The Mitten Story-related Math Pack for Preschoolers
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The Mitten, a Ukrainian folk story rewritten by Jan Brett, tells of Nicki, who loses one of his new white mittens, which is used and stretched by several forest animals as they try to find shelter on a cold winter day.
That is why I made a FREE 21-page pack for The Mitten story with ten activity sets. This pack will help preschoolers develop creative and critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, understanding of sizes and shapes, one-to-one correspondence, number recognition, counting, hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, and addition skills. You can download it at the end of this post.
The Mitten Math Pack
Preschoolers must get used to numbers and practice their counting abilities to develop cognitive skills, number sense, and number recognition, laying the foundation for progressively more complex numerical processing.
There are many math activities you can do using this storybook. These are just some ideas you can use with your preschoolers in your classroom or at home for fun and educational math activities related to this beautiful story.
The Mitten Memory Game
This game strengthens the children’s concentration and memory, and it helps them work on one-to-one correspondence and creating sets.
The Mitten Math pack includes 11 cards featuring the story’s characters. For each game set you want to create, print each sheet twice on white cardstock. Cut out and laminate the cards to extend their lifespan.
This game can be played as an individual activity or with a partner. Keep it super simple and have the children place the cards face down. Each child must randomly select a card and try to match it with its double. The child who matches the most cards wins the game.
The Mitten Count and Clip Cards
Since counting to 10 is an abstract concept based on memorization, working on number recognition early will help children build their critical thinking and confidence. In addition, using clothespins to clip the correct number on the cards will help them develop their fine motor skills.
This Math pack includes two sheets with nine cards each, for a total of 18 count-and-clip cards.
Print the sheets on white cardstock, cut them out, and laminate them for durability. You can place them together in a small basket with clothespins for children to work independently.
Circle the Larger or Smaller on the Row
Preschoolers must develop visual discrimination to identify and recognize similarities and differences in size, shape, letters, numbers, colors, and position. This essential skill will allow them to do necessary activities in life.
This pack contains two size discrimination activities: one to circle the larger in the row and the other to circle the smaller. Both activities come with two sheets and three strips each. You can either keep the sheets together or divide the strips. If you want to reuse the activity, print the sheets on white cardstock and laminate them for durability.
Children should look at the pictures, select which is bigger or smaller according to the strip they are looking at, and circle the correct one using a dry-erase marker if the page is laminated, or a pencil, crayon, or marker if the page is not laminated.
Which is Different?
Another way to help children practice visual discrimination is to present objects in a row, some of which are precisely alike and one of which is different, for them to identify.
This pack comes with one sheet with four strips. You can either keep the sheet together or divide the strips.
As with the previous activities, if you want to reuse this one multiple times, print the sheets on white cardstock and laminate them, or use a dry-erase marker to protect them. Then have children use a dry-erase marker to draw a circle around each picture instead of a pencil, crayon, or marker.
The Mitten Counting
Counting is an essential skill preschoolers need to learn because it helps them understand the meaning of numbers and serves as the basis for all other number concepts. We must give preschoolers plenty of opportunities to do hands-on counting and number-related activities.
The Mitten Math pack includes two types of counting activities. In the first one, children have to count and write the number in the square, and in the second one, they need to count the objects, circle the correct number, and write that number in the line using a pencil, crayon, or marker.
If you want to use these activities multiple times instead of once, print the sheets on white cardstock and laminate them, or place them on a dry-erase pocket and have the children complete the activities using a dry-erase marker.
These activities are great for helping preschoolers work on one-to-one correspondence, number recognition, counting, hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, and addition.
The Mitten Puzzles
Puzzles are very beneficial to preschoolers because they help children develop multiple skills, such as fine motor skills, spatial awareness, problem-solving, logical thinking, concentration, visual perception, self-esteem, and social skills.
I’ve included two large puzzles and eight mini puzzles in the pack, one for each character in the story. Print the sheets on white cardstock, cut them on the dotted lines, and laminate them for durability. You can place them together in a small basket for children to work on or divide them. Use your judgment based on your children’s developmental stages.
The Mitten Counting
This activity encourages preschoolers to select an animal, observe the graphic with several different animals, count how many times the selected animal appears on the graphic, and write that number on the square next to the animal. This process is excellent for helping children develop crucial foundational math skills, cognitive abilities such as one-to-one correspondence and cardinality, and problem-solving strategies. It also enhances their observational skills, focus, and communication about mathematical reasoning.
If you want to use this activity multiple times instead of once, print the sheet on white cardstock and laminate it, or place it in a dry-erase pocket and have the children complete it with a dry-erase marker.
The Mitten Patterns
Preschoolers must engage in pattern activities to build crucial early math, literacy, and critical thinking skills, such as algebra, counting, rhyming, understanding sequences, and making predictions, laying a strong foundation for their future academic success.
These types of activities are also fun activities, and help understand how things change and repeat, boosting necessary learning abilities.
For this activity, children need to cut out the squares with pictures on the bottom of the page and glue them to the correct sequence strip.
Other Ideas:
You don’t have to limit yourself to using only these printables. You can also do many other activities related to this story. Some other activities I can suggest are:
- Have the children use mini plastic animals, like those in the story, to count and take away, make sets, and divide them by size, color, and pattern.
- Cut out paper mittens and write numbers on them. Have preschoolers choose a mitten, identify the number written on it, place it on the table, count out the same amount of small manipulatives, and place them on top of the mitten.
- Teach ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.). As you read the book a first or second time, do a recap of the order in which the animals enter the mitten.
- Get real white mittens and mini animal figurines, and ask the children to place the animals inside the mittens in the same order they appear in the story.
Related Books
You can always read and add other versions of The Mitten and related books to your library at different centers to give children a comprehensive learning experience and variety.
Below are some suggestions. These books can be found at your local library, used bookstore, or on Amazon. To add them to your collection, you can use my affiliate links embedded in the titles for immediate access.
- The Mitten: An Old Ukrainian Folktale by Alvin R. Tresselt.
- The Farmer and the Mole by Hemanth Manokaran.
- The Little Snow Mole by Andrea M. Peterson.
- All Things Rabbits for Kids by Animal Reads.
- Bunnies: A Wild Wonder Book by Mary Sivertsen.
- All Things Hedgehogs for Kids by Animal Reads.
- Pickly But Cute: A Kids Guide to Hedgehogs by Brian Thomas.
- Owls by Laura Marsh.
- A Little Owl by Rosalee Wren.
- Badgers! by Hope Aicher.
- Facts About the Badger by Lisa Strattin.
- All Things Foxes for Kids by Animal Reads.
- Foxes by Laura Marsh.
- All Things Bears for Kids by Animal Reads.
- All About Bears by National Geographic Kids.
- Little Mouse’s Sweet Treat by Shana Hollowell.
- Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh.
Pin It For Later
If you are in a rush and don’t have time to read the post and download the printable, but want to save it, pin this to your Math board on Pinterest for later.
You can use this pack alone or in combination with the activities I offer in The Mitten Literacy Pack, which is also free, to tie these domains together for a complete educational process. They intermingle and complement each other.
To download The Mitten Math pack, click on the link below and type your email.
Be happy, safe, and creative. I wish you well.
Love,
P.S. Let me know if these activities work for you. If you want to see an article or a printable on how to make something specific, please let me know, and I will try my best to create it for you.
