Spinner Math | Math Activities for Preschoolers

Inside: Are you looking for fun and engaging Math Activities for Preschoolers?  Help them problem solve, count and have fun learning through this STEAM Activity for Preschoolers. 

As we all know our little ones are like sponges.  Yet we have to be proactive in balancing the act of teacher aka mom with engaging them in learning activities as well as the freedom to explore, play and imagine.  This preschool math activity encompasses so much all in one activity.  It is one of the most simple hands on math activities for preschoolers all while teaching them fine motor skills, colors, shapes, counting, numbers, color sorting and verbalizing so much through one activity.

Math Activities for Preschoolers

Spinner Math

What you need:

Spinner
Construction Paper
Marker
Scissors
Fruit Loops

How to:

• Take your construction paper and cut it in fourths (squares).  Simply write on the top the number, then draw a circle on the same square i.e. top of the square is 5 then I drew 5 circles so she could match the circle cereal.
• Using card numbers 1-9 – take your spinner and have your preschooler spin.  What number did she land on?  Have her name the number and find the matching number card.
• Place a cereal on each circle, then have your preschooler count by pointing to each circle and saying the count OUT LOUD!

I’m a very firm believer in the child talking and saying the numbers/counting out loud.  This does wonders for connection in the brain!  Having a manipulative + counting out loud is super important in the math world for preschoolers.  I couldn’t say it any better than this great article written by School Sparks on Math and Number Awareness!  Oh the great importance for steam in early childhood education.

 

Math Activities for Preschoolers at Home – Variations

There are so many ways you can change up this one activity at home.  Consider focusing on:

1. Counting
2. Recognizing Numbers
3. Color Sorting
4. Talking about Colors
5. Talk about Shapes
6. Fine motor skills of choosing the circles or even stacking the circles.
7. Matching
8. Start with numbers 1-9 (that’s what is on our spinner)  When she grasped that, I moved onto the higher numbers and we just eliminated the spinner!

Many times when I’m brainstorming a new concept we need to learn…I simply try to look around my home and find items we already have to incorporate into our daily life to count, sort, match or talk about.  Math Activities for 3 year olds are simple…but make them fun and engaging so that it stretches their minds and creates a time of learning.

Here at our home we are huge on our activities being “STEAM Activities”.  You might be wondering what is STEAM?  Hop over here –> Everything You Need to know about STEAM Activities for Preschoolers.  I hope to explain it in a very down to earth manner as to not over think what we are doing with our children.

Lastly, I’ll break down the STEAM process for this particular Math Activity.

The STEAM process for Spinner Math 

1. Investigate: I always put the materials out in front of my preschooler and let her explore each piece.  Once I feel like she’s had the time to explore and “play” we then go into our next step…
2. Discover:  We talked about the materials.  i.e. the spinner- how it goes around, their are numbers on them…we talk about the cereal and what shape they are, what colors we have. 
3. Connect: Keep it simple!  Get your preschooler to think and talk.  I might ask her what else goes around in circles like her spinner…what other objects do you see in our home that are circles like your cereal shape.
4. Create: Next I direct her our STEAM activity.  Considering this is heavily math related I help her but then let her go for it.  If she makes a mistake…I let her…then we do it again the correct way.
5. Reflect: Again get your 3 & 4 Year olds talking!  Ask them what they learned…what can they count to?  Our little one can count to 20…but sometimes skips thirteen…so we are working on it.  Keep on keeping on!

Explore our great STEAM Activities for Preschoolers

Including engineering projects for preschoolers, problem solving activities, math activities, science experiments for preschoolers and more!

We are a husband and wife team, pairing our strengths together to teach our preschooler in the most fun and engaging way we possibly can.  The mister is a high school educator at Northlake Christian school in Covington Louisiana and over the Innovation Center, which is all things STEAM.  I am a SAHM that blogs pretty much everything we do in our little paradise, from what we eat, to where we travel to how we teach our little one.  We hope you are inspired to incorporate STEAM into learning with your children.