Do you have a preschool child who is starting to understand number concepts? These interactive counting picture books will help your preschooler learn to count in a way that is fun and engaging!

As a homeschool mom of 15+ years, I think the best way for young children to learn to count is through play and games. As your preschool child shows awareness of number order, however, reading interactive picture books is a fantastic enrichment activity to enhance his or her understanding. 

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Best Counting Books for Preschool Kids

My preschoolers love these counting books! We read them over and over together. 

Over in the Meadow by Paul Galdone

My daughter (now eight years old) used to love this book through her toddler years, asking constantly for me to read this book to her. Because of its rhyming text, I like to sing this book when I read it to my little learners. Here is the link to the tune I sing. Every number up to ten shows a mother and her children, starting with a mother turtle with her little turtle one to a mother fox and her little foxes ten. 

Sale

Over in the Meadow: An Old Nursery Counting Rhyme

• Used Book in Good Condition
• Paul Galdone (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 32 Pages – 06/01/1989 (Publication Date) – Aladdin (Publisher)

$1.85

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Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow

Do you want to know the silly story behind the song about the five little monkeys jumping on the bed? You will learn here, as Eileen Christelow tells of the monkeys getting ready for bed. They jump on the bed until one of them gets hurt. But when the doctor tells them not to jump on the bed, they mischievously do it again. This rhyming book is also a song. If you can sing books to children, they love it!

Sale

Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed Padded Board Book (A Five Little Monkeys Story)

• Christelow, Eileen (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 30 Pages – 04/04/2017 (Publication Date) – Clarion Books (Publisher)

$9.59

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Ten Little Ladybugs by Melanie Gerth

Count with your small children one by one, almost all of the ladybugs get distracted by other insects except for the last one. This ladybug is left alone until a breeze comes along and blows her home with all the other ladybugs and wildlife.

Bendon Ten Little Ladybugs Piggy Toes Press Storybook

• TACTILE: Uses tactile ladybug buttons to teach young children to count
• COVER: Hardcover with ladybug counting toy built in
• SIZE: 22 pages, 9.2 x 7.2 inches
• COLOR: Toddlers love the bright colors and disappearing Ladybugs

$11.46

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The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

On a warm, sunny morning, a baby caterpillar pops out of an egg. Follow the caterpillar, trying one apple, two two pears, and many more interesting foods. But all this eating results in a stomach ache. Finally, he finds the right food for him — a delicious green leaf. After emerging from a cocoon, the caterpillar transforms into a beautiful butterfly.

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The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Rise and Shine)

• Now even younger children can follow the little green caterpillar as he eats his way to becoming a beautiful butterfly in this sturdy board book
• Great for early development
• Children will enjoy this delightful tale
• Ages 3 to 7
• Hardcover Book

$11.58

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Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchins

The style of the illustrations in this book is very unique.  The wooden hinged figures with intricate designs render a Dutch farm theme. A farmer is trying to keep his ten beautiful apples growing on the apple tree. Animals keep running  by and stealing them one by one, until they are all gone. Next thing he knows, the animals carry him away and he finds out what happened to all his precious apples.

ten red apples

• Pat Hutchins (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 32 Pages – 06/12/2025 (Publication Date) – Scholastic (Publisher)

$14.97

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Richard Scarry’s Best Counting Book Ever

Your kids will count along with Willy Bunny in this story. He is bored and begins to count the number of items and things he encounters that day. Kids love interacting with the books that we read to them!

Best Counting Book Ever

• Scarry, Richard (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 64 Pages – 01/02/2014 (Publication Date) – HarperCollinsChildren’sBooks (Publisher)

$14.65

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My First Counting Book Golden Book Illustrated by Garth Williams by Lilian Moore

In this board book, the reader counts different kinds of animals throughout the story. Garth William’s (illustrator for the Little House on the Prairie books) colorful illustrations display the animals’ different ways of each of their life cycles and environments.

My First Counting Book

• Hardcover Book
• Moore, Lilian (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 24 Pages – 02/01/2001 (Publication Date) – Golden Books (Publisher)

$5.57

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Bear Counts by Karma Wilson

Bear looks up at the sky and begins to count the insects, the birds, the clouds. Mouse follows him, and together, they count all the wildlife in the forest. “Numbers, numbers, everywhere. Now YOU can count too, just like BEAR!”

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Bear Counts (The Bear Books)

• Hardcover Book
• Wilson, Karma (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 32 Pages – 05/12/2015 (Publication Date) – Margaret K. McElderry Books (Publisher)

$15.10

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Chicka Chicka 1,2,3

My littles love the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom books and were excited to find that there was another version but with numbers! All the numbers race to the top of the apple tree, but what they meet at the top will send them tumbling back down.

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Chicka Chicka 1, 2, 3

• Chicka Chicka 1 2 3
• Hardcover Book
• Bill Martin Jr. (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 40 Pages – 08/01/2004 (Publication Date) – Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (Publisher)

$11.53

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Ten Black Dots by Donald Crews

What can you make with dots? Read this basic counting book to find all the creative ways to see black dots in everyday objects. This is a fun way for young children to learn number concepts from one to ten. 

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Ten Black Dots

• Crews, Donald (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 32 Pages – 09/21/1995 (Publication Date) – Greenwillow Books (Publisher)

$7.60

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The M&M’s Counting Book

This is a good book with bright colors, as the M&M’s characters teach counting in their rhyming words. It is a great tool for teaching not only counting, but also the shapes and colors. It also has a little bit more advanced math concepts that are great for four to six year-olds.

The M & M’s COUNTING BOOK

• BARBARA BARBIERI MCGRATH (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 30 Pages – 06/11/1994 (Publication Date) – Scholastic Inc. (Publisher)

$2.71

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Count to 10 With a Mouse by Margaret Wise Brown

Margaret Wise Brown is one of my favorite authors. Big Red Barn and Goodnight Moon are two of my favorite books of hers. Count to 10 With a Mouse, another one of her works, but as a simple counting book. A mouse lives in his hole in a book, before he decides to explore to the next page. Each one has a different number of birds or animals that the mouse counts.

Count to 10 with a Mouse

• Brown, Margaret Wise (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 06/12/2025 (Publication Date) – Parragon Book Service Ltd (Publisher)

$5.30

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Birdsongs by Betsy Franco and Steve Jenkins

What I love about the book Birdsong is that it’s a great for little readers to learn a different variety of birds while also learning to count. As the sun slowly rises, these birds go about their normal routine in their habitat. This delightful book could have a dual purpose, teaching math and nature study.  

Sale

Birdsongs

• Hardcover Book
• Franco, Betsy (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 40 Pages – 01/09/2007 (Publication Date) – Margaret K. McElderry Books (Publisher)

$16.15

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How Many Snails? by Paul Giganti Jr.

How many Snails invites children to interact with the reading as they count different items based on their qualities. Each page shows a number of one kind of animal or object, and the reader will be asked simple questions like how many trucks out of all of the trucks are fire trucks? And how many dogs are spotted? 

Sale

How Many Snails?: A Counting Book (Counting Books (Greenwillow Books))

• Giganti Jr., Paul (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 24 Pages – 09/21/1994 (Publication Date) – Greenwillow Books (Publisher)

$7.19

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This Little Pup by Laura J. Bryant

Follow a young puppy in this children’s book as he chases after a ball. The ball bounces past cows, and chickens, and pigs, and all sorts of animals there on the farm, counting them as he goes. It bounces past everything, until finally, the little pup catches it.

This Little Pup

• Hardcover Book
• Bryant, Laura J. (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 32 Pages – 04/01/2020 (Publication Date) – Albert Whitman & Company (Publisher)

$16.99

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Big Fat Hen by Keith Baker

This is a great book that borrows lines from Mother Goose’s nursery rhyme, “one, two, buckle my shoe”, a nursery rhyme that I often read to my little ones. The simple illustrations show the hen and her eggs, and in the end as they hatch into chicks. It is a great way to teach your young readers math skills, and have so much fun reading the rhymes!

Big Fat Hen

• Baker, Keith (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 32 Pages – 04/01/1999 (Publication Date) – Clarion Books (Publisher)

$9.99

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Looking for a way to enhance your child’s number sense? Reading these picture books with your small children is a fun way to do that! What books would you add to this list?

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Looking for ideas to help your kids with basic math skills? Try these five-minute homeschool math games. You can do these free math games with everyone in the family and it will make math fun!

Because math is a skill, it is a subject that should primarily be taught individually. Since each child will progress at their own level and ability, homeschool math lessons are not easily taught in a group. 

There are, however, some fun math games that I have practiced during Morning Time or at the lunch table during our school day with all of my kids together to sharpen math concepts and problem-solving skills. Our kids love this! They often compete to get the most correct at their level. I will occasionally throw in fun games like these and the kids have lots of fun, each begging to be next.

Number Sense and Basic Operations

These mental math exercises are a great way for younger kids to learn number sense and addition facts in a way that makes learning fun!

Younger Children-toddler, preschool, early elementary

• Count as high as you can.
• Count backwards from …10, then 20, then 30 and so on.
• I will say a number and you say the number that comes after.
• Next, I say a number, you say the number that comes before.
• I will say a number and you say the number that comes 2 after. (Me: 5, Child: 7)
• I say a number, you say the number that comes two before.
• As they progress, you can ask addition and subtraction facts, making it a game.

Elementary Children

Flash cards can be great for teaching multiplication facts, but another fun way to learn is through skip counting.

• Teach young children to skip count. Starting with 0, what is two more? Then two more after that? Skip count 2’s to 20. They have learned even numbers and multiples of 2.
• Starting with the youngest who can skip count, have them say multiples of a number (skip counting) by level, according to their ability, 2’s to 20, 3’s to 30, 4’s to 40 …up to 9’s to 90.
• Extension: Say the multiples backward, starting with the highest number. (ie. 90, 81, 72, 63, etc.)

They may not realize it, but these are all their multiplication tables and division facts.

Making Change for All Ages

For Young Children

• Easy: I say a one-digit number, you say the missing number that makes 10. (Me: 3, Child: 7) Use all the number combinations and see if they guess all the different ways to make ten. This is preparing them to be able to make matching numbers for 100.

Elementary and Middle Children

• Progressing: I say a number, you say the other number that makes 100. (Me: 27, Child: 73) We do this one over and over until it becomes automatic. It’s actually a challenge for me as well to be able to think of it before they do!
• Medium: I say an amount of change. You say the opposite amount that would make a dollar. ( Me: $0.43, Child: $0.57)
• Hard: I say a dollar and change amount. You say the change if you give a $10 bill. $20?

Probability (For All Ages)

Using a pair of dice and a white-board, list all the possible roll combinations. These hands-on math games help young minds grasp the concept of probability. Ask kids these questions.

• What is the lowest number you can roll?
• What is the highest number you can roll?
• Starting with 2 and going up to 12, list the combinations for each number on the white-board. Ask them what number has the most likelihood of being rolled? (7)

Middle School and High School

You may not know anything about Algebra or quadratic equations, but you can still prepare your older children for the kinds of problem solving that they will have to do in Algebra I and II by trying this simple game.

Factoring is the basic skill used in solving quadratic equations. To help prepare high school students for solving quadratic equations (example below), this is a great game to help sharpen their factoring skills! It is super easy and involves basic addition and multiplication skills.

I begin with a number with several factors, for example, 24. Look at the factors in the number 24 and ask these questions. (They will eventually see the pattern, but do not tell them beforehand that you have picked the number 24!)

-What two numbers multiplied together make 24, but added together make 25? (1×24)

-What two numbers multiplied together make 24, but added together make 14? (2×12)

-What two numbers multiplied together make 24, but added together make 11? (3×8)

-What two numbers multiplied together make 24, but added together make 10? (4×6)

–

Play this fun game over and over again with numbers that have a handful of factors like 20, 30, 36, 40, 42, 48, 60, 72.

This favorite game will quickly sharpen their multiplication and factoring skills. After playing several times, solving quadratic equations will seem easy peasy!

At our house, I keep a lot of games like these in my back pocket and when we need something different in our routine, I will pull them out to mix things up.

For example, at lunch, we will sometimes have math game time. We might go around the table, starting with the youngest child, asking questions according to their level, and going around up to the oldest. They all can’t wait until it’s their turn again to get a question! They like to be challenged and to show that they can get the correct answer in front of other siblings.

Although our kids spend time each day consistently making progress in their math curriculum, I think the best way for kids to learn math facts is to develop a love of learning through life skills and cool math games.

Playing fun math activities like these is the perfect way to make math a favorite subject quickly!

Have you tried any of these educational games with your whole family? I’d love to hear your feedback!

Pin It! Five Minute Homeschool Math Games You Can Do with Everyone

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