Grow Your Preschooler’s Math Brain

We all cheer when our children sing the alphabet song for the first time or recite bedtime stories from memory. Parents understand how vital reading is to future school achievement.

But did you know preschool math has just as big of an impact on preschool brains? Research shows that early math ability is just as strong a predictor of future academic success as reading skills.

Fortunately, preschool math is everywhere young children live and play. Whether it’s counting goldfish during snack, sorting socks during chore time, or identifying foam numbers in the bath, here are some ways to engage little learners in the world of math.

Fun with food shapes

Shape sandwiches, fruits, crackers, cookies, and cakes with cookie cutters. Talk about the natural shapes that vegetables take. Pizzas, pancakes and cookies are circles. Many crackers are squares, rectangles and triangles. Teach your child patterns by putting several different shaped crackers together in a row. What different shapes can your child make by combining foods?

Laundry lessons

Sort the laundry by colors, family members or type of clothing (pants, skirts or shirts). Have your preschooler match the socks. If you have socks left over, introduce the concept of even and odd. Matches make even numbers; leftover socks make odd numbers.

On a roll

Card and dice games teach children how to subitize. Subitizing is the ability to look at small sets of numbers and quickly know how many numbers are in the set. An example of subitizing is automatically knowing the number when rolling dice without counting dots. This is an important skill that preschoolers will need later when they add and subtract.

• Card games to try: Crazy Eights, Old Maid and Go Fish
• Dice games to try: Beat That!, Roll and Cover, and One and Done

Not just fun and games

I know, playing Chutes and Ladders for what seems like the millionth time is not fun for adults. But it is fun for preschoolers, and in playing it, they develop some important math skills like number recognition and counting forward and backward. The number line is a powerful visual model for adding and subtracting, and Chutes and Ladders is an engaging way to use that model. Other preschooler board games that support early math skills are Hi Ho! Cherry-O and Feed the Wozzle.

Math through movement

Preschoolers love to be active, and physical exercise is a way for preschoolers to practice counting and learn directionality vocabulary. Have your preschooler count the number of jumping jacks, jump rope hops or toe touches he or she does. Play hopscotch and count the numbers as they jump.

Learning directional words such as on, over, before, between, right, left, front and back is important, too. As they exercise, have children move according to those words.

Math melodies

Goofy songs and sayings help kids remember, and preschoolers are totally into silly. Sing math songs in the car, while you swing and when you are doing chores. “Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed,” “The Ants Go Marching On” and “One, Two, Buckle My Shoe” are good examples of catchy rhyming songs that get preschoolers’ attention.

Numberock has fun math videos and songs for preschoolers and older children. If your child loves reading, many traditional math songs and rhymes are made into books.

Block power

Stacking blocks or building with Legos is a powerful way to build early math skills with preschoolers. Counting, measurement, pattern recognition and critical thinking skills that promote STEM are a few of the benefits of building with blocks.

Market math

The grocery store is stocked full of math. When you are in the produce department, help your preschooler count and weigh fruit or vegetables without going over a certain number of pounds. Explore price tags and sale tags, count the number of items you need or that are in the cart, identify foods by shape. Granted, some of the math may be too complex for a preschooler, but if they shop with you regularly, they will pick up skills as they grow.

Bubble bath math

Preschoolers often end each day in the bathtub, another place for preschool learning. Foam numerals stick to the tub walls when they are wet. Call out a number and have your child quickly identify the correct foam numeral and slap it to the tub wall. Have your preschooler practice ordering and counting the foam numerals. Add toys to the bath one-by-one and count on each toy added. Take toys out of the bath and ask your child how many toys are left. Sort toys by color, shape or size, or have your child subitize sets of toys in the water.

Math for preschoolers is foundational, but it can also be fun. Try some of these ideas and pave the way to future successes in school and beyond.

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