Building Early Maths Skills the Fun Way

When we think about maths, we might picture worksheets, sums and calculators, but for little ones, early maths is all about hands-on exploration, play, and real-life experiences. The good news? You don’t need to be a maths whiz to help your child build strong early maths skills. With a little creativity, everyday routines can become exciting learning opportunities!

In this post, we’ll explore how you can support your preschool child’s maths development in fun, practical ways.

Why Early Maths Matters

Early maths skills form the foundation for later learning, not just in school, but in life. Maths helps children:

• Understand patterns and sequences

• Solve problems and make decisions

• Develop logical thinking and reasoning

• Gain confidence with numbers and shapes

And the best part? Children naturally use maths every day without even realising it, when they sort toys, set the table, or build a tower of blocks.

Fun and Simple Ways to Support Early Maths at Home

You don’t need to set aside extra time for maths. Its easy to build it into your everyday routines with these playful ideas:

🍎 Counting in Context

Make counting part of daily life. Count how many apples are in the fruit bowl, how many steps to the front door, or how many toy cars your child lines up.

Try this: “Can you give me 3 crayons?” or “Let’s count how many socks we can find!”

Skills supported: Number recognition, one-to-one correspondence, quantity

🍽️ Maths at Mealtimes

Mealtimes are full of maths moments. Ask your child to set the table, one plate, one fork, one cup for each person.

Extend it: Talk about shapes (round plate, square napkin), compare sizes (“Is your spoon bigger than mine?”), or share out food (“Let’s split the grapes, how many do we each get?”).

Skills supported: Counting, comparing quantities, early division

🧱 Building with Blocks or Lego

Construction play is brilliant for exploring shapes, balance, size, and spatial awareness.

Add a challenge: “Can you build a tower with 6 blocks?” or “Let’s make a pattern—red, blue, red, blue…”

Skills supported: Geometry, patterns, problem-solving

🛒 Shopping List Maths

Take your child shopping or role-play at home with a pretend shop. Ask them to find a certain number of items, sort groceries by size or shape, or talk about prices.

Simple questions: “Which box is heavier?” or “Can you find 2 round fruits?”

Skills supported: Number recognition, sorting, comparing, money awareness

🎲 Maths Through Games

Classic board games, card games, and dice games are perfect for preschool maths. Games like Snakes and Ladders, Dominoes, or Uno help children count, recognise numbers, and take turns.

Make your own: Draw numbers on stones or bottle caps and play matching or ordering games.

The children I worked with this year loved drawing their own simple board games and finding objects they could use as counters to play with (e.g. Lego people, hair clips, cars etc). The great thing about this activity is that it can be easily adapted for different age children by adding larger numbers, times tables or get them to make their own rules for each step e.g. go back 2 spaces- ohh and that's a sneaky bit of writing practise too😉)

Skills supported: Numeracy, turn-taking, logic

🎵 Maths Through Songs and Rhymes

Songs with numbers, like Five Little Ducks or Ten in the Bed, help children hear number sequences and subtraction in a natural, memorable way.

Get moving: Use fingers, toys, or even snacks to act out the songs.

Skills supported: Counting, subtraction, rhythm and sequencing

🌼 Sorting and Grouping

Children love to sort, by colour, shape, size, or type. Use everyday items like buttons, socks, or toy animals.

Encourage thinking: “How did you decide to sort them like that?” or “Can you sort them a different way?”. Children also love to correct mistakes so model sorting them yourself and get some wrong, wait for your little one to step in and correct you!

Skills supported: Categorising, comparison, reasoning

Top Tips for Supporting Early Maths

• Use real language: Talk about more/less, big/small, heavy/light, before/after. Model talking through what you're doing and how you're solving the problem to help them to understand the process they could follow.

• Be playful: Turn learning into a game or challenge.

• Encourage problem-solving: Let your child figure things out, even if it takes a bit longer.

• Praise effort: Focus on the process, not just the right answer.

Maths is everywhere.....on your plate, in your toy box, even in your sock drawer! By making it part of your everyday conversations and play, you’ll help your child develop strong early maths skills without any pressure.

The most important thing? Make it fun. When children enjoy learning, they stay curious, and that’s the best foundation you can give them.

Looking for more practical parenting tips? Subscribe to our newsletter for activity ideas, or follow us on social media for more inspiration!