Back to School Math Activities for Preschoolers

It’s back to preschool time, which means time to welcome a new class of faces, as well as a new set of preschool skills. This post is all about math activities for preschoolers to use during the first days of school so you can gauge what math skills your preschoolers have at the start of a new year.

Hands On Math Activities for Back to School Theme

As the summer comes to a close and preschoolers prepare to head back to school, many educators are looking for ways to review math concepts. After all, preschool is an important time for developing foundational skills in all areas, including math.

When adding math activities to our preschool and kindergarten lesson plans during the first week of school, we have to consider some of the following.

• Does my preschooler have number recognition skills?
• Can they practice counting on their own?
• Do they count with one-to-one correspondence?
• Can they order numbers?
• Do they work with fine motor skills?

These are just some of the questions I ask myself when getting a fresh group of young children in my preschool classroom. Typically, a new group of preschoolers will have an incredibly wide variety of math skills, so simple math activities for preschoolers can provide a lot of insight the first few weeks of school.

FAQ About Teaching Math to Preschoolers

The Ultimate Guide to Teaching Number Sense in Preschool

The Ultimate Guide to Teaching One to One Correspondence

Preschool Counting Activities Using Crayon Counting Cards

These learning activities are just the right thing to add to your back to school activities for preschoolers. Be sure to grab your free printable at the end of this post.

Materials

• free crayon counting cards
• box of crayons to use as counting manipulatives

The Set Up

The set up is simple. Just print the crayon counting cards in color on heavy card stock. Laminate for added durability. Cut apart the cards and place them on a tray with a set of crayons and invite your preschooler to join you in learning numbers and counting.

How to Use the Counting Cards

The more straight forward way os using these counting cards is simply by the following:

1. Draw a card.
2. Identify the number on the cards.
3. Count the number of crayons.
4. Count the corresponding number of real crayons from the tray.

Preschoolers do twice the counting with these cards. But, they are practice two different counting skills.

When counting the crayons printed on the cards, preschoolers are counting a set. However, pulling a specific quantity of crayons from a larger set is a different counting skill. Both are important for developing number sense.

Teach Addition and Subtraction to Preschoolers with Counting Cards

These cards also include =, -, and = signs. These can be used for teaching addition to preschoolers, and for those who are ready, subtraction, too.

For this, you will want to separate the cards into higher and lower numbers, and possibly remove some of the larger numbers. Most preschoolers can learn to add and subtraction up to five before entering kindergarten, but it is not a required skill.

1. Draw a card and lay it on the table.
2. Place a + or – sign next.
3. Draw a second card. (If practicing subtraction, make sure the first number is larger).
4. Place the = card next.
5. Invite your preschooler to identify the numbers in the layout and count out a set of crayons to solve.

Related Reading

Ultimate Guide to Teaching Addition and Subtraction to Preschoolers

Counting in Preschool – Part 2 of Number Sense Guide

Get Your Free Crayon Counting Cards Here

These counting cards can be sued during small group work, but you can also add them to your preschool math centers. And of course, keep them with your back to school theme activities!

More Back to School Activities for Preschoolers

Free Lesson Plans for Back to School

First Week of School Activity for Preschoolers – Safe Greetings Cube

Free Safe Greetings Mini Book

Math Lesson Plans for Preschoolers