Beginning our Preschool Interactive Math Journals

I started a simple interactive math notebook with N this week as a way to gather and document some of our learning moments — mostly for fun and something to look back on later, since he’s still only 4 and I want to establish a pattern of happy encounters with math :).

I was watching him cut something out with scissors and realized he’s probably ready to try practicing cutting things on actual lines, so I drew some basic shapes on different colors of construction paper and asked him if he could cut them out. It was definitely good practice, although a bit of a stretch to follow ALL the lines ;).

I pulled out some of our new composition notebooks we had picked up at Walmart (I CANNOT pass by a pile of cute composition notebooks during back to school sales without picking out more for our collection! So now I’m tasking myself with creating tons of interactive journals :).)

Shapes Practice Journal Pages

We started one with a simple page that consisted of gluing down the shapes he had cut out, then tracing over the names of the shapes. I made up a bit more elaborate version and am attaching it at the end here to share with anyone who would like it.

Even though it’s simple, this activity provides opportunity to practice some good fine motor skills while learning math: cutting along lines, coloring (in lines, if they want 😉 ), gluing (definitely a skill in itself!), tracing letters, and the big one: learning 8 basic geometric shapes! (And the really big skill: following directions!!)

You could print these shapes practice pages and use them as they are, or include them in your own math journals. I plan to continue sharing free pdf versions of some of our little activities as we continue our learning journey. Follow my blog if you’d like to to see more of these!

The cutting skills are still a work-in-progress :). Here’s a picture of the completed journal pages. This was a simple, quick activity that helped him practice coloring, cutting, tracing letters, and identifying 8 basic geometric shapes.

We’re creating an interactive math journal as we go. Here’s a picture of the completed shapes practice pages glued into the journal.

Free Printable pdf Version:

You can download this free activity here — shapes templates.

I hope this helps you and your little ones spend a few happy minutes doing math together! 🙂

If there’s ever any resources you’d like to see here, let me know and I’d be happy to see if I can make something to help you!

More Math Resources for Teachers, Tutors, and Parents

If you’d like to visit my store to see my library of learning resources focused on math for Pre-K through Geometry, you can check it out here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Sandra-Balisky

Other Math Monday posts:

• Ten-frame math with seashells
• Cotton Ball Algebra
• Sticker Bar Graphs
• Tessellations
• RightStart curriculum
• Exponential Growth (for kids)

More Resources:

Below are affiliate links for some of the products (or related products) that I mentioned in this post. You can read my full Disclosure and Privacy Policy here.