Most of the preschool math center activities in my PreK class are hands-on activities that involve practicing skills and concepts that I’ve used during small group instruction or larger group lessons. While I try to use my free choice time for informal small groups and one-on-one, I can’t always guarantee I’ll be able to sit with my students in my math center and work with them. Hence, the activities need to be flexible enough for me to differentiate on the go and for them to be successful while doing the activities independently. This is where simple math printables come in – even though I am not a fan of worksheets, sometimes printables like this can be helpful if we still match them to our students individually.
PreK Math Butterfly Count & Match
This week, we have been learning all about insects and spring gardens, but we are still working on basic skills while exploring that theme. One skill we are working hard at is number recognition. My students are amazing at counting, but some numbers are tricky to name when they see them. That’s OK, let’s work on it, and because it involves stickers, they were all more than thrilled to try this! Here’s how to prep and use this activity at your preschool math center:
Gather your materials. You will need this printable, a marker, some dot labels, and a tray to keep it all contained!
Start by identifying which number/s you want your student/students to work on. Repeat these numbers multiple times on the butterfly but make sure you have lots of numbers that they will find ” SO EASY!” ( that’s a direct quote from a student) because that boosts confidence and can mitigate frustration. Make dots in the circles.
Now, write the corresponding numbers on the stickers. If you want to practice different numbers with different children, write their names on their individualized sheets. ” Hey Gilbert! Find the butterfly and sheet of stickers with your name on it!” It’s as simple as that!
Invite your students to match the numeral to the amount and add the stickers to their sheet! When it’s all done, they can color it if they want, cut it out ( yay, cutting practice), or pop it in their cubby!
How to use this preschool math center activity in a group
I like doing this little math activity in a small group because I can use it to assess my students’ number recognition playfully! I use the printable a little differently, though. For this, I used the worm printable and wrote out 1-15 in order so it would be like a number line. We counted together and then chose our favorite number. Then, with blank stickers, I called out the number, and they found and added a sticker. This was a quick activity that the students treated like a fun game, and we could assess number recognition very easily without making our students feel like they were being assessed!
Do you have more designs?
Yes, the butterfly printable is free, and you can get 11 more blank sheets for your preschool math center for just $2.99.
There are sea animals ( jellyfish, fish, crab, and dolphin), dinosaurs ( T-rex, triceratops, and stegosaurus), and bugs ( a butterfly, a worm, a dragonfly, a ladybug, and a snail).
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