5 Math Skills My Preschooler is Mastering this Season + How I am Teaching Them

🧮 Core Skill Focus Areas

1. Counting & Number Fluency

• Activity Ideas:

  • Practice counting forward 1–30 daily in playful ways (marching, clapping, whispering, roaring like a dinosaur, etc.)

  • Play "Missing Number" games (you say: "13, 14, __, 16" and they fill in).

  • Count backward from 10 in a fun way (like "rocket countdowns").

• Why:

  • Deepens number sense and sequence memory

  • My preschooler skips over 16, this will help rejoin that number

2. Intro to Addition Through Hands-On Play

• Activity Ideas:

  • Build It Together: Use teddy bears, blocks, or snacks. Example: "Let's put 2 crackers here and 3 crackers here. How many all together?"

  • Story Problems with Toys: Act out simple "join" stories with stuffed animals or action figures. ("Two puppies came to play. Three more puppies came. How many puppies now?")

• Why:

  • Building mental flexibility

  • Grounding addition in real, visual experiences

3. Environmental Shape Exploration

• Activity Ideas:

  • Shape Hunt: Around the house or outside, find circles, rectangles, etc. ("Let’s find 3 rectangles!")

  • Photo Journal: Take pictures or draw quick sketches of shapes you find (e.g., windows = rectangles).

• Why:

  • Shifts shapes from abstract to concrete

  • Prepares brain for geometry later

4. Shape Drawing and Number Writing Readiness

• Activity Ideas:

  • Tracing with Objects: Make shapes out of string, playdough, or Wikki Stix — then finger-trace the shape.

  • Big Air Tracing: Use whole arm motions to "draw" giant shapes in the air.

  • Sand or Salt Tray: Write simple shapes or numbers with a finger (very low-pressure, sensory-based).

• Why:

  • Builds pre-writing motor memory

  • Strengthens the small muscles without formal handwriting yet

5. Sorting, Classifying, and Early Data Skills

• Activity Ideas:

  • Sort by 2 attributes: ("Let's find all the red AND small things.")

  • Make simple graphs: ("Let's graph how many blue vs. yellow blocks we have.")

• Why:

  • Encourages logical thinking

  • Develops visual discrimination and early graph understanding

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