Hands on Math Linky

I am ALL about some hands on math! When I saw that Deedee was hosting this math linky party, I had to jump on board. I always say this, but there is a time and a place for work-sheets…I get it…I do it.

But, we have got to find more meaningful learning for our babies beyond work-sheets. This is why I love LOVE everything about this.

Get up, get moving, dance, talk, move, manipulate, create..etc.

There are so many endless ways to make math hands on and fun for kids.

If you are going to be in Vegas this summer, I’m actually doing a presentation on a work-sheet free day!

One of my favorite things we do in math is “Shake it Off” because if you know me, I am a big T-Swift fan. For this, all we do is shake off the smaller number.

We also do something in my classroom called BUILD….which stands for:

B-Buddy Games

U- Using Manipulatives

I- Independent Reading

L- Learning about numbers

D- Doing Math

You can really dive in to it here if you want, but I’ll just give you a few of the activities that I want to highlight for this post!

Here are some of our beginning of the year activities. This is one of our “learning about number” activities. The students just look at the number and then create play-doh counters in the space below.

For this activity, the students make a play-doh snake and write their numbers 1-10 on large popsicle sticks. Then they put the popsicle sticks in order from 1-10. See how easy peasy this is?

And you are such a sneaky teacher by adding some fine motor practice in there 🙂

 Another activity we do all the time is “Math Spins”. Each kiddo gets a math spinner and they sit across from one another. They spin the spinner and cross out whatever number they landed on. The skill set varies and builds throughout the year. The first partner to have their entire board marked out wins. I just laminate the boards and give the kids expo markers.

Every single time there is a rotation of tubs, we do pattern blocks. They have a recording page they can do if they have time, but they love to first go in and match up the shapes and then they go back and try to put shapes inside of shapes to create a new pattern block design. It is so easy and I have to explain it in August and then never again.

Something else I always do is find little erasers at either the Target dollar spot or at Party City and use them as counters for various math activities. This is from January BUILD where students have to draw a number and create it on a double ten frame.

I can’t wait to read different strategies and ideas (love your comments!) of how you are making math meaningful and hands on in your classroom!