If You Take a Mouse to School Story-related Math Pack for Preschoolers
Affiliate Disclosure: “This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase using those links.”
Starting the school year with the fun story If You Take a Mouse to School by Laura Numeroff will allow you to introduce children to your classroom or homeschool, and this FREE math pack can help you plan activities related to the story.
This 16-page pack includes seven different activities, which you can download at the end of this post.
If you want to use the activities multiple times, print them on white cardstock, cut out the parts that need to be separated, and laminate everything to make them last longer.
Importance of Learning Math for Preschoolers
Children start exploring patterns and shapes, comparing sizes, and counting objects at a very young age, and providing them with meaningful, fun, and positive mathematical activities will set up the foundation for them to develop essential skills such as:
- Creative and critical thinking.
- Problem solving.
- Communication.
- Understanding patterns, sizes, and shapes.
- Ability to understand the world around them.
If You Take a Mouse to School Math Pack
You can do many math activities using this storybook as a base. These are just some ideas.
Memory Game
This game is excellent for strengthening children’s concentration and memory, practicing one-to-one correspondence, and creating sets.
The pack includes two sheets with nine cards each for this game. It can be played individually or with a partner. Keep it simple: have the children place the cards face down. Each child selects a card at random and tries to match it with its double. The child who matches the most cards wins the game.
Size Discrimination Activities
Preschoolers must develop visual discrimination to identify and recognize similarities and differences in size, shape, letters, numbers, colors, and position.
This pack contains two size discrimination activities, one to circle the larger mouse in the row and the other to circle the smaller. Both activities come with two sheets, each with 3 strips. You can either keep the sheets together or divide the strips.
Counting and Graphing
Hands-on activities are the easiest way for preschoolers to learn Math. We must give them plenty of opportunities for different counting and number-related activities.
Counting helps preschoolers understand the meaning of numbers, which is the base for all the other number concepts.
Graphing helps them associate objects with numbers easily because children can visualize the information. Graphs are also simple to use and can handle a large amount of data.
I included two different activities to help them practice these skills. These activities are also great for practicing one-to-one correspondence, hand-eye coordination, and fine motor skills.
- Count and Color the Graph – In this activity, children look at the classroom picture, count each object represented in the graph below, and color the correct number of squares to represent the number.
- Graph It – In this activity, children roll the dice, identify the number and picture on the dice, and color the spaces in the correct column according to the number and picture.
To strengthen the dice, print on white cardstock, laminate it, fill it with any material, and seal it with super glue.
You can have one child do the activity, but if you want to make it a friendly competition, you can have two students play. To play, each child has one graph, rolls the dice, identifies the number, and finds the same number on their graph to cover. The winner is the child who colors an entire line first.
Children can use small manipulatives such as bingo chips, buttons, mini charms, mini erasers, stampers, or stickers to cover the spaces. Just remember that if you use the last two, you probably won’t be able to reuse the activity.
Which is Different?
This activity helps preschoolers practice visual discrimination by identifying which item in the row is different. The pack comes with one sheet with five strips. You can either keep the sheets together or divide the strips.
Pattern Activity
Patterns can be found everywhere, and children must learn to identify them, make predictions and understand what comes next, make logical connections, develop their visual discrimination and fine motor skills, and develop their reasoning skills.
This pack includes one sheet with five strips. Each strip has a different pattern. Children have to look at the pattern, select the square with the next item at the end of the sheet, cut the square out, and glue it at the end of the correct pattern. If your children haven’t developed their cutting skills yet, you can always cut the squares for them.
You can do the same activity using natural objects. Present a pattern and invite a volunteer to complete it, copy it, or create their own pattern, and try to motivate every child to participate.
Number Puzzles
Number puzzles are great hands-on activities for preschoolers to build logical reasoning, number sense, and recognition skills such as sequencing, counting, and problem-solving. They also promote hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, and visual perception.
This pack includes three number puzzles with different pictures that must be divided into seven distinct sections.
Mouse-Related Books
Below are some of my favorite mouse-related books. You can find them at your local library, in a used bookstore, or on Amazon. The titles include my affiliate links, which will take you to the correct Amazon page if you want to purchase one.
- If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff introduces this little character and tells the story of what happens when a mouse shows up on your doorstep and you give him a cookie, using rhythmic text and a circular tale.
- If You Take a Mouse to the Movies by Laura Numeroff brings back her famous little mouse with an irresistible tale full of holiday antics.
- Time for School, Mouse! by Laura Numeroff tells how the little mouse searches high and low for his homework, finding many other things. Time for School, Mouse! teaches kids new words while celebrating the fun of going to school!
- The Best Mouse Cookie by Laura Numeroff. Starring the ever-popular mouse, this is a sweet addition to the classic and beloved series.
- Merry Christmas, Mouse! by Laura Numeroff is a simple introduction to numbers. Mouse adds ornaments to his tree, one by one, making it an excellent opportunity for small children to practice counting.
- Mouse Shapes by Ellen Stoll Walsh is the story of three clever mice who use shapes to trick a sneaky cat. In this celebration of shapes, color, and innovation, she proves she’s a master of concept books.
- Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh is a playful introduction to colors, using three white mice who discover three jars of paint–red, blue, and yellow– and mix them to find other colors.
- Mouse Count by Ellen Stoll Walsh is a suspenseful story featuring bold collage art and a touch of mischief. It will appeal to preschoolers who have mastered counting from 1 to 10.
- The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Hungry Bear by Audrey Wood is a classic story full of humor, expressive illustrations, and a surprise ending.
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 later, pin it to one of your Pinterest boards.
You can use these ideas on their own, but I invite you to combine them with the Literacy and Science packs I created for this story to take advantage of the opportunity this book offers. Remember that for a more comprehensive and complete educational process, you should not divorce literacy from math, science, or any other domain. They intermingle together and complement each other.
Remember to download the If You Take a Mouse to School Math Pack. Click the button below and enter your information to download it immediately.
Be happy, safe, and creative. I wish you well.
Love,
P.D. Please let me know if these ideas worked for you or if you think I should add or replace anything. My goal is to help you in any way I can.
