Activities

Have the children get their math hands ready. Ask them to show you three, using their fingers. Keep changing the numbers (zero to three). Ask them to show you three fingers by using both hands, to make it a little harder.

Provide logic and strategy games in the math center such as Tic-Tac- Toe, Tangrams, Jenga and Tapatan. Encourage the children to play the games and explain their strategies.

Create a variety of math mats and manipulatives for counting and place them in the math center.

Create math mats to resemble any object such as a gum ball machine, a bowl or a lily pad. Give each child manipulatives to use while you tell a story: There were four frogs on the lily pad. (Child places four frogs on the pad.) One frog jumped off .

Bring a pumpkin into the classroom and encourage the children to think of the many ways that it can be measured such as height, weight, circumference or number of seeds. Introduce appropriate vocabulary.

Set up a clothing store in dramatic play. Encourage the children to pretend to be shoppers and clerks in the store.

Create a play restaurant in the classroom. Encourage the children to take your order of what you would like to eat and drink. Provide toddler- friendly kitchen utensils and food props for the children to use to pretend to cook and serve.

Play the game “Mother, May I?” during outdoor time. Change “mother” to other people, such as “father,” “farmer” or “teacher.

Have the children make a large circle. Teach them the song and motions listed below before having them sing and perform together.

Read the book Me I Am! by Jack Prelutsky. Afterward, ask each child to think of one thing that is special about him/her.

Encourage group discussion during routine times such as snack and lunch. Conversations can be about what food is being served or activities that occur throughout the day.

Read Mean Soup by Betsy Everitt to the children. Afterward, bring in a pot for pretend mean soup. Provide an opportunity for upset children to shout and stir words into it that tell how they feel until they feel better.

Choose a time each day and engage in a rich, meaningful conversation with a child. Make a list so you talk with every child every week.

Give the children several objects of varying lengths such as a marker, a wooden block and a plastic lizard. Also, provide Cheerios and show them how to line up the Cheerios and count how many Cheerios long the items are.

Have the children measure objects or themselves using classroom materials such as links, cubes or markers. Compare this kind of measuring to using a ruler or measuring tape.

Add a height chart with pictures or symbols to the math center. Encourage the children to measure each other and mark their heights with a symbol or picture on the height chart.

Encourage the children to measure classmates using large cardboard blocks in the block center. Record their measurements on sticky notes and place the sticky notes on a class chart.

You will need measuring cups, containers, and water. Use measuring cups to fill containers. Ask the children to make comparisons on which containers hold more.

After reading Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni, encourage the children to make inchworms using play dough and measure objects

Plant several crocus or daylily bulbs in clear containers. Provide various writing materials and a journal. The children can measure growth using rulers and record their daily observations in the science center.