As with all areas of learning, your preschoolers learn about math through everyday experiences. Have you noticed how quickly he can figure out that there may not be enough cupcakes for everyone at the birthday party? Though he may not know it, that’s math in action!
As caregivers and teachers, it’s our job to make preschoolers aware of math in their daily lives. To promote your preschooler’s math skills, provide an environment that is filled with basic math concepts. Supply toys, books, and art projects with shapes and numbers.
Math and Everyday Play
Your preschoolers practice the following math concepts during play:
- Number awareness (beginning to recognize the written numbers 1 through 10)
- Number concepts (beginning to understand that numbers represent amounts)
- Sorting
- Patterns
- Shapes
- One-to-one correspondence
- Space
- Problem-solving
- Time
- Comparing
- Ordinal numbers: first, second, third, and so on
- Concepts of big, bigger, biggest or small, smaller, smallest
Can you see the potential for math in the picture above? Sorting? Comparing? Counting? Problem-solving? Patterns? Ordinal numbers? More?
There are many ways to encourage math skills in your home or classroom. Display the numbers 1 through 10 (and higher) on the wall, and frequently name the numbers aloud as you point to them. In dramatic play areas, include props with numbers, such as food labels, menus, and safe thermometers. In the math or science area, place a set of large index cards with the numbers 1 through 10. Draw shapes, such as circles, squares, and rectangles, on the cards to show how many objects represent each number. For example, the “2” card will show two circles. These cards will help your preschoolers to use the cards as a counting reference during play. These aren’t meant to be flashcards! Please do not quiz your preschoolers in this manner…that’s another blog, but please don’t do it and trust me about this.
Interactive Math
Interactive, guided teaching will greatly improve your preschoolers’ skills. For example, count with your children often! When lining up to go outside every day, count the children in line. Touch their shoulders as you count them, and ask them to count along. Point to the numbers on the calendar as you count the number of days in the month or the number of days until a certain holiday.
Group Counting
Use your number cards to play an interactive counting game. Ask four children to stand in front of your class, and count the students aloud. Choose another child to hold the “4” card, and ask the class to count with you as you count the four children again. Repeat this activity, changing the number of children each time. When your preschoolers have played this game several times, ask them to count the groups of children and to choose the correct number card without your help.
Matching and Sorting
To help your preschoolers become pros at matching and sorting, give them opportunities to practice. You can also give each preschooler a personal symbol that combines a color and a shape—these symbols will reinforce matching and sorting concepts. For example, in a class of 16 preschoolers, you could combine four different shapes (circle, square, rectangle, and triangle) and four different colors (yellow, blue, green, and red) to make 16 unique symbols (red circle, red square, blue square, and so on). To enhance your preschoolers’ literacy skills, write their names on their individual symbols.
Help your preschoolers remember where their supplies belong by attaching the symbols to their cubbies, their places at the table, their places on the floor during group activities, and their personal supply boxes. Tape their symbols on the floor in front of the door as they line up to go outside. Use the symbols in group matching and sorting games. For example, ask all the “blues” to stand on one foot, or ask all of the “circles” to hop like bunnies. In addition to boosting math skills, these personal symbols are a valuable tool for managing your classroom.
It’s about Time!
Though preschoolers typically will not be able to read a clock, learning about past, present, and future is important at this age. Throughout the day, talk about daily activities in terms of past, present, and future. For example, say, “We’ve just played a fun game. Now, we’ll put on our coats. Then, we’ll line up at the door to go outside.” Understanding time sequences is important groundwork for learning to tell time. When your preschoolers know what to expect throughout the day, you will see fewer behavior problems during transition times. Knowing what to expect will also help your preschoolers to feel secure.
National Association for the Education of Young Children’s Mathematics Position Statement: http://www.naeyc.org/positionstatements/mathematics
Science and Everyday Play
Science skills are closely related to math skills. Encourage your preschooler to solve problems every day, and provide toys that must be poked, pulled, twisted, or opened to work. Plan activities that help your preschooler explore these concepts:
- The body
- Problem solving
- Observing
- Sorting
- Comparing
- Mixing
- The environment (temperature, light, color, texture)
- Cause and effect
- Experimenting
Consider this list of skills as you watch your preschooler at play. Your preschooler is learning about her body when you sing “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.” At clean-up time, she learns about sorting and cause and effect. (When she sorts her toys quickly, she can go outside faster.) She compares light and dark when she watches her friend’s shadow on the sidewalk. She knows that the class must mix different ingredients to make her favorite green gak. When she places ice cubes in a water-filled sensory table, she begins to learn about the laws of her natural environment, such as how heat affects cold. She learns how to make a tricycle work by pressing her feet on the pedals. When she feeds the house or classroom pet, she is learning about animals and the needs of all living things.
Introduce science topics during your large-group time. Read age appropriate factual children’s books about nature and animals. Take your preschoolers outside to observe the ants’ activity, or to look and listen for birds. Find creative ways to include science in every learning area in your classroom or home!
WARNING: please be considerate of the age of your preschoolers. 3-5 year old children are at a developmental level that is different from 6-8 year olds therefore they may not be able to handle some graphic science ideas such as exploring the body of a dead bird they found on the playground. Please check out the blogs on these developmental theories: cognitive development, psycho-social development, and moral development. Please think of these developmental stage theories and what the children in your care can handle as individuals!
National Association for the Education of Young Children’s Science Position Statement: http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/Early%20Childhood%20FINAL%20FINAL%201-30-14%20%281%29.pdf