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Play to Learn

A delightful preschool experience

Grid Games

I recently taught a workshop in the county that focused on math skills for preschoolers.  One of the things that I love most about teaching these workshops for other preschool teachers and day care providers is it forces me to take a very close look at my own teaching practices.  If I am going to present information and share ideas from my own school, they should be top-notch and developmentally appropriate for preschoolers, right?!

What stood out to me right away was that preschool math is so much more than counting and numbers.  I knew this, of course, but it was interesting to look at the ways that we incorporate shapes, number sets, measurement, patterns and relationships in our classroom.

One activity that I love came from an idea that I saw in an old edition of the Mailbox Magazine.  (I think it was Nov/Dec 2010, but I can’t find any confirmation of that.)  It was a page of 4 transportation pictures.  We copied it onto 5 different colored papers and made a “grid” game.

After talking about the similarities between the pictures in each row (same color) and in each column (same picture), the students closed their eyes while I removed 1 card.  Then they had to figure out “Which one is missing?”
As soon as we started this activity, I knew it was a keeper.  The students were using the terms “row” and “column” and I could see their eyes scanning across and up and down the cards.  In addition, they had to describe the missing card using both the color and the object.  (Of course I love when a math lesson is also rich in oral language!)
So that was at the end of the last school year.  Now it’s October and we are not doing a transportation unit at the moment.  I still wanted my students, especially the 3-year-olds, to play this game.  So I created a few additional versions that would fit nicely into our Fall Unit.

These are apples, trees, acorns and pumpkins.  I tried it on the pocket chart which seems to work better than the floor because no one is tempted to sit on them, and everyone can see.

We also played a grid game today with Halloween pictures.

So much fun and learning taking place at the same time!  If you have preschool kiddos at home, you can download all Grid Games here.  While you’re over there on TpT, please follow my store and leave a rating.  Let me know how your child does with this math thinking game!
Enjoy playing and learning with your child today.