Math Activities For Preschoolers

According to Susan Levine, math development expert, by incorporating math activities for preschoolers into everyday life, children can develop math excellence. Here are 5 ways to create a math wiz with simple math activities for preschoolers:

Talk Numbers: Counting can become part of most discussions by simple asking ‘How Many?” Count buttons, crackers, vegetables, raisins and more.

Spatial relations: Spatial thinking is important in math activities for preschoolers. Talk to your preschooler about length, height and shapes. With shapes, talk about sides, edges and curves. For height, simple questions about siblings or friends will do the trick – “Who is taller, you or your brother?”

Use Your Hands: Use hand gestures to promote numerical and spatial skills. It is important to point, while counting. This will help your preschooler associate a number with each object.

Puzzle Play: Playing with blocks and puzzles will help develop children’s spatial thinking and math skills. According to The Children’s Development Institute, children learn to work directly with their environment and change its shape and appearance when they work with puzzles. Puzzels are great for hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills and memory.

Board Games: Play numerical board games where you roll a die or spin a spinner. When you move your piece a certain number of spaces along a path, be certain to count all the way along!

Teach My Preschooler Math offers a head start in adding and subtracting from 0-5 and plenty of math activities for preschoolers. Just 20 minutes a day with the award winning Teach My Preschooler tools and your little one can master math for preschoolers. Use the flip book, poster, foam counters and foam numbers together to master early math skills and enjoy fun, educational play. The set has everything to give a head start!

Kindergarten Readiness Checklist

We have compiled a kindergarten readiness checklist, with the help of Icanteachmychild.com,  Education.com and Stacey Kannenberg’s book – Let’s Get Ready For Kindergarten.

With back-to-school and education on everyone’s mind, do you find yourself asking the question: “What should my preschooler know for kindergarten?

Our list covers simple academic skills your preschooler should know before entering kindergarten. Every kindergarten may look for different skills and skill levels but the list below provides a simple baseline.

Apart from personal, social and physical development, preschoolers should know the following academic skills as part of a kindergarten readiness checklist:

READING

1. Show an interest in books & reading
2. Hold & turn pages correctly
3. Recite the alphabet
4. Match and identify upper & lowercase letters
5. Talk about letters throughout the day

PRINTING

1. Can use crayons & pencils
2. Uses scribbles, shapes and letter-like symbols to write words & ideas
3. Uses pictures to communicate ideas
4. Practice name writing

MATH

1. Can identify basic shapes like circle, triangle, square, oval, diamond
2. Can match numerals
3. Can count objects to 10
4. Can begin to count to 100

Fill in the gaps on the kindergarten readiness checklist with Teach My Preschooler, the multi award-winning all-in-one learning kit for preschoolers 3-6 yrs. The kit is divided into four sections to teach your preschooler Reading, Printing, Numbers to 100, Adding and Subtracting.

Screen-free, the kit has an assortment of everything necessary for teaching preschoolers the basics. Full of activities for preschoolers, the kit has fully-coordinated books, flashcards, posters, a print guide and magic drawing board, all in a case. Developed with education consultant, Judith Rowlands, M Ed., Teach My Preschooler is designed to give preschoolers a head start, develop fine motor skills, encourage parent/child interaction and increase school readiness skills.

SCIENCE FOR PRESCHOOLERS

Many parents and early childhood educators shy away from science for preschoolers. With STEM careers on the rise, it is important to introduce science for preschoolers early.

Liz Barclay, head of the National Child Research Center says learning science can begin almost immediately. “I am a big believer in the fact that the scientist is awakened in the crib,” says Barclay, emphasizing that basic senses unlock the first forms of scientific inquiry. “Tasting, touching, hearing — these are all the beginnings of self- discovery.” Once children reach preschool age, they are able to wrap language around that sense of self-discovery.

It can be a bit daunting but here are 4 super cool ideas that encourage science for preschoolers:

Biology: What better way to introduce science for preschoolers than growing beans in a CD case. This is a brilliant idea from Two Busy Brunettes. It is so simple, inexpensive yet effective! Hope you all have some old CD cases lying around!

Physics: Just when you thought physics would be a hard concept to introduce to a preschooler! Reading Confetti makes it so easy with these great sports ball science activities.

Chemistry: Have fun with vinegar & baking soda. Child Central Station mixes up the fun with an introduction to basic chemistry and science for preschoolers.

Astronomy: Looking to introduce science for preschoolers and astronomy, then Teach My Preschooler The Solar System is a great place to start. The coordinated set introduces your child to the basics of the solar system. Using a matching book, puzzle, poster and flashcards, Teach My showcases the sun and nine planets that rotate around the sun (incl. Pluto, The Dwarf Planet) In order to simplify The Solar System for little ones, we have highlighted one characteristic for each planet and each planet’s place within the solar system.

Books For Preschoolers

When encouraging your child to learn to read, be sure to pick books for preschoolers that match their interests. Also, it sounds obvious but when you are reading aloud with your preschooler, use your index finger to point out capital letters, words, punctuation marks in books for preschoolers. Explain that reading starts from left to right and top to bottom on the page.

According to research by Shayne Piasta, assistant professor of teaching and learning at Ohio State University, preschool children whose teachers used print references during storybook reading showed more advanced reading skills one and even two years later when compared to children whose teachers did not use such references.

Here are some classic books for preschoolers to read aloud:

1. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
2. The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf
3. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr
4. Chicken Soup With Rice by Maurice Sendak
5. The Complete Adventures Of Curious George by Margret & H.A. Rey
6. Caps For Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina
7. Make Way For Duckling by Robert McCloskey
8. The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss
9. The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown
10. Swimmy by Leo Lionni

Using our list of books for preschoolers, try making a game out of it; call your index finger the ‘magic reading finger’, anything to make reading more fun for your little one! For some parents and caregivers, it is a small change that could make a huge difference!

Teach My Preschooler Learning Kit has some of the best books for preschoolers. Including 10 Readers, a Numbers 1-100 book and Addition and Subtraction books, the multi award-winning all-in-one learning kit for preschoolers covers the basics. The kit is divided into four sections to teach preschoolers Reading, Printing, Numbers 1 to 100, Adding and Subtracting. Requiring no batteries or DVDs, the kit has everything necessary for teaching preschoolers. Full of pre k activities and teaching how to read, the kit has fully-coordinated books, flashcards, posters, a print guide and magic drawing board, all in a case.