Math Activities

So here are some math ideas that I'm wanting to keep logged for myself and for others.

Domino Fact Families

If your little one is doing Singapore as well, you know they introduce fact families quite early. I love this, but for my sweet boy he needed some extra practice in doing these. The dominoes do just that. I wrote out the equations for each domino fact family and he filled in the boxes. Easy weesey!  

Toothpick Groupings

What I love about this is it's easy to set up and you can reuse it for any set of numbers. I don't have as many linking cubes to carry me through to a few hundred, so toothpicks are much easier.  If you don't have toothpicks, use lima beans or anything that can fit. Each circle has the same amount of items. So it truly is just skip counting. 

Take some butcher paper, or in our case, just some easel paper, and draw 12 large circles.

Get 12 index cards fold in half, place the numbers on it, and have the kids group accordingly. 

Then when you are done with 7's flip them over and write the 8's on the back. We would do this activity for hundred's day when I was teaching in Korea- the kids loved it. 

At this age, the key is to teach them the idea that you can skip count, not total memory or mastery of the subject. 

 Basic Sorting Activity

I just have the kids sort base on what their ability or our objective. We had a friend over for school time the other day and he was able to identify and sort by color, so that's what he did. I have often used this activity with yarn and just make three groups of yarn circles. I place three circles on the table and ask them to sort by color. My 3 year old daughter loves to do this as it makes her feel really smart. :)

Then I had him connect them all and we compared the towers to see which one had "more", "less" and was "equal".

 Skip Counting review

So I did this with small numbers, but you can do this with any object that can fit in a cup. Beans, beads, macaroni noodles, etc. 

 Place Value Straws

So for weeks I have been lamenting about how I wish I didn't give every single thing I owned when I quit teaching. Sorry Lis, for all the whining I've been doing. 

But what's that saying, out of necessity comes creativity? I don't know, but either way, here's a great alternative for huge cubes, base ten blocks and thousands cubes.

First, mark all your straws, then group accordingly. I explained to my students how each cup can only hold up to 9, after that, they have to move to the next cup. 

Decide what numbers you want them to figure out. I chose 9's because it is our number for the week and the digital sum (adding the digits) of 9's are always 9! I love 9's, they are by far a great fact family to study.

 Then place in a cup and demonstrate place value. It can be done for review with any number. The key in this activity is to explain why we have another digit in our numbers. I don't expect to have my son memorize his 9's at his age, but I do want him to understand a manipulative that can show him large numbers.

 Egg Carton Math

Materials: An Egg Carton, Lima Beans (the only beans that don't fit up their nose), and a sharpie. Where would we all be without our sharpies?

Label the carton as you would if you were sitting in front and still want to see the numbers.

I had a tri fold carton so it gave me the option of putting it up to 24.

For Lucy, my 3 yr old, I will just want her to master one to one correspondence with this. I want her to just learn what the numbers look like for each one.

For Tony, my 4 yr old, I can use this as a counting tool for addition or subtraction. What is 5 + 3? Place 5 beans in the carton and 3 more in his how many bin.

General Ideas that might spark more...

Well, if you haven't visited a teacher store without feeling overwhelmed with all the wonderful manipulatives they have available, then you just haven't lived yet. I know, I said it.  Yep, that's how the teacher in me feels when I go into teacher stores. My blood rushes, my heart pounds faster, my hands seem to have sticky spiderman glue on them and I just think, "I need that. Ouuu that would be the best thing ever!"

Here are a few things that I think would keep the older child busy and not break the bank...

1) counting blocks (you know the base ten connecting kind)
2) tangrams
3) a great reliable scale (well this one might tip the scales a little) :)
4) magnets
5) Lots of cups and baggies (bought at Walley World) to collect things and measure and pour
6) Measuring devises... rulers, measuring spoons, etc
7) Lots and lots of string, yarn, glue, construction paper, etc

Here are some great ideas from the all too wonderful Pinterest...

http://pinterest.com/gypsycrecia/school-and-learning/


I mean really, who can't find something on Pinterest to love???

Ok, I hope these help some!