When preschoolers have a good foundation of math skills, they have a better chance of grasping more difficult math problems in elementary school. Three- and four-year-old children usually learn shapes, patterns, sorting, counting, number identification, and directional words. How can you help your child with these math concepts? Most preschool children aren’t interested in math worksheets or flashcards.  Preschoolers learn by playing and interacting with the world around them. You can help your child learn by making math concepts fun and sneaking math into your child’s life every day.

Shapes are one of the first math concepts children learn. Your preschooler may know basic shapes, such as circle, triangle, and square. Reinforce this knowledge by asking your child to find these shapes in the world. One way to do this is with a shape walk. Ask your child to identify as many shapes as possible as you walk. You can take photos of the shapes you see and review them later. Try to find at least one shape your child is unfamiliar with, such as an octagon on a stop sign.

Patterning is another important math skill for preschoolers. Help your child learn to make patterns at snack time. Give them two kinds of snacks, such as cereal and raisins. Show your child how you can make a pattern of cereal, raisin, cereal, raisin. Ask, “What comes next?” This is a standard AB pattern. Once your child understands this concept, you can make patterns more complicated. You can string three colours of beads on a necklace, such as red, yellow, green, red, yellow, green. Show your child how this ABC pattern repeats.

Sorting can be a fun math activity for preschoolers. There are many opportunities for sorting during a preschooler’s day. When you are cooking dinner, ask your child to sort silverware into forks or spoons. Have your child sort blocks by size, colour, or both. Children may enjoy sorting small plastic toys, stuffed animals, or toy cars.

Counting is one of the most important math concepts for preschoolers. Count everyday items as often as possible, such as pieces of broccoli on your child’s plate. Ask if your preschooler can count how many pictures are on a wall. At the grocery store, let your child fill a bag with three apples. Before starting kindergarten, most children can count objects to at least 10. If this is easy for your child, challenge them to count as many objects as they can, such as coins or paperclips.

Number identification can be difficult for some preschoolers. Help your child recognize numbers by pointing them out whenever you see them. Some places to find numbers are digital clocks, calendars, prices in stores, and books. Draw numbers in a sandbox with your finger, or write them on the sidewalk with chalk. When your child is playing with clay, make numbers with the clay and ask your child to identify the number.

Directional words, such as over, under, above, next to, and behind, are also an important math concept. You can use a child’s favourite toy to teach this. For example, “Where is the bear? Is he under the blanket?” Move the toy around to demonstrate “behind,” “in front of,” “next to,” and “above”. You child can have fun moving the toy around too.

You can help your preschooler learn math concepts by sneaking math into your child’s life in fun ways. Teach your child shapes, patterning, sorting, counting, number recognition, and directional words, and he or she will be ready to learn more complicated math in kindergarten and beyond.