Kindergarten math

Kindergarten math is about quantity becoming real, not about worksheets. A child this age needs to count objects he can touch, take a pile of seven and break it into three and four, and notice that it is still seven. TEKS asks him to count to 20 forward and back, recite to 100 by ones and tens from any starting number, compare sets, compose and decompose numbers to 10, name basic shapes and solids, and identify coins. Twenty focused minutes beats an hour of pages. Our rooms cover counting, number bonds, shapes, and sorting well. They do not cover coin naming or three-dimensional solids, so plan to do those with real pennies and real boxes.

• K
• 1st
• 2nd
• 3rd
• 4th
• 5th

What to aim for this year

By the end of kindergarten, a child working at grade level can usually do these.

• Counts forward and backward to at least 20, with and without objects
• Recites numbers to at least 100 by ones and by tens, starting from any given number
• Reads, writes, and represents whole numbers 0 through 20 with pictures and objects
• Compares two sets of objects up to 20 and says which has more, fewer, or the same
• Composes and decomposes numbers up to 10 with objects and pictures, and sees that the total holds
• Models joining and separating situations within 10
• Names circles, triangles, rectangles, and squares, and identifies cylinders, cones, spheres, and cubes
• Compares two objects by length, capacity, and weight using direct comparison
• Identifies U.S. coins by name (penny, nickel, dime, quarter)
• Sorts objects into categories and counts how many are in each

Free, and legal to use

Every one of these costs nothing. The license tag says what you may actually do with it, which is not the same question as whether it is free to read.

• MEP Primary, Reception and Year 1 (CIMT, University of Plymouth) Free Openly licensed

  A complete math program with full lesson plans, practice books, answer keys, and copymasters, built from Hungarian materials and unusually strong on mental math and on talking problems through out loud. The lesson plans tell you what to say, which is a real gift for a first-time teaching parent. British Reception maps to roughly U.S. pre-K and Year 1 to roughly U.S. kindergarten, so place your child by content and ignore the label.

  License: Free to download, copyright retained by the originators through CIMT. The notice on the page reads, in capitals, that the material is made available for NON-PROFIT MAKING PURPOSES ONLY. Free to use with your own child. Not an open license, so you may not adapt and republish it.

• Illustrative Mathematics K-5 Math, Kindergarten Free CC BY

  A full classroom curriculum with detailed teacher guidance, free through Kendall Hunt. Heavier on teacher preparation than the others here, and the math is carefully built. Read the unit narratives before you teach. You may be asked to create a free account.

  License: CC BY 4.0. Genuinely open. You may adapt, print, and republish with attribution.

• Simply Good and Beautiful Math K (The Good and the Beautiful) Free Openly licensed

  120 parent-led lessons as a free full-color PDF. Short lessons, lots of movement and games. The Math Box manipulatives used in levels K through 3 are not offered as PDFs and are sold separately, though the publisher posts instructions for making your own on each level's FAQ page. The curriculum carries a general Christian worldview, which is a plus or a minus depending on your family.

  License: Free to download and use, copyright retained by the publisher. Not openly licensed, so use it with your own children and do not redistribute.

• Khan Academy Early Math and Khan Academy Kids Free CC BY-NC-SA Not confirmed

  Free videos and practice, plus a separate app aimed at ages two to eight. Useful as supplement and review rather than as your spine at this age, since a five-year-old needs objects in his hands more than a screen in front of him.

  License: Free to use. Khan's Terms of Service state that Licensed Educational Content is CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, but reporting suggests license notices were removed from videos and that adaptation may no longer be permitted. Free to use either way. Check the license before adapting anything.

• EngageNY Mathematics, Kindergarten modules Free CC BY-NC-SA

  The New York State modules, written by Great Minds. Very thorough and very scripted. The free version is a stack of plain PDFs, so budget time for printing and organizing. Download from the New York State Education Department archive rather than the publisher's site, where the free original is easy to confuse with the paid Eureka Math Squared.

  License: CC BY-NC-SA. Free to use and share for non-commercial purposes with attribution and ShareAlike. Note that Eureka Math Squared is a separate commercial product and is not covered by this license.

Paid programs, honestly

Nothing here is required. These are the programs families most often ask about, with the real drawback of each one named rather than skipped.

• Math-U-See Primer Paid About $205 to $220 for the complete set including the Integer Block Kit, or roughly $130 to $145 for a Level Up Set if you already own blocks. The Integer Block Kit alone is about $82 and carries you through pre-algebra. Prices verified August 2026 and subject to change.

  Good at: The integer blocks make quantity and place value physically real, and the instructional videos teach the parent before the parent teaches the child. If you are nervous about your own math, this is the program that fixes that.

  Drawback: Primer is deliberately light and many families skip it. The block kit is a real upfront cost on top of the level. Math-U-See's topic-per-level sequence means the level does not line up with a grade's full breadth of standards, so transferring out mid-stream takes planning.

  Suits: A parent who is anxious about teaching math and wants to be taught first, and a child who learns by handling things.

• Dimensions Math PK-K (Singapore Math Inc.) Paid $14.50 per student book, so about $58 for a year of student materials before guides. Verified August 2026.

  Good at: The picture-to-symbol progression is carefully designed, and the student books are inexpensive. It builds number sense rather than procedures.

  Drawback: The Home Instructor's Guide is close to mandatory and adds real cost, because the student books alone will not tell you how to teach the lesson. The mental math emphasis assumes a parent who will actually do the oral work.

  Suits: A parent willing to read a guide and talk math out loud, who wants understanding built before speed.

• Horizons Math K (Alpha Omega) Paid Around $120 for the boxed set, approximate and varies by retailer.

  Good at: Colorful, spiral, and genuinely open-and-go. If you need to hand your child a page and get on with your day, this is built for that. Christian content included.

  Drawback: Heavy worksheet load for a five-year-old and thin on manipulative work, so a child can finish the pages without the concepts landing. The spiral moves on from topics before mastery.

  Suits: A busy household that needs low preparation and a child who does not mind pencil work.

• RightStart Mathematics Level A Paid Roughly $255 to $300 in the first year, since the Book Bundle runs near $99 and the Math Set of manipulatives adds about $175 to $200. Later levels cost far less because the manipulatives carry forward.

  Good at: Uses an abacus and card games instead of worksheets, and deliberately steers a child away from counting as a strategy. Strong for building the instant number recognition this year is really about.

  Drawback: Very parent-intensive, with a manipulative kit that is expensive and fiddly to keep organized. Almost nothing is independent, so it is a poor fit if you are teaching several children at once.

  Suits: One-on-one teaching where the parent has time to sit down and play, and a child who resists worksheets.

Prices are approximate and change often. Check with the publisher before you buy. We describe and link to these programs; none of their material is hosted here.

What a week looks like

1. Monday through Friday, 15 to 20 minutes, and stop while he still wants more.
2. Start every session with counting out loud while moving something real: buttons, beans, LEGO bricks.
3. Two days on the current number idea, one day on shape or measurement, one day on a game, one day loose.
4. Use /bonds and /numbers as the warm-up, then do the hands-on part off the screen.
5. Read a counting book at bedtime. It counts.

Practice it here, free

These rooms on this site cover part of the year's work. No sign-up, and they work offline.

• numbers — Counting and numeral recognition to 20
• blocks — Building and comparing quantities with objects on screen
• rocket — Quick counting and number order practice
• add — Joining within 10
• bonds — Composing and decomposing numbers to 10
• shapes — Naming circles, triangles, rectangles, and squares
• graph — Sorting into categories and reading a simple graph
• units — Comparing objects by length and weight

The rest of kindergarten