Fun and Engaging Preschool Math Lesson Plans

Exposure to foundational math concepts at a young age can set preschoolers up for success in school and beyond. But how can you make math fun and engaging for young learners? I am excited to share tons of resources to create effective preschool math lesson plans. Read on to help set yourself up for a great year of preschool math!

Math is all around us, from counting toys to recognizing natural shapes. By introducing preschoolers to math concepts playfully, you can help them develop important skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, and spatial reasoning. These skills will benefit them throughout their academic career and beyond.

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Preschool lesson plans are a fantastic tool for introducing your child to the most important learning concepts during their early years. They provide a framework for engaging activities and ensure a well-rounded math curriculum throughout the year. 

But don’t worry about creating everything from scratch! We’ve got you covered. Here, you’ll find free math activities to keep your preschoolers excited to explore the world of numbers, shapes, and more!

Need a starting point? This post has everything you need to know about math lesson plans for preschoolers.

If you are looking for complete and comprehensive math lesson plans, check out our daily lessons in preschool mathematics curriculum. These plans take the guesswork out of your daily planning and will have you covered all year long!

What Does Preschool Math Include?

Preschool math is about sparking a love of learning through engaging, hands-on activities. But what exactly goes into these playful lessons? 

While building a strong foundation in number skills is crucial, preschool math offers much more than simply counting and recognizing numbers. It focuses on foundational concepts that prepare children for the exciting world of more complex math in the years ahead.

Let’s explore the key areas that make up a well-rounded preschool math curriculum:

How Do I Make Math Fun and Engaging for My Preschoolers?

Spark a love for learning in your young mathematician with playful preschool math activities. From building a block tower to sorting laundry, these playful lessons introduce young minds to essential concepts like counting, shapes, and measurement. This approach lays a strong foundation for future learning, all while fostering a love for discovery and problem-solving.

Here are some tips to make math a fun and engaging experience for preschoolers:

  • Use manipulatives: Provide children with hands-on materials like blocks, counters, and play dough to help them visualize and understand math concepts.
  • Incorporate movement: Get children moving with math activities that involve singing, dancing, or following directions.
  • Connect math to everyday life: Point out math concepts in everyday routines, such as counting stairs or setting the table.
  • Make it a game: Turn math practice into a game with flashcards, board games, or apps designed for preschoolers.
  • Keep it short and sweet: Preschoolers have short attention spans, so keep math activities short and focused.
Fun and Engaging Preschool Math Lesson Plans | How to make Math fun and engaging for preschoolers | What to include in preschool Math curriculum | Preschool Math Activities

What Is Included in Preschool Math Curriculum?

A well-rounded preschool math curriculum should cover various topics and incorporate a mix of activities to keep children engaged. 

My Daily Lessons in Mathematics Comprehensive Curriculum offers a treasure trove of age-appropriate activities that use play and interaction to introduce math skills to preschoolers. Each activity is tailored to preschoolers’ development and covers all five disciplines of early math. Your children will have a blast while building a strong foundation in math!

Here’s a glimpse into what my preschool math curriculum includes, and what you should typically find in a comprehensive complete preschool math curriculum:

  • Comparing and Sorting. This unit introduces the concept of classifying objects based on shared characteristics like color, size, or shape. Activities might involve sorting toys, building blocks according to size, or creating collages with different-colored materials.
  • Counting 0-5. This unit focuses on basic number recognition and counting skills from 0 to 5. It might include activities like singing counting songs, fingerplays, and games that involve manipulating objects to practice counting.
  • Shapes. Children will explore the world of shapes through hands-on activities like building with blocks, sorting shapes by color or size, and creating art projects featuring different shapes.
  • Counting 0-10. Building on the skills learned in the previous unit, this unit expands counting practice to include numbers from 0 to 10. Activities might involve counting objects in everyday situations, playing board games that involve counting or using manipulatives like counting bears.
  • Positions & Patterns. This unit introduces spatial concepts like up/down, front/back, and left/right. It also explores recognizing and replicating simple patterns using objects, movements, or sounds. Activities might involve following directions, incorporating positions, completing simple puzzles, or creating beading patterns.
  • Counting 0-20. This unit further strengthens counting skills by extending the range from 0 to 20. Activities might involve counting steps, playing counting games, or using number lines to visualize counting sequences.
  • Measurement. Through everyday objects, children will be introduced to basic measurement concepts like length, height, and capacity. Activities might involve using rulers to measure objects, comparing the height of toys, or using cups to measure the amount of water.
  • Graphing. This unit introduces the concept of data representation using simple graphs and charts. Activities might involve creating bar graphs to represent favorite colors or recording the results of a simple dice game.
  • Addition & Subtraction. The final unit introduces the beginning stages of addition and subtraction through hands-on activities and manipulatives. Children will explore concepts like “more” and “less” as they understand basic mathematical operations.

Preschool Math Activities

Sparking a love of math in preschoolers is about making it fun and engaging! The key is to tap into young children’s natural curiosity by using hands-on activities that fit their development. An ideal curriculum spirals back to introducing new concepts while reinforcing old ones. This systematic approach ensures steady progress.

Here are some engaging activities to incorporate into your preschool math lesson plans:

SHAPES

This unit is a shape adventure! Preschoolers will become shape detectives, learning to identify circles, squares, triangles, and more. They’ll discover how many sides and corners each shape has and practice matching shapes together. We’ll even challenge them to find shapes hiding in unusual positions, like upside down or sideways!

Here are some fun shape activities for preschoolers:

SORTING

Your preschoolers will have all “sorts” of sorting fun with this important math theme. There are many objects to sort and ways to approach sorting skill development. You can have your preschoolers sort by colors, sizes, shapes, like objects and more. Most sorting activities also offer wonderful fine motor practice, which is also extremely important in the preschool years. Win-win!

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PATTERNS

Patterning skills include basic spatial concepts like “up/down”, “front/back” and “left/right”. Through hands-on activities, children will learn to recognize and replicate simple patterns. You will also notice how exciting it is when your preschoolers notice that the world around them is full of patterns!

GRAPHING

Graphing is a fun part of the larger skill area of data analysis. I love using graphing activities that relate personally to my preschoolers. It’s fun and easy to have them graph some of their favorites. Some examples of this include favorite color, favorite animal, favorite food, favorite apple type (with taste-testing during a fall theme!) and more. Using “data” from the preschoolers’ own lives helps make graphing relevant and FUN!

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MEASUREMENT

Learning about measurement is fun and super easy. For preschoolers, we often use simple objects like blocks or even their hands and feet, to see how big, tall, or full things are. It’s important for preschoolers to learn words like “more” and “less” to compare things, preparing for even cooler math later. Once you start teaching measurement, you might just find your preschoolers measuring all around the room!

COUNTING

This unit strengthens students’ numeracy abilities from 0 to 20 through various engaging counting activities. Each week offers a mix of printable exercises, exploration of counting concepts, and stories or songs to reinforce learning. Activities target specific skills, such as counting to 20, recognizing numbers, and tracing numerals.

Check out these posts for more fun and engaging math activities for preschool!

Allowing preschoolers to explore math concepts in a fun and engaging way can ignite a lifelong love of learning. It is my hope that the information and resources provided here have given you a roadmap to create effective preschool math lesson plans.

Always keep in mind the importance of building a strong foundation in math through play and exploration. Learning through play should always be a primary focus in the preschool years. Be sure to use lots of manipulatives, sensory experiences, movement, games, and to connect math to everyday life. Keeping it fun will help your preschoolers embrace mathematics as an exciting part of their learning and development.

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