There is a wide variety of maths activities for preschoolers nursery maths activities on the internet, such as Pinterest and Instagram.
If you had tried browsing through numerous posts, chances are you were inspired and lost at the same time. I was confused by the sheer amount of information.
As time went by, I narrowed my focus on some staple activities for my twin toddlers, whom I homeschool. I tried using the same materials for different activities, as long as the tots did not show signs of boredom.
These low-prep activities are practical and straightforward to carry out, both for the adult and for the kids. And they like them very much. My priority here is for the twins to enjoy the activities. As long as they enjoy the work, they will want to go through the same exercises again.
Our homeschool journey started when the twins were about 25 months old. We mainly played with numbers, counted toys, and incorporated art into Maths. We involved no worksheets until recently.
Sharing here our core maths activities for preschoolers carried out over the past year.
Maths Activities for Preschoolers
Number Puzzle
When we first started with numbers, I was specifically looking out for number blocks like this for a sensory experience. These wooden blocks are durable and versatile, and I repeatedly used them for other maths play activities.
Dot Stickers
I bought these stickers from Daiso time and again for some dot stickers number tracing. Little children love stickers, so this activity catches their attention all the time.
Number Painting
My toddlers love to paint. Most kids love messy activities such as painting. Painting number blocks is a great way to hone their hand control, eye-hand coordination and familiarise themselves with numbers at the same time.
Thematic Crafts
Our learning has a monthly theme, such as fishes, birds, fruits and vegetables, etc. As and when possible, we will incorporate counting into our craft activities.
Pom-pom counting
I love this multi-purpose playtime. Other than learning to hold chopsticks, they sort the pom-poms* according to colour and count them.
As they grew older, we switched from counting pom-poms to counting marbles for some variety. But pom-poms still remain as my first option as it has a lower risk of choking as compared to marble and I can leave the tots alone for some independent play.
Let’s count the ice-creams!
All kids love ice-creams. Stacking the ice-cream* and counting them is a fabulous activity for little ones who just started to learn to count.
In the beginning, we played without the scoop because releasing the ice-cream from the scoop required more finger coordination. It distracted the tots away from learning to count, so we went without the scoop.
Number Scavenger Hunt
Rather than getting them to sit down at the table to learn numbers, we run around the home instead. We prepare 2 sets of number cards for this game. One set is hidden all over the house, while the other set is meant for them to hold and match to the cards which they discovered.
Zingo 1 – 2 – 3
Zingo 1-2-3* is a math learning toy meant for four years old and above. I modified it by covering the base with tables of numbers so that the tots can match the figures accordingly.
Modified UNO for three-year-old
We are playing our modified version of UNO* every morning, without all the symbols such as reverse, +2, +4. UNO rules apply, and each time they place their cards in the middle, I would ask to say out loud the number they place. We have the Mario UNO version too. However, the princess and the monsters in the cards distracted the twins from learning numbers. Thus I got them another set showing just numbers.
The game works very well for us. With rounds of practice every morning, they recognise the numbers better than before. The key here is they adore the game, and they will pester me to play with them every morning.
Number Matching Puzzle
We are currently working on counting orderly from left to right, without skipping the number nor skipping any of the items on each card. It gets a little tedious for them by the time they reach number 9 and may run away for a mental break or prematurely terminate the game.
Below puzzle is from Orchard Toy*, bought for my firstborn approximately 8 years ago.
Dot Stickers Counting for Preschoolers
Since tots love stickers, using dot stickers for counting keeps them engaged for a longer time.
Spangles for Number Blocks
This is an extension of the dot sticker activity above, for older toddlers with stronger fine motor skills. We use only a piece of A3 construction paper and tons of spangles from Daison. No glue involved so that we can reuse the spangles in the future.
Floor Number Number Puzzle
Just a floor puzzle that my 4 kids all love very much.
Build Numbers with Magnetic Tiles
Our three-year-olds are big fans of magnetic tiles. They made pizzas, castles, cakes using their tiles almost every day.
I made a set of number cards using magnetic tiles for them to further work on their number recognition ability. This activity trains their visual-motor skills.
Check out the link here for the post on this, plus a set of printables that you can download.
Kumon Books
We are a big fan of the Kumon series and the tots scribble on the Kumon books daily. We had gone through many Kumon series such as Cutting*, Tracing, Mazes, Thinking to Number literacy.
For numbers, we first started with Counting with Stickers 1-10*.
When they got the hang of tracing and solving mazes, I proceed to My Book of Numbers 1-10*. The book comprising of simple and yet lovely dot-to-dot activities as well as number practice pages. The writing practices are kept minimal on each page. I find this important as it will not put off the little children from repetitive exercises on each page.
To ensure they have unlimited practices, I laminated the practice sheets so that it is reusable. This laminator* works very well for us, very forgiving on alignment errors. The wrongly aligned laminated sheet does not come out severely crumpled.
We use the Crayola Washable Markers* for writing. We tried using Crayola Dri-Erase Markers, but it seems like the washable markers are the easiest to use when it comes to wiping off the stains on the laminated worksheets and furniture.
What are your favourite maths activities for preschoolers? Share with us in the comment box below!
Supply List
Sharing the consolidated list of my supplies mentioned above.
Pom-poms*
UNO*
In case you need a plain number block template, you can get it here.
You may also be interested in the following posts:
Bingo Printables for Nursery Maths
Discovering Playgrounds: Changi Beach Park
Homeschooling the Tots – Our Body and Five Senses
Sage Formula for Preschool Chinese – My First Review and Free Printable Activities
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