# ABC's of Math Activities: P to T > Simple math play for P to T: Patterns, Quantities, Rhymes, Shapes and Time. It combines TurkeyMom's own activities with ideas from fellow kid bloggers. Each idea uses everyday materials like beads, shape blocks, cups, paper and songs. - URL: https://www.funlittles.com/abcs-of-math-activities-p-t/ - Ages: 2–6 yrs · Difficulty: easy · Mess: low - Time: prep none, activity varies - Works for: one-on-one, small group, whole class - Skills: patterns, counting, comparing-quantities, shapes, telling-time, rhymes, fine-motor - Cautions: wheat-gluten, ingestion-risk ## Safety - Beads, glass gems and dry pasta are small enough to choke on. Supervise toddlers closely and keep small pieces away from children who still mouth things. - Adult handles any pumpkin cutting or carving for the pumpkin puzzle. - Some linked ideas use food (pretzels, pasta). Check for wheat/gluten allergies first. ## Ideas - **Patterns in the wild**: Look at the patterns on animals we know, like stripes and spots, and draw them. - **Bead patterns**: String colored beads in a repeating order. Expand the play with three or more colors and different orders. - **Shape block patterns**: Line up colored shape blocks in a pattern, then try three or more shapes in different orders. Make your own patterns and creations. - **Patterns and algebra with block printing**: A kindergarten math activity that explores patterns and early algebra through block printing. - **Patterning with pool noodles**: Make patterns using pool noodles. - **Pretzel patterns**: Practice patterns during snack time with pretzels. - **Pattern naturally**: A patterning activity for kindergarten basics. - **Stamping dice**: Use dice to stamp patterns, or easily turn it into an addition activity. - **Which cup has more?**: Make two sets of objects in cups and have kids judge which has more items and which has fewer. - **"Which is Bigger?" dice game**: A super simple math dice game for comparing numbers. - **Math in nursery rhymes**: Sing rhymes like Five Little Ducks, Five Little Monkeys, The Ants Go Marching, 1-2 Buckle My Shoe and This Old Man to practice counting, order and subtraction. - **Puzzle on a pumpkin**: Carve shapes out of a pumpkin to make a pumpkin shape puzzle. Great for toddlers and preschoolers. - **Shapes turkey craft**: A Thanksgiving turkey made from paper shapes. - **Christmas tree shapes puzzle**: Build shapes Christmas trees and explore proportions along the way. - **Contact paper shapes**: Stick paper shapes onto contact paper. It was by far the biggest hit in our household. - **Daily routines and time**: Link daily routines to the time of day: morning, afternoon, evening and night. A simple routine chart introduces the concept of time. - **Paper plate clock**: Make a paper plate clock with the minutes written on it to learn hours and minutes. - **Time telling games**: A big collection of time-telling activities. ## Tips - Start with the simplest patterns, colors and shapes, then expand to three or more colors or shapes in a different order. - With a little bit of practice your child will start discovering patterns around us that you don't even see: flowers, animals, clothes, jewelry, shoes, floor tiles. - Rhyme time is our favorite on-the-road activity. It always keeps my 4-year-old's spirits up, and it's funny to hear her make up her own songs and rhymes to keep her little sister cheerful. - Visit your local library to find more music, fun songs and rhymes. - A simple craft can become a learning opportunity with a few twists. While making the shapes turkey, the kids' listening and learning ears were much sharper than if I had sat down with paper and pen and drawn shapes. - Contact paper fun is the best kind of fun for a toddler. Our contact paper shapes activity was by far the biggest hit in our household. - Technically a child can't tell time until they know skip counting by 5s, but it's never too early to introduce the concept of time. At 4 and 5, link daily routines and chore charts to the time of day. ## The original post by TurkeyMom (2013) To read the first three parts of this series visit the following links. [Part](https://www.funlittles.com/abcs-of-math-activities-a-e/) 1, [part 2](https://www.funlittles.com/abcs-of-math-activities-f-j/) and [part 3.](https://www.funlittles.com/abcs-of-math-activities-k-o/) ### **P is for Patterns** We see patterns all around us. Patterns to a preschooler is something that’s repetitive and is in an order. It’s a basic concept that is the foundation for life-long mathematical skills. Identifying patterns around us: Flowers, animals, clothes, jewelery, shoes, floor tiles and many more. With a little bit of practice your child will start discovering patterns from around us that you don’t even see. We have done an interesting activity about patterns from Animals we know. [](https://www.funlittles.com/preschooler-pattern-activity/) The simplest exercise to introduce and teach patters are using colors and shapes. - ### Using colored beads Expand the play with three or more colors and different order. - ### Using colored shapes blocks Expand the activity with three or more shapes and different order. Make your own patterns and creations. Here are some more fun ways from your favorite bloggers: - [*Kindergarten Math: Patterns and Algebra with Block Printing : Lessons Learnt Journal*](http://lessonslearntjournal.com/kindergarten-math-patterns-and-algebra-with-block-printing/) - *[Patterning with Pool Noodles: Mama Pea Pod](http://www.mamapeapod.com/2011/07/pool-noodles.html)* - *Pretzel patterns - learning during snacktime : Teachmama* - *[Pattern Naturally - Kindergarten basics](http://kindergartenbasics.blogspot.com/2011/11/pattern-naturally.html)* - *[Use dice to stamp patterns or easily turn it into an addition activity.](http://www.housingaforest.com/stamping-dice/)* ### ### **Q is for Quantities** What is quantity? – In simple terms it means measure or amount of. How much of…? is the basic understanding when we talk about Quantity. For toddlers and preschoolers quantity is counting and determining the accuracy of the result. It is also essential to the understanding of the concepts of more and less , few and many. - To elaborate: make two sets of objects and have them judge which has more items and which has fewer. Children’s understanding of numerical and non-numerical abilities vary and experiments like these help them build their cognitive abilities and guide them and help them master the skills they need for later demanding years. Here is a few more from your favorite bloggers: - *A Super Simple Math Dice Game: "Which is Bigger?" : Inlieuofpreschool* ### **R is for Rhymes** Nursery Rhymes are perfect for teaching kids basic math skills. Counting, Order, Patterns, Subtraction and Quantities and more. They also teach kids - Phonics - Rhyming Words - Build vocabulary - Music - Teach Story Telling and characters ### We have a few all time favorites. 1. Baa Baa black sheep ( Counting ) 2. 12345 once I caught a fish alive( Order and sequence ) 3. The Ants go Marching ( Counting ) 4. Five little ducks( Subtraction ) 5. 1 – 2 buckle my shoe ( Counting ) 6. Five little monkeys jumping on the bed ( Subtraction) 7. 1 little 2 little 3 little Indians ( Ascending and Descending order) 8. Simple Simon met a Pieman ( Money) 9. One Potato Two Potato ( Order) 10. This Old man ( Counting and Pattern) 11. Hot cross buns ( Money) 12. Wee Willie Winkie (Time) 13. Five little soldiers ( Number bonds) 14. Ten little fingers & ten little toes ( Parts of your Body-For the Baby) 15. This little Piggy ( Counting Toes - For the Baby) Rhyme time is our favorite on the road activity to do. It always keeps my 4yr old's spirits up. It' s funny to hear her make up her own songs and rhymes to keep her little sister cheerful. Visit your local library and find more music and fun songs and rhymes. ### **S is for Shapes** With a toddler around, we have done a fair share of shapes activities. Take a look! A simple craft project can be turned into a fun learning opportunities with a few twists. All the images below are clickable and will take you to the respective posts. Around Halloween, we carved shapes out of a pumpkin and made a fantastic pumpkin puzzle. Great for toddlers and pre schoolers. For Thanksgiving we ofcourse did a turkey craft. Not just any turkey craft, a shapes turkey craft. While making this craft the kids' listening and learning ears were much sharper than they would have been if I had sat down simply with a paper and pen and drew shapes. For Christmas, we made shapes Christmas trees and explored proportions while we were at it. Seeing that contact paper fun is the best kind of fun for a toddler we went ahead with another shape activity which was by far the biggest hit in our household. [](https://www.funlittles.com/puzzle-on-a-pumpkin/) [](https://www.funlittles.com/thanksgiving-craft-for-the-toddler/) [](https://www.funlittles.com/christmas-activities-christmas-tree-puzzle/) [](https://www.funlittles.com/shapes-for-toddlers-with-contact-paper/) ### T is for Time Technically a child cannot tell time until he/she knows skip counting in 5's or 5 times table. With all the clock crafts only the concept of number recognition is addressed. Having said, it is never too early to introduce them to the concept of time. At 4 and 5 years old kids can be introduced to time with chore charts and the time each activity happens. This teaches them about the concept of time if not time telling per se. Kids are anyway intrinsically interested in time because we are using that word numerous times in a single day.Think about it!" Time for bed, time for dinner, time out, quiet time, time to wake up, time for the bus, if you are lucky potty training mother like me ( woo hoo!) time for potty. This is how we teach time: Make an association of the daily routines to the time of day. - Morning - Time to wake up, Brush, Breakfast and School - Afternoon - Lunch, Nap, Quiet time - Evening - Play time, Homework time, time for mommy or daddy to get home from work - Night - Dinner time, Bed time. **MY DAILY ROUTINES** ### Morning Potty Brush Dress up Breakfast School ### Afternoon Wash up Lunch Nap ### Evening Play time Home work Wash up Dinner ### Night Bath Pajamas Brush Story time Zzzzz’z It helps them understand that Time is constantly changing and the clock is ticking. Once they know about the schedules they are quick to realize about time and question - " Mommy, what time is it ?". Once they know their math, we can move to hours and minutes. The easiest way to get them into idea is to make a Paper Plate Clock. Visit Frugal Fun for Boys for more details. With the corresponding minutes written, time telling should get interesting for the kids. For an exhaustive post on time telling activities, visit here. [Click here for the final part of the series](https://www.funlittles.com/abcs-of-math-activities-u-z/) ### **Thanks for reading** **Please take a moment to comment** Thanks for stopping by our little space here. We encourage you to stick around and take a look at [**couple of**](https://www.funlittles.com/paint-with-spaghetti-brooms/) our [**popular posts.**](https://www.funlittles.com/animal-resist-painting/) --- --- ### This post is a part of a ABC series brought to you by 70+ bloggers and hosted at "[This Reading Mama](https://thisreadingmama.com/the-abcs-of-a-kid-blogger-network-series/)". Check out her blog and thanks for the amazing work she has put into organizing this event. Kudos to her! 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