Preschool math activities are exploring the world paying attention to numbers. Kids Activities Blog is completely head-over-heels when these things can be done with stuff you already have at home. We just feel like life is too short to have to make another trip to the store.
Digging around in a forgotten cupboard drawer, I found a dusty old box of dominoes. My preschooler had never seen dominoes before and I realized that even though she wasn’t ready to play the actual game, that didn’t mean she couldn’t use the tiles as a fun math learning tool.
Just taking each one out and counting how many she had in her pile was fun enough for her.
After a while, she discovered she could count the black dots and match up tiles with the same number of dots – both lying flat and standing upright.
We also snuck in some letter and shape building, to work on our fine motor and spatial skills.
The best thing about this activity was that we were able to use something we already owned and there was no prep time required. Â Plus, we’re on our way to learning a new game!
Ideas for Introducing Preschool Math Concepts With Dominoes
- Count the number of dots on each tile
- Find matching tiles and stack them together
- Line up tiles end to end by matching up the number of dots on each tile
- Form stacks of a set number of tiles (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.)
- Write numbers on pieces of paper and ask your preschooler to place the correct number of tiles on the corresponding piece of paper
- Create shapes or letters with the tiles
- Construct 3-dimensional shapes or towers with the dominoes
More Preschool Math Activities
The Quirky Mommas love to make learning fun. Â Check out these other fun math ideas for preschoolers:
- Introduction to Geometry for Preschoolers – Use some simple pattern blocks to show your preschooler how some basic shapes are formed from other shapes.
- Watch this video of human dominoes topple over!
- Fraction Game: Cookie Math – Cookies aren’t just a tasty treat. Â Slice them up and sneak in a little math lesson on fractions.
- Play with Math and Play Dough – Ten fun math ideas that use play dough. Â There is even a link with easy-to-make play dough recipes.
- Check out these fun pet math activities for preschoolers!
- See this list of over 125 Number Activities for Preschoolers!
- Learning numbers has never been easier than with this math game!
This post could not have been more timely for me! I just bought some Dominoes at the dollar store, mostly with the intent of just building with them, but now you’ve given me lots of ideas of things to do with them! Thanks!
Children grow rapidly both physically and mentally, and we understand that the first few years of a child's life is when the greatest amount of brain development occurs. It is very important to this cognitive development that children receive early opportunities to discover.
Wow! This is a great idea for preschool. I am sure that kids will really enjoy this activity. Thanks for sharing and keep posting!
Hi Courtney!
You can follow me at The Outlaw Mom Blog here: http://www.facebook.com/TheOutlawMom, where I post about learning through play for toddlers and preschoolers, and all of the fabulous bloggers at Kids Activities Blog here: http://www.facebook.com/QuirkyMomma.
Glad to have you with us and I hope you and your son have fun with this activity 🙂
I can’t wait to try this with my 3 year old son. It’s hard coming up with new learning activities for him. I think this will be a great way to teach and still have fun. Do you have a Facebook page where I can start following your site?
I would not have thought to get dominoes out for my little girl but now I can’t wait to do this!
Isn’t it great to discover you don’t need to buy any new toys or tools?! Love that we have a “new” toy now. Have fun 🙂