As much as I truly believe that young children learn best through play…my littles love sitting down and doing “work”! I think it makes them feel grown-up…So in a sense, it’s truly an extension of their imagination and play! When they are doing their “work,” I want them to experience success and joy–this should be fun and not frustrating! Today I’m sharing FREE Preschool Math Worksheets to help your kiddos practice counting and recognizing the numbers 1-5! Let’s make the learning (and working) fun!
Learn Counting Through Play
Before giving my twins these worksheets, we spent some time playing to practice their counting skills!
Here are two of my very favorite counting games for kids!
1. The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel: (I adore this game…It’s on my Must-Have Preschool Toys List!)
2. Shelby’s Snack Shack: (This is a new one for us…My twins are obsessed with Disney’s Puppy Dog Pals–so this game is perfect! Plus–I love that it specifically works on identifying and counting the numbers one through five!)
Shelby’s Snack Shack is a great way to set the stage for a lesson about the numbers 1-5–so that’s what we did! It’s so dang cute!!
The goal is to have the most bones in your bowl at the end of the game! (But you have to watch out for a seagull or hungry friends that can take your bones–this can cause both giggles and tears with my twins…)
Apply the Learning
After we played the game (and of course, had a rematch)–we got out my new puppy worksheets! These are intended to be used in a very flexible way & creative way! The instructions say to use dough or cut-outs for counting–but you do you! These are just ideas to get you started! Today we decided to use craft pom-poms, which we pretended were dog food. The girls needed to feed each puppy the right amount!
Then the girls practiced counting the puppy paws and identifying the corresponding numeral. It was fun to see their confidence grow through the lesson! We kept all this short and sweet–just lots of encouragement and celebrating!
And finally, the girls colored their puppies…which may have been their favorite part!
The worksheet set includes the same format with kittens and a girl painter–so we’ll get to keep practicing another day! Grab your copy in my free subscriber resource library! If you’re not already a subscriber–I’d love to have you! Sign-up below to get your Free Preschool Math Worksheets!
Learning is Fun
Remember to keep the learning gentle and fun–no math tears! And don’t be surprised or discouraged if one day your little one knows all the things (because of course–they are a genius and math prodigy), but then the next day stares at you like they’ve never counted before…(Numbers, what are those?) Honestly–it’s all good! Model corrections gently & don’t worry–they will get it! Keep playing and laughing and learning together!
With Love,
Jen xo
