Math Activities for Toddlers

Help Your Toddler Learn To Love Math With These 10 Fun And Creative Math Activities For Toddlers

Math is a subject that we use in our daily lives, so learning math is an important part of a child’s early education. If the basics are not taught right, it leads to math anxiety. This induces fear and cripples a child’s learning. Introduce math through simple, yet exciting ways to make children fall in love with the subject. So turn math lessons into a game or a fun, hands-on activity to make kids learn to love math from an early age. Start when they’re toddlers, try simple math activities for toddlers to spark an interest in math learning.

Introduce your little one to basic math concepts with creative math activities for toddlers. These math activities will set a solid foundation for learning more advanced math concepts as they grow up. Additionally, it’ll teach them to love math lessons and helps develop a positive attitude towards the subject. This dispels any fear or anxiety surrounding the subject and helps them learn math easily.

Here are 10 easy math activities for toddlers to teach them basic math concepts. These math activities for toddlers are everything your kids need to learn core concepts through hands-on play.

Easy Math Activities for Toddlers

Your children are sure to love these easy and creative math activities for toddlers! And they’ll help them learn to love math and look forward to math activities too. 

• Correspondence Game: When you teach numbers to a toddler, they might not fully understand the concept that numbers represent a quantity. So teach them with objects to help them understand that a particular number corresponds to the number(quantity) of objects. They might quickly “count” numbers without actually counting them. Teach your child the concept of 1:1 with one of the most creative math activities for toddlers.

Make flashcards with one sticker for number 1, two stickers for number 2, and so on. Once your child observes you, hand them a few stickers too! First, explain to them how each number represents the number (quantity) of stars that they should stick on the card. You could check if they’ve understood the concept by laying out a row of cards right in front of them and then watching them stick the stickers corresponding to the numbers on the cards. 

Alternatively, you could place a row of legos in front of them and ask them to stick the right number of stickers on the lego blocks. Try to make sure that the color on the sticker matches the color on the lego blocks. This will make the game a lot more fun for them! Try these fun number games for kids to help your child learn numbers easily.

• Bring Me This: The next time you find your child feeling bored or restless, try this game! It’s one of the most fun and easy math activities for toddlers. Ask your child to get a certain number of things. 

For example, “bring me 5 toys from your room” or “get me 2 glasses of water”. Once they can understand written numbers, you could simply write down the number of objects you want on a piece of paper, and hand it to them. This creative math activity for toddlers tests their math skills through movement and action! Additionally, it also helps them understand the quantities that a number represents.

• Outdoor Math: Running and playing outdoors is a toddler’s favorite pastime. So, turn their math lesson into a fun outdoor math game! To begin playing one of the best math activities for toddlers, draw a few boxes and write down a few numbers using chalk on the sidewalk. Ensure they watch you while you arrange various objects corresponding to the number on the sidewalk. Now ask them to scavenge for objects in the yard and place them next to the corresponding number. 

For example, for number 3, they should find 3 pebbles and place them in the box with the number 3 in it. For number 5, they should find 5 twigs and place them in the box with the number 5 in it and so on. 

For digital-physical math games to boost your kids learning, check out Osmo’s Math Wizard series!

• Guess How Many: The most creative math activities for toddlers are those that make learning fun! For this guessing game, all you have to do is find the things you have in abundance in your home. It could be a bag of pasta, candy, Legos, marbles etc! Next, ask your child “I wonder how many legos are in the box? Can you guess?” And then you could empty the entire bag in front of them and count with them. Kids will find it comical when you mess up and “solve” your problem.
• Playdough Numbers: We’re sure your little ones love playing with and creating shapes out of playdough! How about learning some math using playdough too? This is one of the easiest and most creative math activities for toddlers.

Help your toddler learn the numbers using colorful play dough. Help them mold the playdough to form the different numbers and decorate it to make the activity more fun and creative! When they’re older, you could even use playdough to practice more math concepts like addition and subtraction using this math activity. Help your child learn the numbers using this fun color by numbers worksheet.

• Height Chart: Measurement is an important part of math learning and this is one of the best math activities for toddlers to learn about measurement. Introduce your child to height measurement using this fun math activity. Place height charts in your kids’ rooms and ask them to measure their soft toys. This activity could be a lot more fun than you realize! They could even measure themselves sometimes and see if they’ve grown. They could measure anything they like.
• Follow a Recipe: Cooking with your little one could be a lot of fun and is one of the best math activities for toddlers. We know they can’t really help you at this stage, but they can certainly watch you! As you measure various ingredients, make sure to say the numbers out loud. This will help them learn numbers quicker. Additionally, it also sets a foundation for learning fractions in school. You could also make them count the vegetables or sort them according to color and size.
• Arrange by Size: When children are introduced to the concept of size early on, they learn to distinguish between larger and smaller numbers too. Make the activity as interactive as possible by asking them “Hmm, is this box bigger than that table?” or “Is your doll taller than your stuffed lion?” Include their little playthings in your activity to make it more interesting. 
• Sort and Count Candies: Sorting and counting are basic math concepts that all kids should learn. This is one of the best math activities for toddlers to help them learn how to sort and count. Place different colored candies or jellybeans in a bag and ask your child to sort them according to shape and color. Once the candies have been sorted, count the candies with your little one.

For example, how many green jellybeans are in the box? Try these amazing shape games for kids to give your toddler a headstart on geometry lessons.

Frequently Asked Questions on Math Activities for Toddlers