Building Early Foundations: Math for Preschoolers
Math for preschoolers often focuses on counting, number recognition, and basic shapes, leaving many other foundational skills underemphasized. Through deliberate preschool math activities in addition to play, young children begin forming ideas about numbers, patterns, and spatial relationships. These early experiences help shape later success in math.
While math is naturally occurring through play in early childhood, fully child-led, hands-on exploration alone isn’t enough. Children also need guidance from adults to expand and deepen their understanding. Both independent play and intentional instruction are essential. In this post, we’ll explore why early math skills matter, highlight core preschool math concepts, and share practical strategies to support preschool math.
While counting and shapes are important, they’re just skimming the top of what should me included in math for preschoolers. Preschool is a golden opportunity to introduce preschoolers to the rich tapestry of mathematical concepts through both play-based math activities as well as formal preschool math skills teaching.
It’s important to remember that the key to teaching math in preschool is making it fun, hands-on, and relevant to a child’s everyday experiences. They should be developmentally appropriate.
These early math skills provide a strong foundation for more complex mathematical concepts as children progress through their education.
What Math Looks Like in Preschool
To effectively nurture preschoolers’ mathematical abilities, it’s crucial to understand the five key disciplines of math and how they apply to this age group.
- Number Sense
- Number sense forms the bedrock of mathematical understanding.
- Number sense skills include: concepts of counting, recognizing numerals, and understanding basic numerical relationships.
- Geometry and Spatial Sense
- Preschoolers are like budding architects and artists, exploring shapes, sizes, and spatial relationships.
- Activities involving shape recognition, block play, and even tangrams can nurture their geometric understanding.
- Measurement
- Although it might seem basic, measurement is a fundamental skill preschoolers can grasp through hands-on exploration.
- Measurement skills include: comparing the length of sticks, weiging objects with scales, and exploring concepts like heavy and light, big and small.
- Algebraic Patterns & Sorting
- Patterns and sorting skills both fall under the algebraic strand of math.
- Patterning skills include recognizing, creating, and extending patterns.
- Sorting skills include matching, comparing, sorting, ordering, and classifying.
- Data Analysis
- Preschoolers can begin to gather and interpret simple data in the form of graphing.
- Preschool graphing skills include measuring data and using graphs and charts to analyze data.
How to Teach Math to Preschoolers
Teachers leverage children’s inherent curiosity to explore and comprehend the world using mathematics.
They capitalize on preschoolers’ natural and informal encounters with math concepts, offering them the language and tools to articulate those concepts. Essentially, teachers integrate math into children’s daily experiences.
That said, just as mathematical concepts build upon one another, so should math lesson plans. Preschool math curriculum should offer sequential and systematic instruction in the five disciplines of math stated above.
The Daily Lessons in Preschool Mathematics Curriculum is a spiraling preschool math curriculum. It revisits and reinforces previously taught concepts, ensuring that students continuously build and retain their math skills. This approach is possible because the math concepts follow a sequenced progression of skills.
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Why Play-Based Math Works
Play-based math helps children build deep, lasting understanding because it connects learning to real experiences. When children explore math through play, they’re actively constructing meaning, meaning their brains care making more connections. In addition to that, this kind of play-based math encourages curiosity, problem-solving, and experimentation, all of which strengthen their grasp of early math concepts.
This approach aligns naturally with the Concrete – Pictorial – Abstract structure used in our Daily Lessons in Preschool Mathematics Curriculum. Play begins with concrete experiences, like manipulating real objects, which leans into pictorial understanding, like drawing or recognizing symbols, and finally they transition to abstract thinking, like solving equations or using number sentences, with a stronger sense of what those symbols represent.
Teaching Math to Preschoolers
Teaching math to preschoolers through a combination of printables, games, and worksheets offers a diverse and engaging learning experience.
The NAEYC recommends using various learning contexts to teach math to preschoolers, including small-group, large-group, and one on one. Printables, games, and worksheets can be used in any of those contexts.
Together, these resources create a well-rounded group of hands-on math activities that cater to different learning styles. The three approaches are carefully considered and included in the Daily Lessons Curriculum.
Easy Math Activities for Preschoolers at Home or in the Classroom
Preschool math can be simple and effective when built into everyday experiences. Whether you’re at home or in the classroom, try these easy activities:
Number Sense Activities for Preschoolers
- Exploring Counting Activities for Preschool Math
- The BIG List of Counting Activities for Preschoolers
- 12 Number Identification and Counting Activities
Number Sense Lesson Plans for Preschoolers
- Daily Lessons in Counting Preschool Math Unit Bundle
- Daily Lessons in Addition & Subtraction Preschool Math Unit
Comparing and Sorting Activities for Preschoolers
- 20+ Clever Sorting Activities for Preschoolers
- Colors and Shapes Sorting Activities for Preschoolers
- Rainbow Trees Color Sorting Activity
Comparing and Sorting Lesson Plans for Preschoolers
Shapes Activities for Preschoolers
Shapes Lesson Plans for Preschoolers
Measurement Activities for Preschoolers
- Flower Height Measurement Printable
- A Craft Measurement Pumpkin Activity
- Measurement Lesson Plans for Preschoolers
Measurement Lesson Plans for Preschoolers
Positions & Patterns Activities for Preschoolers
- Santa Patterns Christmas Math Activity
- Best Activities for Teaching Patterns to Preschoolers
- Spring Patterning Cards
Positions & Patterns Lesson Plans for Preschoolers
Graphing Activities for Preschoolers
- Graphing for Preschoolers Colors Mat
- Winter Penguins Graphing for Preschoolers
- Graphing Games for Preschool and Kindergarten
Graphing Lesson Plans for Preschoolers
PreK Math Lesson Plans
A strong preschool math curriculum blends systematic skill development with playful, hands-on learning. It follows a clear progression of developmentally appropriate concepts, helping children build understanding step by step. Read more here:
- Preschool Math Concepts
- Unlocking Preschool Math Goals
- A Guide to Teaching Preschool Math Skills
- Preschool Math Skills Checklist & Lesson Plans
This balanced approach ensures that foundational skills are introduced in a logical sequence while still allowing space for exploration and discovery, keeping math instruction in preschool both fun and meaningful.
By combining structure with play, this kind of curriculum supports both skill mastery and a genuine enjoyment of math.
Grab our Math Lesson Plans for Preschoolers Bundle
Bundle and save on preschool math lesson plans for the year!
Math Books for Kids
Picture books are a fantastic tool for teaching math concepts to preschoolers.
The colorful illustrations and engaging stories capture children’s attention while introducing important mathematical ideas in an accessible and enjoyable way.
Whether it’s counting, shapes, or basic problem-solving, these books make math come alive and encourage a love for learning. Here are our favorite math picture books for preschoolers.
- Hardcover Book
- Barton, Bethany (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- Hardcover Book
- Dotlich, Rebecca Kai (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- Morris, Suzanne (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 32 Pages – 11/05/2019 (Publication Date) – Charlesbridge (Publisher)
- Einhorn, Edward (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 32 Pages – 03/25/2014 (Publication Date) – Charlesbridge (Publisher)
- LoPresti, Angeline Sparagna (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 32 Pages – 07/01/2003 (Publication Date) – Charlesbridge (Publisher)
- Answer16 unique, colorfully illustrated math puzzles to solve
- Answers included
- Tang, Greg (Author)
- Cristaldi, Kathryn (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 40 Pages – 04/01/1996 (Publication Date) – Cartwheel Books (Publisher)
- Rougier, Ashley (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 26 Pages – 11/27/2021 (Publication Date) – Independently published (Publisher)
- Ferrie, Chris (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 26 Pages – 10/03/2017 (Publication Date) – Sourcebooks Explore (Publisher)
- Dodds, Dayle Ann (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 32 Pages – 02/03/2005 (Publication Date) – Candlewick (Publisher)
I’m Sarah, an educator turned stay-at-home-mama of five! I’m the owner and creator of Stay At Home Educator, a website about intentional teaching and purposeful learning in the early childhood years. I’ve taught a range of levels, from preschool to college and a little bit of everything in between. Right now my focus is teaching my children and running a preschool from my home. Credentials include: Bachelors in Art, Masters in Curriculum and Instruction.