Pre-School Math Activites

There are so many Pre-School Math Activities you can do that it's hard to know where to start. The idea is to play and have fun as well as teach math concepts not teach math concepts as well as play and have fun. In other words at the very early ages play and fun are the primary goal, learning math is secondary.

Here's why: we want them to associate play and fun with math from the “get go” if we have the chance. Most students like math right up until they have to learn multiplication tables, then they get turned off and end up hating math. Let's avoid that problem in the first place.

Also at this age their fine motor skills are still under development and there are plenty of activities and games to help with these. I remember showing a few games to a set of certain teachers who really liked the idea but were completely skeptical that “playing with blocks” could work to teach math even though we have reams of evidence that it does. After showing them several games and activities I know pre-schoolers love, one teacher raised her hand and seemed to say what are the other teachers were thinking because they all nodded vigorously as soon as she asked, “What's the point?”

The point is play and have fun in order to learn. The point is little kids love these games and older students also enjoy playing games to learn math. Everyone likes easy and everyone enjoys a challenge. Start with easy. There is no need to make math “hard work” for the 3 to 5 year old crowd. I'm avoiding putting expletives here.

Basic games for identifying numbers.

You can use a Numeral ID Kit from Mortensen Math. But you don't need to. Raisins, macaroni, small stones, shells, or base ten blocks work equally well. I prefer base ten blocks and macaroni...raisins tend to get eaten before the lesson is completed which is funny and creates lots of laughs and can easily be used to teach subtraction concepts. Feeding pets one or a few nuggets at a time is fun too.

They also have a "Having A Party Kit" which is great for ages 4 to 7 or so. It helps your child build tens, practice addends and more. As I write this you can get this kit on Ebay for $51.00. It usually costs $71.00 here is the link:

EBAY SALE LIMITED TIME OFFER

Link should be good until about Sept 17th 2010.

Use a “three period lesson” to introduce whatever it is ALWAYS.
1-This is
2-What's this
3-Show me.

Put It In The Cup.

Treat this as a vocabulary lesson and keep it short. I often will get out just a few of the blocks and a couple of toys and a cup. They have a duck, a boat and a one, a two and a three to choose from. Start with one they know. Put the duck in the cup. Then ask them to put the two in the cup with the duck...if they pick the two they get praise if they pick the three or something else tell them what they have. That's a three I want you to put a two in the cup. The child while figure out for themselves that what they have is not a two. Now they have three choices left. They didn't fail or get it wrong they figured out what it wasn't and can now try again.

“I haven't failed, I've found 10,000 ways that don't work” ~Thomas Alva Edison

Pretty soon everything is in the cup (or on the plate). Now, can you take out the duck? Good! Now, take out the one, etc.

When the cup is empty if they still want to play do it again...if not play again tomorrow. Once they get it right every time, it's time for new pieces. Introduce three new pieces and keep two that they “know”.

The child wants to please you, and wants praise. DO NOT say “No, that's not a two,” or “no, that's a three,” or any form of the negative whatsoever.

I had to correct some student teachers repeatedly to their chagrin and frustration who couldn't seem to get it in their fat heads: tell them what they have not what they don't have, tell them what it is not what it isn't. Some people are so in the habit of the negative it's hard to break free of it and indeed they don't understand why you should stay positive in the first place.

“How are they ever going to learn if you don't tell them “no”?

EASIER AND BETTER, that's how.

I taught a student his ABC's before he turned three using this simple “put it in the cup” method. You only have 9 numbers to start with. Do a few at a time in short lessons...at bath time for example.

You can also use fraction tiles and learn their names, those foam letters that stick to the wall in the shower or tub work well too for ABCs and the foam numbers are great for naming the symbols but not so great for getting a feel of how many a number is. Don't forget X square, X and a unit!

Put Them In Order.

Set out blocks from one to ten, but not in order.

pic

Ordination becomes quite obvious with help. A five is “bigger” than a three...let the student put the blocks in order. Tell them the “names” of each block as they do it. When a young child looks at symbols only or is taught with symbols a 5 and a 3 look a lot a like and certainly you can't tell by looking which is bigger, in the same way you can't tell by looking at the symbol that 9 is square. Let them put the blocks in order. Be patient and ask questions if they don't get them in order right away. Does that block go there? Is there a better block than the seven to put next to the five? Etc. Start in the concrete that is, the manipulatives or blocks them move to the symbols.

You can also do this with the fractions tiles! Heck yeah! It's just vocabulary. This way they will be able to see that 1/2 is bigger than 1/3 even though 1/3 has a “three” in it. Also if you go from smallest to biggest 1/9 comes first...hmmm. This is slightly more advanced but shouldn't be left out. You don't have to wait until “fourth grade” or whatever until they see fractions. Get them familiar with fractions early on so they are not scary or hard. Again avoid the problem in the first place. I have made a ton of money teaching adults fractions...why?

Which One Is Missing?

Put out 5 blocks. Take one away and have the student tell you which is missing. Either use a Magic Math Bag or have them close their eyes or use a cloth to cover the blocks and your hand as you grab one. Make sure they can't see it so you might keep it behind your back. There a thousand variations of this game making it “harder” each time. Stay with five blocks until they get it with ease each time.

This is usually a favorite game. Add more blocks until you have all ten. Then two of each block, then three, then put a random number of each block...keep it fun. If they don't get it the first few times show them the block that is missing right away, never let them agonize over it.

We have one through six and the three is missing. They always laugh when they get it right.

Pick Up And Show Me.

Once they know the names of the pieces or with older students (or teachers) and even if they don't this is a good game to get familiar with the pieces and warm up the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Simply put the blocks out one to ten. Have the students pick up the block you call out alternating hands as they go. They cannot just use one hand and they cannot use the same hand twice in a row. Start slow and go faster and faster. Then once they get good mix them up and do it again. If you call out three and a student is holding a four say “that's a four I want three.” This shows teachers that the “NO” really can be removed from the lesson and it's just fun to play. Faster in this case is “funner.” You can also do this with fractions tiles a little later on.

Put Away Game.

Also they can learn same and “sameness” just by putting blocks back in the top tray. Put all the sixes away...count them as you do it. Your just counting sixes not counting by sixes. This way they they hear it over and over again. Repetition is the mother of skill and memory. It's also fun fiinding and sorting the blocks. Find all the sixes. Each time they find one or put one in say “six,”
“there's a six”
“and another six” and so on (nine times)...won't be long before they know the purple one is a six. Do this for all the blocks.

Once they know the names of the blocks pattern multiplication as they put them away.

Here you see all the sevens are in, all but one six, a couple of eights and a couple of fives...when this shot was taken the student was looking for the last six. Even putting away the blocks can be "instructional" and a learning experience if you do it with purpose.

"There's a way to do better... find it." ~Thomas Alva Edison