Combining fun with learning is the ideal way to teach young children new concepts whether you homeschool or teach in a classroom setting!
Children at this age are naturally curious and enjoy discovering new things like different shapes, patterns, letters, and numbers.
The preschool math worksheets below were designed to be an enjoyable low prep activity that introduces young children to the numbers one through ten and can be used in combination with hands on learning activities – we’ll give you a few ideas for these too.
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What Preschoolers Should Learn in Math
Here are a few math concepts that children between the ages of three and four can come to understand:
- Counting (understanding what zero means, values from 1 to 10, and then 11 to 20 later on)
- Number recognition (understanding what each numeral looks like)
- Matching numbers to quantities (for instance the numeral 5 can represent five apples)
- Shapes (circle, square, triangle)
- Patterns (AB and ABC patterns)
- Sorting (organizing by size, color, shape, etc. This set is great for children who are still fairly new to organizing and numbers as it only goes up to 8)
- Comparing (big vs small, more vs less, same vs different, etc.)
- Early addition and subtraction (start with objects and pictures)
This activity is one of my four year old’s favorites right now and teaches shapes along with spatial relation. We love using it as part of our morning basket routine.
Benefits of Preschool Math Worksheets
Some benefits of worksheets during the preschool years include:
- Reinforcing hands-on learning with visual practice
- Building fine motor skills through tracing and coloring
- Consistent, structured ways to review concepts
- Quick and easy for parents and teachers to print and use anytime as many times as they like
More ideas to make this your most amazing homeschooling year ever:
- 50+ Affordable and Fun Field Trip Ideas for Homeschoolers
- How to Set Up a Homeschool Room (Ideas That Work for Small Spaces too!)
- Printable Homeschool Supply Shopping List (Free PDF Download)
Hands-On Activities to Pair with Worksheets
Worksheets are even more effective for teaching concepts when your pair them with play-based learning. Here are a few easy ideas:
- Count snack items like crackers or grapes before eating them
- Sort laundry by color or size
- Play a dice or simple card game and color the corresponding number
- Stack blocks this these into towers and compare heights (they’re also great for preschool spelling activities too)
- Practice “store play” using pretend money or real coins (use and practice counting with simple $1 bills or coins for this age group!)
Best Board Games for Preschool Math
I’ve also found that playing board games has helped my girls with their math skills. These are some preschool math games we love:
- Frog Math Scale (A cute game where weighted numbers and frogs match to teach kids to recognize the relationship between a quantities and the numerals that represents them)
- Strawberry Dice Poppers (Children pop dice to get two numbers and then collect the same number of strawberries to fill each bowl below. They can then solve the math problem to figure out how many strawberries there are in all.)
- Mathswappers (Kids spin a wheel to get a number and then have to swat the fly with the right math problem on it. More challenging problems can simply be removed for younger age groups.)
- Race to Pattern Palace! (This fun game teaches children to recognize numbers and patterns as they race to be the first one across the board.)
Download these Free Printable Preschool Math Worksheets
I originally created these preschool math worksheets for my daughter to use with our Pre-K curriculum and since we’re doing a lot of gardening with the kids this year, they’re fruit themed. It’s a nice way to tie in two studies together!
You’ll find fruit pictures to count and color on each page (from 1 to 10) plus numbers to trace in both their numeral and word forms.
Click each image to automatically download the file below.
Recommended Preschool Math Manipulatives
You could pair these worksheets with a fun preschool math game like this, math link cubes, or counting animals (I like these ones because there are actually more than 10 of each color bear) to make the experience even more hands-on and fun for your child.
The math link cube set above is easily one of the best investments I’ve ever made as a homeschool mom. I’ve found that in about grade 2, once children start doing two digit subtraction, the concept of “borrowing” from the tens place can be a bit challenging for some children to understand.
This visual aid helps kids see why we borrow from the tens place as well as recognizing that the numbers aren’t just disappearing!
Its a great tool to get started with simple math problems in preschool as well – the variety of colors helps children recognize different quantities (i.e. two red blocks and three blue blocks) and their stacking ability shows how numbers can come together (i.e. two red and three blue blocks makes five blocks total).
More Preschool Math Worksheets
There are so many ways to use worksheets to support early math learning. Here are a few of the most effective activity worksheets for preschoolers – we’ll be releasing these later this month (I’ll link to them below as they become available):
- Counting Worksheets – count apples, cars, or animals and circle the number
- Number Tracing Worksheets – trace numerals to build handwriting and recognition
- Shape Worksheets – identify, color, and match basic shapes
- Pattern Worksheets – fill in the missing piece of a sequence
- Color by Number – combine creativity with number practice
- Matching Worksheets – draw a line to connect the numeral to the group of items
- Simple Addition & Subtraction – use pictures to solve early math problems
Even More Elementary and Preschool Worksheets
You can download even more free worksheets for your homeschool and/or classroom here:
- Preschool A to Z Alphabet Coloring Worksheets
- 52+ Toddler Alphabet Coloring Pages (Available in English and Croatian)
- European Flags, Country Names, and Map Coloring Worksheets for Kids (with Guide!)
Final Thoughts: Using Your Worksheets Effectively
These preschool math worksheets work best when combined with hands on activities and play time so be sure to keep your day balanced with a variety of fun options.
We recommend spending 10 to 15 minutes on worksheets and 20 to 30 minutes of play.
Which page is your favorite? What types of math worksheets would you like to see next?
Let me know in the comments below.
Happy homeschooling, friend!
– Nikki
