Thanksgiving, for me, is a time of reflection and gratitude for the blessings in my life. It’s a time to start slowing down as we move into the colder months of the year. It’s a time for family and friends.
But in our home we never stop learning!
So if you’ve got preschool-age kids who could benefit from some fun, developmentally appropriate, and holiday-related math practice, I’ve got just what you need.
My Thanksgiving Preschool Math Pack is filled with turkeys, ears of corn, fall leaves, acorns, and pumpkin pie. There’s plenty in here to keep your preschooler busy all November long.
But do keep in mind that young children should be active. So use this pack in a fun and playful way to help your child develop key early math skills.
Keep the lessons short and sweet. Make it fun, and if it’s not fun, stop and try again another time.
This will go a long way toward helping your child develop the math skills needed to succeed in school. . . and in life!
Note: For more Thanksgiving printables your kids will love, see my Thanksgiving Activities for Kids page.
What are preschool math skills?
Most of us probably think of math as adding and subtracting, multiplying and dividing. And preschoolers aren’t generally ready to do this kind of math, of course.
But there are many early math concepts we want preschoolers to understand that will get them ready to start start adding and subtracting when they are older.
For example, preschoolers need to understand:
- shapes, sizes, and patterns
- that numbers represent amounts of objects
- that numbers can be expressed in a variety of forms, including spoken words, written words, written number symbols, and even using fingers
- how to compare quantities using terms like “less” and “more”
- one-to-one correspondence (the notion that one number goes with one object when counting)
The activities in this pack are designed to support the development and reinforcement of these important preschool math skills.
What’s in the Thanksgiving Preschool Math Pack?
This Thanksgiving Preschool Math Pack contains more than 75 pages of developmentally appropriate, print-and-play math activities geared toward children ages 2-5.
PATTERNS ACTIVITIES
Preschoolers are learning to recognize patterns. With the activities in this pack, they will have the opportunity to identify and complete ABAB, AAB, ABB, and ABC patterns.
In addition, there’s a worksheet children can use to create their own patterns with stickers, crayons, buttons, etc.
MORE OR LESS ACTIVITIES
A key early math skill – one that comes before learning to count objects – is recognizing relative sizes of groups of objects. We want preschoolers to be able to look at two groups and know which group has more objects and which group has less.
This pack includes several different activities to work on an understanding of more vs. less, including worksheets and clip cards. In addition, the activities are differentiated for children working with smaller quantities (1 vs. 2) and children ready to work with larger quantities (up to 5).
COUNTING ACTIVITIES
Many preschoolers are ready to work on counting activities. At first, children may count objects without recognizing or understanding the symbols for the numbers they are counting. For that reason, this pack includes a number of counting activities that do not use number symbols.
For example:
- Count and clip one-to-one correspondence cards
- Circle the group with the same number shown on the hand
- Circle the number of objects shown on the hand
- Grid games
NUMBERS ACTIVITIES
For children who have some proficiency with number symbols, this preschool math pack features a variety of activities to support their emerging understanding:
- Circle the group with same number shown: numeral recognition
- Circle the number of objects shown: numeral recognition
- Clip the number that is larger
- Count the objects and match the number
- Clip the number showing how many items there are
- Five frames
- Ten frames
- Twenty frames
- Put the number cards in order from 1 to 10
SIZE AND MEASUREMENT ACTIVITIES
Preschoolers are also expected to develop an understanding of size and measurement, especially measuring with non-standard units.
Standard units are ones we typically use such as inches for measuring distance, pounds for measuring weight, and gallons for measuring volume.
Non-standard units, on the other hand, are used to introduce children to the concept of measuring without the need for them to read numbers or scales. So a child might use a non-standard measure such as steps to determine that their classroom is 30 steps long while the cafeteria is 150 steps long.
This preschool math pack includes activities where kids will sort objects by size (both little vs. big and small, medium, and large) and put objects in order from smallest to biggest.
In addition, there are both clip cards and worksheets where children will be asked to identify how many units tall a bar is.
Want a copy of my Thanksgiving Preschool Math Pack?
Get it as part of the Preschool Math Pack Bundle.
Or get it as part of the Thanksgiving Printables Bundle.
Or get this product by clicking the button below.
More Thanksgiving resources
More Thanksgiving posts from Gift of Curiosity:
- 20+ turkey crafts and activities
- Thanksgiving Printables Pack
- Thanksgiving coloring pages
- Turkey feather spelling activity
- Thanksgiving Fine Motor Pack
For more Thanksgiving printables and activities your kids will love, see my Thanksgiving Activities for Kids page and my Thanksgiving Pinterest board.
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