Teach Your Preschoolers to Love Math

This is a game I use when kids have to wait or need a fun distraction. All you need are 5 small objects such as pennies, buttons, cheerios or candy. It works best for 3 1/2-5 year olds.

First, choose a number and have your child tell you how many objects are in your hand. When they can do that successfully, you can start the game.

Tell your child that you're going to play a guessing game and that the number of objects will remain the same, but you're going to hide your hands behind your back and divide them up. Ask your child to pick a hand. Reveal the objects in the hand they chose. Have them count again. Then hold up the other hand with the objects hidden in your fist and ask them to guess how many are in there.</