10 Of The Best Math Books For Kids

Oh, how I love books and reading. It’s so nice reading a book to a bunch of kids and having them completely enthralled.

Using math picture books to engage kids during math lessons works exceptionally well too. I find that by using books about math it helps to break down the barrier that some kids have with the idea of math. They don’t realize that the book is also helping them with their math skills and knowledge…bonus!

I’ve been searching around for some of the best math books and have come up with 10 best math books for you.

Best math books

1. Each Orange Had 8 Slices: A Counting Book by Paul Giganti, Jr & Donald Crews

This book is available from Amazon or Booktopia.

This is a fantastic book to help kids with the skills of problem solving and multiplication. Each page includes a little story and then questions about the story. For example, one of the stories is:

“On my way to the playground, I saw 3 red flowers. Each red flower had 6 pretty petals. Each petal had 2 tiny black bugs.”

The questions include:

“How many red flowers were there?”

“How many pretty petals were there?”

“How many tiny black bugs were there in all?”

Each page also has a matching picture, which will help those kids that need extra support to count the total.

If you’re after some more ideas about teaching multiplication and skip counting, then have a read of How To Teach Skip Counting. Skip counting activities help kids with fluency in calculation and are the basis for multiplication. In the article, I share some of my favorite skip counting ideas.

Age: this book is best suited for junior primary (grades 1-3) and those kids who are learning about multiplication.

Skills: this book helps to develop the skills of problem solving, skip counting, multiplication and repeated addition.

2. The Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchins

This book is available from Amazon or Booktopia.

In this book, Ma has made some delicious cookies for her children to share. But then, the doorbell rings and each time it rings more and more people come.

The children need to work out how to share the cookies with each new visitor.

In class, it would be fun to use real cookies and have the students share them out like in the book.

Age: this book is best suited for grades 1-2.

Skills: this book helps to develop the skills of problem-solving, sharing and division.

3. Spaghetti And Meatballs For All by Marilyn Burns and Debbie Tilley

This book is available from Amazon or Booktopia.

Teaching children about area and perimeter can often be challenging as it’s an abstract concept to teach which can confuse children.

I’ve used this book a few times when teaching about area and perimeter as it helps them to begin to understand these concepts better by using a real-world context.

In the book, Mrs. Comfort is having a family reunion with 32 people attending. She needs to work out how she can seat all of the guests. However, when other guests begin to arrive they change the arrangement of the tables to make different shapes.

Each time guests continue to arrive the tables are changed again. Which arrangement is the best for all of the guests?

The book also has some teaching notes in the back and suggestions for extending children’s learning. Some examples include using cut out squares to construct the different table arrangements in the book; drawing pictures of each new table arrangement, and also using cut out squares to solve other arrangements.

If you’d like another activity to help teach area and perimeter then check out: The Area Stays The Same. In this activity, your students explore what happens to perimeters of shapes made from squares that have been cut apart and then pieced together in a different way.

Age: this book is best suited for students in grades 2-4.

Skills: this book helps to develop area and perimeter concepts.

4. One Odd Day by Doris Fisher and Dani Sneed

This book is available from Amazon or Booktopia.

This book is a fantastic introduction to odd numbers. A boy wakes up to find that everything around him is now odd. He only has 1 sock, his shirt has 3 sleeves and his dog has 5 legs!

The illustrations in this book are marvelous, and you and your students will have lots of fun finding all the odd objects in the pictures.

Age: this book is best suited for students in grades 1-3.

Skills: this book helps to introduce the concept of odd and even numbers.

5. My Even Day by Doris Fisher and Dani Sneed

This book is available from Amazon or Booktopia.

My Even Day is the sequel to One Odd Day. Again, the boy wakes up to now find that all things around him are even. His mother even has 2 heads!

The illustrations are fantastic and your students will find many more even objects than what is mentioned in the text. You need to look carefully, though!

Make sure you also check out My Half Day by the same authors. The fun continues in this book but this time it’s a day of fractions. My Half Day is also available from Amazon and Booktopia.

Age: this book is best suited for students in grades 1-3.

Skills: this book helps to introduce the concept of odd and even numbers.

6. Mouse Shapes by Ellen Stoll Walsh

This book is available from Amazon or Booktopia.

In this book, three mice learn about shapes, creativity, and cooperation. The mice run away from a cat and find themselves amongst some colorful shapes. The mice move the shapes around to create different pictures.

A great book to use when introducing different shapes to students. Your students could also have a go at making some of the pictures with the different shapes.

Age: this book is best suited for students in grades K-2.

Skills: this book helps to teach shape identification.

7. Counting On Frank by Rod Clement

This book is available from Amazon or Booktopia.

Kids love asking us all sorts of questions, and sometimes we don’t know the answers.

In this book, Henry and his dog Frank answer lots of mathematical questions from:

“What if I ran this bath until the room filled up with water, how long would it take?” to

“What if I drew with this ballpoint pen until it ran out, how long would the line be?”

This book is a fabulous way of making math fun!

Age: this book is best suited for students in grades 1-3.

Skills: this book helps to develop many skills including problem-solving, measurement, estimation and calculation.

8. Uno’s Garden by Graeme Base

This book is available from Amazon or Booktopia.

In this book, Uno visits the forest and finds many fascinating plants and animals so he decides to move to the forest. But over time, more and more people arrive and build houses, stores, and businesses, so the plants and animals begin to disappear.

At the top of each page multiplication is used to track the number of plants and animals in the forest. Your students will have fun searching the amazing illustrations for the different plants and animals.

This book not only includes mathematical concepts, but it also is a beautiful story, discusses environmental issues and how we can learn from our mistakes. There is also a page at the end that explains all the maths used.

Age: this book is best suited for students in grades 2-5.

Skills: this book helps to develop the skill of multiplication.

9. Five Little Monkeys Go Shopping by Eileen Christelow

This book is available from Amazon or Booktopia.

In this book, five little monkeys go shopping with their mama. But, what happens when some of the monkeys go wandering off? What about when some of the monkey’s friends arrive?

This is a great way to get your students adding and subtracting and keeping track of all the monkeys!

Age: this book is best suited for students in grades K-2.

Skills: this book helps to develop addition and subtraction.

10. One Hundred Days of Cool by Stuart Murphy

This book is available from Amazon or Booktopia.

Do you celebrate the 100th day of school in your class? Then you may like this book and instead celebrate the 100 days of cool.

The students in the book are challenged by their teacher to come up with 100 days of cool and interesting ideas.

Each page includes a number line at the top, which can be used to talk about how many more days remain until the 100th day. The back of the book also includes teaching notes and other activities for counting to 100.

Age: this book is best suited for students in grades K-2.

Skills: this book focuses on the concept of counting to 100.

Summing up

Do you have a favorite math book? Share your favorite math book in the comments below and let’s get a collection going of the best math books out there!

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