Hold on…picture books in math?!? Of course! Math books for kids are perfect for teaching math concepts in elementary school. Children will not only understand the real-world applications of math, but they will also have a greater likelihood to develop math confidence. Here are a few of my favorite math books for kids.
I’m sharing all of these books on video as well! Check out the Math Books for Kids video on my Youtube channel.
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Math Books for Kids
Math Curse by Jon Scieszka
Did you ever wake up to one of those days where everything is a problem? You have 10 things to do, but only 30 minutes until your bus leaves. Is there enough time? You have 3 shirts and 2 pairs of pants. Can you make 1 good outfit?
Then you start to wonder: Why does everything have to be such a problem? Why do 2 apples always have to be added to 5 oranges? Why do 4 kids always have to divide 12 marbles? Why can’t you just keep 10 cookies without someone taking 3 away? Why? Because you’re the victim of a Math Curse. That’s why. But don’t despair. This is one girl’s story of how that curse can be broken.
Great Estimations by Bruce Goldstone
How many jelly beans are on this book’s cover? Don’t count–estimate!
If someone handed you a big bowl of jelly beans, how would you figure out how many there are? You could count them, one by one–or you could estimate. Do you see more than five jelly beans? Less than a million?
This unique book will show you how to train your eyes and your mind to make really great estimations–by making estimating into a game. Jelly beans are just the beginning!
Sir Cumference and All the King’s Tens by Cindy Neuschwander
Sir Cumference and Lady Di planned a surprise birthday party for King Arthur, but they didn’t expect so many guests to show up. How many lunches will they need? And with more guests arriving by the minute, what about dinner? Sir Cumference and Lady Di have to figure out a quick way to count the guests to bring order to the party.
He and his friends have been entertaining young and old alike for years as they introduce important math concepts with clarity and humor. Sir Cumference and All the King’s Tens is a clever introduction to place value!
Spaghetti and Meatballs for All by Marilyn Burns
This is a great book to help explore perimeters using real life-scenarios like planning a dinner. In this story, Mrs. Comfort had chosen the most economical way of seating 32 guests. As guests entered, they kept changing her set-up, which changed the number of people that could be seated. Young learners from grades 3 – 5 would enjoy working with the different possibilities of perimeters and how learning about perimeters could affect their own lives.
The Action of Subtraction by Brian P. Cleary
Rhyming text filled with funny, countable examples shows what it means to take one number away from another. Readers are also introduced to the terminology they’ll encounter as they learn to subtract.
The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns
The triangle is bored with his shape and asks a shapeshifter to add another angle to his shape….over and over again. He becomes many different shapes until at last he he misses his friends and learns that it’s not so bad being a triangle!
This book is great for early learners of math, introducing the correct names for geometric shapes.
It challenges children’s misconceptions about the position of shapes by showing children shapes in many different forms and positions and places them in contexts that make them accessible to children. The illustrations give children a chance to think more flexibly about shapes and how they are used.
A Dollar, a Penny, How Much and How Many? by Brian P. Cleary
This amusing book teaches young readers how to count and mix pennies, nickels, fives, tens, twenties, and other coins. The upbeat lyrics and silly graphics make this suitable for children. It is a fantastic nonfiction book for teachers to expose children to money. The rhyming writing and comical graphics make learning about money enjoyable and will inspire children to read this book again and again.
Reading aloud across the curriculum is so important and these math books are perfect to share with your students!
What are your favorite math books for kids? Which ones do you use in your classroom?
Free Picture Book List
Looking for more books to read aloud with your students? Grab this FREE list of books to teach Social Emotional Learning skills! SEL skills are more important than ever before. This book list of social emotional learning topics will make it so much easier to teach these skills to your students. The titles are split up by SEL skill and competency. This will make it easy for you to teach just one at a time!
Save this Book List
Be sure to save this pin to your favorite read alouds board on Pinterest! You’ll be able to come back to this book list when you are ready to read them aloud with your students.
