some measuring cups and spoons and something that can be measured (such as dry rice or beans). From here, there are plenty of ways to teach kids volume, scores, and more!
Counters and Math Activity Measures for Preschoolers
Early Xi Xi will love any excuse to grab a bunch of colored counters and learn the introductory skills of how to measure objects. Have your child measure their feet and hands, and maybe even a family pet.
How Much Does This Thing Weigh? Math Activities for Preschoolers
This STEM activity will teach your child that weight can be measured. Or even better? They begin to think and practice Xi creating a hypothesis to determine which objects are heavier or lighter than another.
Giant Shape Matching Math Activity for Toddlers
For energetic kids, this giant toddler shape matching math game will help them move their bodies as they crawl on the floor, find all the objects and match them to the shapes depicted. If you can get your child to learn Xi name of each shape, that’s a plus!
Toddlers Can Print Tangram Math Activities
Tangram is a classic toddler and preschool math activity! For those unfamiliar, it involves combining and moving many small shapes to form a complete picture. For example, a preschooler looks at an image of a boat or a flower and then tries to reproduce it using smooth, colorful, flat pieces of wood or paper (printable).
Toddler Marshmallow Challenge Math Activity
The biggest challenge of math activities for young children is… Don’t eat all the ingredients! Grab some marshmallows (big and small) and a bunch of toothpicks, then give your budding engineer some math challenges. Watch your child build stunning sculptures inspired by math.
Natural Pattern Math Activities for Young Children
Recognizing patterns is an important skill for any mini-mathematician. Try a walk in nature and explore the patterns beyond the front door. Once you’ve observed patterns in nature, you can create your own patterns using the natural objects you pick up along the way.
Snowball Math Game for Preschoolers
Do you have some energetic kids in your family? Let them release their energy while thinking about numbers with this fun throwing game that allows your child to do addition and subtraction in no time. For the little ones who aren’t ready for addition and subtraction, you can adapt the game to help teach number recognition. Instead of pinning the addition or subtraction equation to each bucket, pin a singular number.
Hopscotch Math Activity for Toddlers
Believe it or not, this childhood classic is also a math activity for toddlers and preschoolers! Draw some fun diagrams and have everyone take turns learning to count and recognize numbers Xi while jumping and playing. See? Math is fun!