You can use them to sort, count or use them with patterns. These multicoloured manipulatives can be purchased cheaply online or in most toy stores. You could also use the houses from monopoly or Lego blocks.

Patterns with bears: In word create some simple pattern cards to help get your child started, like the ones in this picture, or simply download these ones via the link. The first page is an AB pattern, meaning two colours alternate in the pattern. The second page is an ABC pattern, meaning three are three colours in the pattern. For this activity, your pre-schooler will set the coloured bear on top of the matching colour to create a pattern. On the ABC pattern cards, the last circle is left empty. That is for your child to tell you what colour it should be.

Sorting colours with bears: Another way to use these tools is for sorting activities. Sorting is a key mathematics skill and these activities provide the foundation for early numeracy learning. Children can sort the bears into colours, if you have different animals, they could sort them into types of animals too. You can download and print both activity cards via the link below. Source: Teaching Mamma (2019, August 10).15 Hands-On Math Activities for Preschoolers Retrieved from https://teachingmama.org/15-hands-on-math-activities-preschoolers/