16+ Math Picture Books Your Third Grader Will Love

Full booklist from Third Grade Math with Confidence, with over 16 math picture books your third grader will love.

Why Math Picture Books for Older Kids?

Just because kids get older doesn’t mean they can’t enjoy math picture books! Third Grade Math with Confidence includes a math picture book at the end of each unit to help make the concepts come to life. Here are just a few of the benefits of enjoying math picture books with your upper-elementary-age kids:

Visuals: The illustrations and diagrams in picture books help children visualize math concepts. They also make the concepts easier to understand and remember.
Real-world applications: Math picture books show how math is relevant and applicable to real-world situations, which helps kids see the practical value of math.
Cross-disciplinary learning: Math picture books often integrate math with subjects like science, technology, engineering, art, and even history so that your child can make connections across disciplines.
Fun! Math picture books make math more enjoyable, reduce math anxiety, and foster an overall positive attitude towards math.

Math Picture Books in Third Grade Math with Confidence

Each unit of Third Grade Math with Confidence includes one optional enrichment lesson. These enrichment lessons include both a real-life math application activity and a picture book suggestion. I’ve included all the books in this article (along with links to Amazon) so you can see them all in one place.

This booklist is not meant to to stress you out! (Or bust your budget, either.) You do not have to read every single math picture book to give your child a great math education. But if you can find a few of them at your library or buy a few of them to add to your family’s collection, I bet you’ll discover a whole new way to enjoy math with your child.

A Few Tips on Enjoying Math Picture Books with Your Kids

When you read a math picture book for the first time, just enjoy the story together. Then, come back and discuss the math concepts either after you finish reading or during your second reading. Nothing ruins the fun of listening to a story like constant interruptions from mom!
Add these math picture books to your shelf and reread them periodically. You may be amazed at what your child notices after she’s had a few more months to grow in her math skills.
Enjoy these books with children of multiple ages, and don’t worry if some of the content goes right over some of your children’s heads. Many of these books work for kids from toddlers through elementary age, and there’s no hard-and-fast rules about which ages these picture books are best for.
Third Grade Math with Confidence includes these picture books in the optional enrichment lesson at the end of each unit. If you opt to skip these lessons, just add the picture books to your read-aloud pile and enjoy them during your usual read-aloud time.
If your library doesn’t have many of these books, see if your library participates in a regional lending group. (Here in Michigan, we can request books from any library in the state!) Or, see if your library offers access to an electronic resource like Hoopla, Libby or Overdrive. Digital picture books aren’t quite the same as printed ones, but they’re better than nothing.
Many of these books are also available as read-aloud videos on Youtube.

I hope this list gives you a starting place for enjoying math picture books with your child. Happy Math!

Disclosure: The links to the math picture books in this article are affiliate links. If you go through them to make a purchase, I will earn a small percentage of that purchase as a commission, without any increased cost to you.