Easy Ways to Build Math Skills at Home

Inside: Discover how to teach toddler and preschool math skills at home with this compilation of simple to set up math activities. 

Teaching beginning math skills to your toddler or preschooler at home can seem like a daunting task.

I will admit, math in general can be daunting! But this does not mean that teaching preschool math skills has to be difficult.

There are lots of amazing ideas for ways to naturally introduce this subject at home through play.

The compilation below focuses on using common materials that you may already have at home to make the process even easier.

Bonus! Make sure to scroll down for free math printables!

Activities for Building Preschool Math Skills at Home

Counting Play Dough Mats – Print off these free counting mats for toddlers to match the number of balls of play dough to.

Fine Motor Math – Preschoolers will clip the corresponding number of clothespins onto the papers containing written or cut out numbers. (And Next Comes L)

Introducing Patterns – Use an ice tray and buttons to introduce patterns to preschoolers by having them place buttons in alternating colors into the tray. (Busy Toddler)

Fill the Cup – Roll the dice and count the correct amount of objects to put into your cup, racing to see who fills their cup first. (Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls)

Paper Cup Number Matching – Draw circles onto a piece of paper with different numbers of dots inside, and number off the bottoms of paper cups for toddlers to match together. (Fun Learning for Kids)

Q-tip Number Tracing – Toddlers will trace over written numbers using q-tips and paint. (Toddler At Play)

Introduction to Graphing – This early graphing activity involves sorting toys by color to see which color has the largest amount. (Mom Life Made Easy)

Beading and Counting – Have preschoolers thread the matching number of beads onto the pipe cleaner as the tag on the top. (Kids Activities)

Number Hunt – Hide cards with numbers in a bin for kids to search through. (Busy Toddler)

Pom-pom Numbering – Write numbers onto popsicle sticks for preschoolers to place the matching number of pom-poms onto. (Growing Hands On Kids)

Snack Counting – During snack time, have toddlers sort their snack by counting out the snack into groups. (Mybabydoo)

This activity is part of our “at-home” series!

Click on the graphic below to find over 50 more at-home ideas:

More activities:

Indoor Movement Activities

Cooking with Toddlers: Apple Muffins

Build Skills Using Stickers

Free math printables:

Check out our favorite math materials!