6 Fun, Preschool Math Activities
6 Fun, Preschool Math Activities
Math doesn’t have to be intimidating. In fact, it can actually be fun, and these six activities can help you introduce your child to many different concepts including counting, sorting, patterns, and geometric shapes. Ready to get started? Enlist the help of food, stuffed animals, socks, and more.
1. Count with food.
Snack time, dinner time, lunch-prep time — any time works for counting food! Ask your child to put five baby carrots and five apple slices on a plate for snack. Have your child add three meatballs to each family member’s dinner plate of spaghetti. And when it’s time to get tomorrow’s lunch ready, take out two containers or bags and ask your child to put two graham crackers in one, and eight cubes of cheese in the other.
2. Sort stuffed animals into groups.
What do Bob the bear and Harry the horse have in common? They’re both brown! Help your child sort stuffed animals into different groups. First, sort by color. Then, encourage your child to think about where different animals live in the wild, and sort by habitat. You can also sort by number of legs, size, tail vs. no tail, pointy ears vs. floppy ears, and more.
3. Create patterns.
Use colored blocks, plastic bears, or other small items to introduce your child to the concept of patterns. Have your child make a pile of red blocks while you make a pile of yellow. Then, lay a yellow one down on the table, ask your child to follow with red, and repeat. Explain the yellow, red, yellow, red sequence to your child and switch it up with other colors. Once you’ve got the basics down, you can move on to something a little harder, such as yellow, yellow, red, yellow, yellow, red.
4. Match socks.
Do you dread the laundry-day sock pile? Ask your child to help you find each sock’s match. If you need to simplify it, start by dividing the socks into smaller piles based on who wears them. As your child goes through each pile, there might be four blue socks that look pretty similar or a slew of black socks with barely-noticeable differences. Point out the polka dots on a blue sock or draw attention to the grey stripes on a black sock…and ask your child to find the ones that match. 
5. Go on a shape hunt around the house and outside.
Work with your child to draw a circle, oval, square, rectangle, triangle, diamond, star, and heart on a sheet of paper. Then, walk around your house, the backyard, the neighborhood, or a nearby park and look for these shapes in different rooms, on street signs, on houses and buildings, and in nature — and make sure to name each shape as you go.
6. Use measuring cups and spoons in the kitchen.
On your mark, get set, bake! Not only is cooking fun, it’s educational and usually results in something delicious. Start with a simple recipe, such as bread, pizza dough, cookies, or soup. Read the recipe out loud and talk about the different measurements. When it’s time to add one cup of flour or one teaspoon of salt, help your child pick out the right measuring cup and spoon and fill them up.
Whether you want to build on a concept your child is learning in preschool, your child has started asking about different shapes, or you simply need interesting ideas you can turn to during downtime, take advantage of these math activities you can do at home.
To read the original article click here
Click here and enjoy this video: Counting with Lids!
Click here for many videos for you and your child to play at home!
The Nerves…
for appropriate clothes. For lunch time we now needed a lunchbox with ice packs. There was something about a one-year-old with a lunchbox that made me feel like we were sending him off to college.
The following information is important to teach to children and reiterated through the water safety program:
always be utilized while in the water. Life jackets should be properly fitted in order to keep your child’s head and face above water. Remember, life jackets only work when they are worn, so make sure your child gets in the routine of putting one on every time they get near the water. Important: As fun as water wings and inflatable toys may be, they don’t provide the same support as a U.S. Coastguard approved life jacket.
Swimming 
dangerous situation arises. Stress the importance of staying away from pool drains and suction fittings in order to have a fun, safe swimming experience.
Brains On
discoveries. For example, the 
Fun Kids Science Weekly
Many New Year’s resolutions focus on developing healthy habits. Here’s one that is important to make and keep: provide a regular diet of books and reading for your preschooler.
be a part of ensuring your preschooler gets 20 minutes of being read to each day.
During the preschool and kindergarten years, children begin to develop and learn new skills through play. Play encourages all the important areas of development. It includes social, emotional, physical, communication/language and cognitive development. This refers 
to learning to question, problem-solve, learn about spatial relationships. In addition, they acquire knowledge through imitation, memory, number sense, classification, and symbolic play.
It’s easy for children to be smitten with the magic of the holidays. Fun presents. Extra sweets. A vacation from school—there’s a lot to like. But with the freedom and excess of the season, sometimes kids can get a little carried away. For most families, there will be a point when the kids get overtired and cranky, or greedy about presents. Or would rather play a video game than talk to Grandma. Here are some tips to keep kids happy and ready to enjoy whatever the season brings.
giving presents can be just as rewarding as getting them. We shouldn’t wait to teach that lesson to our children. Even when kids are too young to buy a present, they can still make one. Or help you pick out something. Some of my best holiday memories are of helping my father look for the perfect gift for Mom. Also, combing the mall to look for presents with my siblings as we got older.
At family gatherings when they notice the kids are “getting antsy,” psychologist Rachel Busman says she and her sister did the following. They would give them their baths, get them into pajamas, and turn on a movie. “We know when they need to wind down, we won’t be judged for excusing ourselves from the table to do these things,” she says.
Thanksgiving is around the corner. It is a holiday and an expression of gratitude. Here are some tips to teach our kids gratitude and to practice thanksgiving all year round!
Thanksgiving food and other things.
Mix whatever shaped cooked pasta you like with some mixed veggies. Once it’s cooked mix in some tinned tuna or other fish, a drizzle of olive oil and some dried oregano – serve it hot or cold. Delicious and so simple!
Slice It Right
Pita-Butter and Jelly
Mindfulness Practice for Preschoolers Connecting Kids to Nature
Today we will be like the tree, the wind and the sun.
