Early Math Resources
You’re just a click away from a wealth of early math resources.
Browse through the following links for everything from math apps, books and clip art to games, magazines, museums, music, nursery rhymes, puzzles, standards, videos and more.
Resources by Age
INFANTS
NAEYC Resources
- Math Talk with Infants and Toddlers
- Rocking and Rolling by Jan Greenberg
- Support Math Readiness through Math Talk by Eugene Geist
- Support Math Readiness through Music by Eugene Geist
PBS Resources
- PBS Parents: Baby and Toddler Math Activities
- PBS Parents: Matching Games for Babies and Toddlers
- PBS Parents: Bath Games for Babies and Toddlers
- PBS Parents: Movement Games for Babies and Toddlers
- PBS Parents: Counting Games for Babies and Toddlers
Head Start
Zero to Three Resources
Counting Nursery Rhymes
DREME (Development and Research in Early Mathematics Education) Resources
TODDLERS
- Jigsaw Puzzles for Toddlers and Preschoolers
- Pancake Manor: Videos for Kids and Awesome Grownups
- Sesame Street: Feist Sings 1,2,3,4 and other videos
- Maple Leaf Learning
- Sesame Street: One of These Things is Not Like the Other—Circles
- PBS Parents: Baby and Toddler Math Activities
PRESCHOOLERS
- PBS Parents: Preschool and Kindergarten Math Activities
- Let’s Read Math, an annotated list of live links to preschool books with math themes
- The California Mathematics Council maintains a FOR FAMILIES section on its website with articles about math education, hands-on math activities to try at home and information about hosting a family math event at your preschool or education center.
- Jigsaw Puzzles for Toddlers and Preschoolers
- Math Activities for Preschoolers and Kindergarteners
- Comparing Cookie Quantities
- Cookie Sheet Math: Print and Make on Your Own
- Time4learning Preschool Games
- Graphing activities for preschool and kindergarten
- PBS Parents: Pattern Matcher: Making Patterns
- Johnny the Guinea Pig Teaches Geometry: Sliding, Turning and Flipping
- Icy Slides Flips and Turns: An interactive media game that helps children practice slides, flips and turns (requires adult prompts)
- Many activities involving symmetry
- An online reading of Loren Leedy’s book, Seeing Symmetry
- Symmetry games and activities
- Children help Purpy (a purple circle) find his favorite shapes.
- Shapes Preschool Activities and Crafts (circle craft ideas, printable coloring pages, flash cards and worksheets)
- Instructions by children’s book author and illustrator Eric Carle on how to create collage of tissue paper shapes
- Play “Puzzle Shapes”
- Templates to make paper clocks and felt board clocks
- Play Gingerbread Men and match the numbers on the gingerbread men to the objects on the gingerbread men.
- Play Ladybird Counting and practice counting and ordering numbers up to five with ladybirds, snails and leaves.
- Probability Game for Kids (children will need adult help with this game, as there is a lot of reading)
- Pre-K Math
- Songs and games about fractions
- Online fraction games
- Games to practice and reinforce fraction skills
- PBS Kids: Puppy Clifford’s Measuring Up Game
- PBS Kids: Dinosaur Train (children measure animals of different sizes to see how much room they will need on the dinosaur train)
- Fun games that help children master addition facts 1-12
- Fun games that help children master subtraction facts 1-12.
- Transportation Activity
- Funbrain Monster Math Adventure
- National Library of Virtual Manipulatives (an excellent resource for finding and using virtual math manipulatives for children Pre-K through 2)
- Virtual Balance Scale (children can click on items and place them on a virtual balance scale)
- Crickweb Early Years Learning Activities for Infant, Preschool, Kindergarten
- PBS Parents: Building Sandcastles
- PBS Parents: Pattern Matcher
- The Essential Guide to Preschool Math
- Bedtime Math
- Museum of Mathematics
Resources by Topic and/or Type
COMPARISON ACTIVITIES
- Pre Math – Comparison
- Let’s Play with Shapes!
- Math Skills!
- Jigsaw puzzles for toddlers and preschoolers
MATH GAMES AND PUZZLES
CLIP ART
CHILDREN’S MUSEUMS
- DuPage Children’s Museum
- Chicago Children’s Museum
- Kohl Children’s Museum
- The Field Museum
- The Museum of Science and Industry
- Wonder Works Children’s Museum
- Bronzeville Children’s Museum
PARENTING MAGAZINES
Apps
- AB Math: A Fun Game for Kids and Grownups
- Algebra Touch
- Brain Bran
- Bug Games
- BugMath
- Bugs and Numbers
- Cash Cow
- CoolMath
- Count the Animals
- Count TV
- Counting Bees
- Counting Caterpillar
- DigitZ
- DimensionM
- Doodle Fit
- DotToDot Numbers and Letters
- DragonBox Algebra 5+
- Elmo Loves 123s for iPad
- Feed Me! – PencilBot Preschool
- Fetch! Lunch Rush
- Flow Free: Bridges
- Freefall Money
- Fun Math Tricks
- GazziliShapes
- Geometry Quest
- Grover’s Number Special
- Hickory Dickory Dock
- iCrosss
- Intro to Math, by Montessorium
- Jacob’s Shapes
- Jazzy 123
- Jellytoons Toddler Skills: Bobo’s Birthday Challenge
- Juicy Math
- JumpStart Preschool Magic of Learning
- KidgitZ – It Adds up to Fun!
- Kids Learn Math: A+ Edition
- Kids Numbers and Math
- Little Digits
- Love to Count by Pirate Trio
- Marble Math
- Marble Math Junior
- Math Blaster HyperBlast
- Math Blaster Online
- Math Fact Master – Addition Subtraction Multiplication and Division
- Math Pack Flash Cards
- Math Workout
- MathBoard
- Mathemagics Mental Math Tricks
- Mermaid Waters: Preschool Math Game, Adventure and Story
- Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Road Rally
- Monkey Math School Sunshine
- Monkey Preschool Lunchbox
- Montessori Geometry
- Montessori Numberland
- Montessori Numbers – Math Activities for Kids
- Motion Math Zoom
- Mystery Math Town
- NineGaps
- Number Rack
- Number, Addition and Subtraction Math Ed Games
- Numbers League
- Park Math
- Piczle Lines
- Playful Minds: Math (5-8 years old)
- Pre-Algebra Guide
- Presto Bingo Shapes
- Quick Math
- Quizzing Toddler Preschool
- SaveTheSushi
- Savings Spree
- Scout’s 123 Carnival
- Shape Builder
- Shapes and Puzzles by Pirate Trio
- Slice It!
- Sums Stacker
- Super 7
- Super Home Hero
- Sushi Monster
- TallyTots
- Teach Me: Kindergarten
- Teach Me: Toddler
- Tiny Monsters
- Trainyard
- Trucks HD
- U Connect
Early Math Blogs
Math Books for Children
- 40 Great Children’s Books That Foster Math Skills: A list of books from DREME (Development and Research in Early Mathematics Education)
- A List of Books for Children That Foster Math Knowledge and Skills: Compiled by Dr. Jeanne White, Elmhurst College
- DREME Storybook Guides: Created by DREME (Development and Research in Early Mathematics Education) to help you use interactive reading strategies to foster children’s literacy and mathematical thinking.
- Five Kids’ Books that Involve Sets and Sorting: Compiled by the Erikson Institute Early Math Collaborative
Early Math Counts Glossary
DREME (Development and Research in Early Mathematics Education)
Erikson Early Math Collaborative
Head Start Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center
Standards
- The National Council for Teachers of Mathematics has developed a set of standards and expectations for school mathematics from prekindergarten through grade 12. These are broken down into six categories and outline appropriate expectations for each grade level.
- The Illinois Early Learning Project has developed a set of Early Learning Standards for the area of mathematics.
- Licensing Standards for Day Care Homes in Illinois
Math Videos
- Pre-Kindergarten to Third Grade: A New Beginning for American Education: Watch this video to learn more about the preschool through third-grade movement and how it can close achievement gaps.