Educating Young Children Volume 2 - Fall 2026 | Now Read This

By Alissa A. Lange, Ashli-Ann Douglas, Carrie S. Cutler, and Jessica Mercer Young

Energizing Our Teaching Through NAEYC’s Early Math Interest Forum

In Count on Me, by Miguel Tanco, a young child describes the unique passions, interests, and activities enjoyed by family members and peers at school. But alas, none of these passions is a good fit. . . . This child knows one thing she really is drawn to and loves: Math. Through beautiful illustrations and text, math is depicted as all around us, both in plain sight and hidden as a joy to find.

—Stephanie Calabrese, HELLO post contributor to the NAEYC Early Math Interest Forum

Continuous, collaborative learning is a hallmark of preparing and supporting educators and ongoing professionalism. By advancing their knowledge, understanding, abilities, and skills, early childhood educators hone their practice and nurture their relationships with children and families.

NAEYC’s myriad Interest Forums are one way to engage with other educators to advance learning and build a professional network. We (the authors) are a few of the facilitators from the Early Math Interest Forum, which works to promote high-quality mathematics learning opportunities for all children. The Forum provides early childhood educators with a space to come together, share playful learning resources, and learn more about the big ideas in early math. A critical part of the Forum’s mission is to address issues of equity and access to early math learning opportunities while fostering positive mindsets toward math among children and adults (see “History and Purpose of the Early Math Interest Forum” below).

As part of the Early Math Interest Forum’s professional networking opportunities, members can gather in person at NAEYC’s Annual Conference and attend virtual meetups and webinars throughout the year. As facilitators, we also participate in NAEYC’s online community, HELLO, where we encourage educators to connect with, learn from, and support each other.

One way we foster this ongoing community is by highlighting a “Math Picture Book of the Month.” Our aim with this initiative is to

• Connect educators and others to meaningful, integrated, and engaging early math learning experiences.

• Reflect on the variety of math skills that young children can learn.

• Share practical ways to support children’s math learning through a medium that is familiar and comfortable for teachers—books!

While each post’s author provides initial suggestions for using a book to explore math, Forum participants extend and personalize the discussion through their replies.

We fully embrace the idea of math as “a joy to find,” as Stephanie notes in the excerpt of her post above. We also believe that early math and children’s books are a natural pair: Through high-quality fiction and nonfiction texts, books can prompt young learners to think about and apply math in new ways. Following, we share four books that were recently highlighted in “Math Picture Book of the Month” posts along with activity suggestions for educators. (Check out our HELLO page for more details and to read these posts in full.)

Yellow, Red, Green—Go!

By Ellen Mayer. Illus. by Ying-Hwa Hu. 2024. Star Bright Books.

“This book highlights that math is a part of everyday life and early math talk is fun!”

—Ashli-Ann Douglas, Ohio

We experience math every day. In this board book, a mother and child go on a bike ride to Grandma’s house and discover how traffic lights make a pattern—yellow, red, green—again and again. The child then identifies more visual and sound patterns (bow-wow-woof, bow-wow-woof) as they continue their ride. This book illustrates the early math skill of patterning: Identifying or recognizing repeating units and extending or continuing them. It also comes in a Spanish version, ¡Amarillo, rojo, verde . . . pasen! 

Try this! Use this book’s suggested activities to support children’s developing understanding of patterns. For example, organize a pattern scavenger hunt inside or outside, and ask children to find and describe the patterns they see on clothing, rugs, and items in nature.

Count on Me

By Miguel Tanco. 2019. Tundra Books.

“Students can keep their own math journals as an open-ended way to draw, tally, or write about the shapes they find in their world.”

—Stephanie Calabrese, Virginia

Across many of our book posts, we see ways in which math can be fun, engaging, and developmentally appropriate. Count on Me (described in the opening quote) highlights how math is all around us, from geometric patterns on the playground to concentric circles that form when a rock plops into a lake.

Try this! Use the book’s illustrations to introduce shape activities. Ask children to refer to the page that displays three-dimensional shapes and use it to identify and label blocks with their correct mathematical names (rectangular prisms, cylinders, cubes).

There’s a Bear on My Chair

By Ross Collins. 2022. Candlewick Press.

“Introduce vocabulary . . . identify rhyming words and have students give a thumbs-up when they hear a rhyming word; have children draw a picture of a bear and a mouse.”

—Erica Estrada, Illinois

There’s a Bear on My Chair tells the story of a tiny mouse whose favorite chair has been overtaken by a big polar bear. The characters explore positional words (on, in, under, behind) as they rhyme their way through the story. Educators can use the book to help children begin to investigate and develop spatial awareness.

Try this! Invite children to draw a picture of the bear and the mouse, then cut the pictures out and tape them to a stick. Ask the children to retell the story by acting it out and using math vocabulary to describe the characters’ positions.

10 Gulab Jamuns: Counting with an Indian Sweet Treat

By Sandhya Acharya. Illus. by Vanessa Alexandre. 2017. Mascot Books.

“I will definitely get this book for our program. We often see different treats packed in the lunches of our students, and now we can see if they match the pictures in the book!”

—Jenny James, Maryland

Everyone is capable of doing math, including children. 10 Gulab Jamuns: Counting with an Indian Sweet Treat showcases opportunities to use math while sharing cultural traditions. In the story, Idu and Adu count the number of gulab jamuns (soft, deep-fried dough balls) that their mother makes for guests, then determine how many remain after they sample some. After snacking, the two help their parents make more gulab jamun treats and serve them to their guests.

Try this! While this book highlights counting and cardinality, it also provides opportunities to extend children’s math thinking to concepts like subtraction and measurement. A recipe for gulab jamuns is included at the back of the book; making this treat with children would allow them to explore measurement in a hands-on way.

Educators can apply the ideas in this article by asking how they might take a book they love and explore the math ideas in it. How can they use books that authentically reflect children’s cultures to engage with mathematical ideas?

This article can also be a jumping-off point for teacher educators, coaches, professional development trainers, and others interested in introducing more math into their professional learning offerings. Consider sharing one HELLO post and associated book, then facilitating a discussion within a learning community. Explore how participants use the book in their own settings—and encourage them to share their own favorite math books!

About the Authors

Alissa A. Lange, PhD, is the director of the Early Childhood STEM Lab and professor of early childhood education at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee. langea@etsu.edu

Ashli-Ann Douglas, PhD, is a developmental psychologist and research associate at WestEd. adougla@wested.org

Carrie S. Cutler, EdD, is a clinical professor of mathematics education at the University of Houston in Houston, Texas. cscutler@central.uh.edu

Jessica Mercer Young, PhD, is a principal research scientist at Education Development Center. jyoung@edc.org

Copyright © 2026 by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. See permissions and reprints online at NAEYC.org/resources/permissions.