There are so many things you can count outdoors: leaves, stones, jumps in puddles…. Here are 5 outdoor math activities and math games to help your kids practice one-to-one correspondence. It’s what happens when your child counts and recognizes one object per number – counting while pointing – and it can be a lot trickier that you’d expect, and done in plenty of different ways! This is called one-to-one correspondence. Otherwise, it’s just like reciting a song (and the words have no actual meaning to them). Outdoor Activities to Learn Counting with One-to-One CorrespondenceĬounting is great, and a lot of parents are always very proud when their children can count to 10 (or higher!).īut once your child knows the words, it’s important for them to use the words in relation to their numerical meaning. Let nature and the outdoors be your classroom, teaching early math education to help your child get school (or preschool) ready. Plus I’ve split the activities for kids up by the mathematical concept that will be practiced for each one (for some there will be an overlap)! In fact, most of these math activities can be tailored and adapted to such children into kindergarten, first grade and beyond, too!Īs well as activities to practice math, I’ve also included ideas to extend the learning through questioning and adapting the math games too. And most of the time your child won’t even know that what they are doing is educational! They’ll just be having busy fun!Īny learning you do with your toddlers is beneficial and will put them in a great place for when they begin preschool or kindergarten.

It’s more about a mindset and a questioning brain that can twist any activity into one that involves learning. But you can too, with little to no equipment needed! Having a teaching background has obviously made it easier for me to bring math activities into any play with little ones. Your possibilities are virtually endless. This wasn’t just in my classroom, but during time spent with my nephews and friends’ children too!Ĭombine this with being outdoors or in the garden, where children can be free to roam and explore, with a plethora of natural apparatus and stimulus to inspire them. In my life as a teacher, I was always trying to encourage my students to problem-solve or add an educational value to any games we played.

Encourage an early love of math with teacher-designed games to teach mathematical concepts.

17 outdoor math activities for preschoolers.

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