Teaching Math to Preschoolers Using Snacks
Have you tried teaching math to your preschoolers using snacks?! Math can feel tricky to teach to preschoolers. You want to ensure your little ones are grasping foundational math skills that will ensure kindergarten readiness while keeping them engaged and excited for learning.
One of my favorite things about teaching preschoolers is that everything we do is hands-on and FUN, and that’s no different for math!
Using manipulatives with preschoolers can sometimes feel overwhelming or just too expensive. And there are sooo many pieces.
But anyone who even slightly knows preschoolers knows that they loveeee snacks. Once I stopped to consider this, it changed things big time. Kids love snacks, so let’s use snacks!!
When adding snack foods, math instantly becomes more hands-on and interesting (& tasty too!). Kids are more motivated and engaged with a task when it involves something they like and already know.
It really just makes sense to use familiar snack foods to teach math!
Let’s review the fundamentals of math that preschoolers need to know, why I love snack foods in math, and then dive into the “how” of teaching math using snacks.
Pre-K Math Skills
Between the ages of 3 and 5, little ones should understand the basics of numbers and counting. They should also connect both of these things to the concept of “how many”.
Before kindergarten, preschoolers should also start to understand that “how many” can change by adding to or taking away.
Sorting and graphing using objects are great ways to help teach these foundational skills. Little ones can identify simple patterns and compare objects by different sizes, colors, and shapes while learning about numbers and counting too.
Why I Love Snack Foods in Math
Snacks are Easy!
Snacks are super easy to use in teaching and keep engagement levels high. I love that I don’t need to scavenge the resource room or beg fellow teachers for materials to gather enough pieces of something for a class set.
I absolutely LOVE the excitement in my students when it’s time to do math with snacks. They can hardly wait to find out what snack food we are working and get giddy when it’s revealed.
When the activity is over, clean-up is a breeze because my favorite little learners can just munch up their snack.
Snacks are Inexpensive!
High quality preschool manipulatives are not usually cheap, but snacks are!
Let’s face it, you’re probably already buying snacks for your preschoolers. They are little eating machines and always seem to be hungry. An item already built into my budget that is pulling double duty, yes please!
It’s not a big deal to grab a new snack food for my students while grocery shopping for my family or have the snack shipped straight to my school to keep things even easier. (Haven’t tried this yet? DO IT..you’ll thank me later!)
Some of my favorites are Fruit Loops, M&Ms, fruit snacks, rainbow fish, whales, gummy bears, Lucky Charms, and gumdrops.
How to Use Snacks in Math
As you know and feel deep in your core, teaching requires a lot of moving pieces! You have to introduce new topics, collect data, and differentiate materials to target the different levels of learners in your classroom. It honestly feels overwhelming sometimes.
I’ve created an entire line of Sort & Graph Mats that use snacks to target each of these “challenge points” while keeping learning exciting and purposeful!
Each sort & graph product is themed to go along with a certain holiday, specific book, or season to keep things fun for little ones and easy for you. Three mats go along with each theme: sorting, graphing, and roll & graph (with printable dice). Choose to print in color or black and white only.
Little learners can use pointer fingers to separate and count pieces out loud, sort them into groups based on different features, and make simple patterns.
Discuss ways the snacks look, smell, and feel. Talk about how each child has different amounts of snacks. Don’t forget to taste test a few too!
Some of the favorite mats in my classroom have been using Lucky Charms for St. Patrick’s Day, M&Ms for Valentine’s Day, Fruit Loops for Apples, and fruit snacks for Halloween.
A resource that checks off all the boxes is a win in my book!
✅ Easy
✅ Inexpensive
✅ High engagement
✅ Able to differentiate
You can snag these low-prep resources individually or as a set in my growing bundle here!
You might also be interested in these posts:
Using Snacks to Help Teach Names to Preschoolers
COMPLETE GUIDE to Very Hungry Caterpillar Activities for Pre-K
Follow me for more fun! | Instagram | TPT | Amazon
Sign up for Up and Away in Pre-K emails for exclusive freebies!
