Preschoolers can learn simple fractions such as one-half or one-third with an easy-to-make paper-and-glue heart art project. Pre-cut one cardboard or card stock heart approximately 6 to 8 inches across and down per child. Cut many different hearts, in the same size as the cardboard hearts, out of red, white and pink construction paper. Create halves and thirds by cutting the colored construction paper hearts into even pieces. Give each child a cardboard heart as a base for the collage and a glue stick. Ask the children to mix and match the cut heart pieces to create pictorial fractions. Compare this to putting together a puzzle. Have the children glue the heart fractions into place.
Create special holiday favorite color charts that will also help your preschoolers to learn about number recognition, counting and fractions. Focus on red, pink or purple favorite holiday colors. Instead of drawing the traditional circle-shaped pie chart, make a festive heart shaped one. Draw three large hearts that are at least 12 inches wide and long on a piece of white paper. One heart will be for red, one for pink and the third for purple. Ask the students which color is their favorite. Record the response numbers on the side of the charts. Remind the students that they can only vote once. Ask the children to help you count the total number of students in the class. Divide each heart into pie-like pieces for the total number of students. Color the pie pieces for each chart with a corresponding color (such as red, pink and purple) based on the number of student responses.
Help your preschoolers gain essential counting skills by creating a simple set of counting cards. Count out 10 blank standard index cards per child. Ask the children to draw one heart on the first card, two on the second, three on the third, and so on until they get to 10. Use heart stickers as an alternative to drawing. Encourage the children to regularly count the number of hearts on the cards in order from one to 10 to learn about numbers.
Make a pictorial representation of a basic math equation with hearts. Use heart-shaped blocks or another similar heart manipulative to create groups of numbers that can be added to form a sum. For example, make one pile of two hearts and a second pile of three hearts. Ask the children to count all of the hearts in both piles and make a third pile that equals the sum (i.e., five).