The Tiny Seed Story-related Math Pack for Preschoolers

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The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle is one of my favorite stories, not only for Spring but for the entire year, and the message of resilience and perseverance that is behind its words is powerful and inspiring.

Since I believe that every story gives you the opportunity to create all kinds of activities for your preschoolers, I’ve created a FREE a 29-page long The Tiny Seed Math Pack with multiple activities to go along with this wonderful story which you can download at the end of this post.

Importance of Teaching Math to Preschoolers

Everywhere children go, they can see different patterns, shapes, sizes, and amounts, which they begin to explore when they are one year old. Math helps children make sense of the world around them and solve problems, even when they are playing.

It is crucial that preschool teachers and parents provide opportunities for children to do meaningful, fun, and positive mathematical activities to set up the foundation for their future because learning Math helps children develop important skills such as:

Creative and critical thinking skills.
Problem-solving.
Communication.
Understanding of patterns, sizes, and shapes.
Ability to understand the world around them.

The Tiny Seed Math Activities

There are many math hands-on activities you can do using this storybook. These are just some ideas that you can use with your preschoolers in your classroom or at home, for fun and educational math activities related to this beautiful story.

The Tiny Seed Counting

Print the sunflower mat and graph sheets on white cardstock, keep it whole, or cut out the sunflowers, and laminate them for durability.

Provide real sunflower seeds and have the children count the seeds as they place them inside the sunflower.

For a twist of the activity, you can take out some of the seeds the children place inside the sunflower, to practice subtraction, or have them take out any number of seeds you want.

For the second counting activity, the children have to identify each number in the chart and place the correct amount of seeds inside each rectangle.

The Tiny Seed Number Order

This printable includes three pages with seeds with the numbers 0 to 25. Print them in white cardstock, cut the seeds out, and laminate them.

Have the children place the seeds in number order, according to their developmental stage. Use your discretion with each child and decided how many seeds you can give each of them at a time.

If some of the children are ready, you can ask them to place the seeds in numeric order from 0 to 25 or vice versa, in twos, in threes, in fives, etc.

Pay attention to their counting, to make sure that they come up with the same number, no matter how they count the seeds.

The Tiny Seed Memory Game

This game is great to strengthen the children’s concentration, memory and to work on one-to-one correspondence and creating sets.

This pack includes two sheets with 9 cards each, with some of the places and things mentioned in the story. Print each page twice, for each set of the game, using white cardstock. Cut out and laminate the cards to make them last longer.

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 has to select a card randomly and try to match the selected card with its double. The child that matches the most cards wins the game.

The Tiny Seed Visual Discrimination Activities

It is important that preschoolers develop their visual discrimination to be able to identify and recognize similarities and differences not only in sizes, but also in shapes, letters, numbers, colors, and positions.

This pack contains two size discrimination activities, one to circle the larger in the row, and the other one the smaller. Both activities come with two sheets with 3 strips each, featuring different objects from the story. You can either keep the sheets together or divide the strips. If you want to reuse the activity, just print the sheets in white cardstock and laminate them or use a dry-erase pocket to protect them.

The Tiny Seed Pattern Activities

Patterns can be found everywhere, and it is important that children learn to identify them, to be able to make predictions and understand what comes next, to make logical connections, and develop their reasoning skills. Pattern activities also help preschoolers develop their visual discrimination and fine motor skills.

I included three different pattern activities in the pack. One to complete the pattern, another one to copy the pattern, and the last one to create their own pattern. I also included three sheets of tiles with 12 different designs, to use with these activities.

If you want to reuse these activities you only have to print them out in white cardstock and laminate them, or protect them with a dry-erase pocket. After you introduce the activities, keep them available to encourage your preschoolers to continue working on them.

The Tiny Seed Count and Clip Cards

This pack includes two sheets with six clip cards each. Children have to count the objects on each card and place a clothespin over the correct numbers. For children that have difficulty opening a clothespin, you can have them use a dry-erase marker or a small manipulative to mark the correct number.

To prepare it, just print the sheets out in white cardstock, cut them out, and laminate them for durability.

The Tiny Seed Count How Many Activities

The Tiny Seed Counting How Many Activities

I’ve included four sheets with two different yet similar activities. The first one is simpler. Children just have to count and write the number in the square.

In the second one children have to count the objects, circle the correct number and write that number in the line, using a crayon, marker, or pencil.

If you want to use these activities multiple times instead of just once, print the sheets in white cardstock, laminate them, or place them in a dry-erase, and have the children use a dry-erase to complete the activities.

The Tiny Seed Math Puzzles

This FREE pack contains three sheets of puzzles with real pictures, and different number combinations.

To get them ready, just print all the pages on white cardstock, cut out the strips, and laminate them for durability.

You can use these ideas by themselves, but I will invite you to combine them with the FREE literacy activities I created for this beautiful story, The Tiny Seed, 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.

Estimation Jar

Get a transparent plastic jar, and place seeds in it. Show the children the jar and ask them to guess/estimate how many seeds might be there.
Record their answers on a chart paper.
Open the jar and count the seeds together.
Show them their estimates in the chart paper and ask them if their estimates were the same, more or less than the actual number of seeds.
Ask them if they know the difference between their estimate and the actual number of seeds.
Explain.
Use the opportunity to create simple addition and subtraction problems.

Grouping and Sorting

Give each child a mixture of different types of seeds. Have them group the seeds in equal sets (twos, threes, etc.)
Have them sort the seed using different attributes (color, size, type, texture, etc.).
Have them count how many seeds of each type they have.
In the end, give them a piece of construction paper to make a collage, gluing their seeds into the construction paper.

Other Books About Seeds

Remember that is no such thing as too much reading or too many books. Include different books in your library or book baskets related to the theme or season you are using at the moment, to give children a wide learning experience and variety to choose from.

These are some suggestions of books you can include, which can be found at your local library, used book store, and on Amazon. If you want to add them to your collection, you can use my affiliate link for immediate access.

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 for later, pin this to your Math board on Pinterest for later.

Then check below for other amazing story-related FREE packs, and don’t forget to download your FREE The Tiny Seed Math pack. You just have to click on the link below and type your email, for an immediate download.

Be happy, safe, and creative. I wish you well.

Love,

P.D. Please let me know if you like any of these ideas worked for you, or if you think I need to add or replace something. My goal is to help you in any way I can and I don’t like anything better than to post something that you might find helpful.