Celebrate the crisp, cold winter snow with this fun math lesson plan for younger kids. These three snow-themed math activities are simple to plan and fit in with any winter-based classroom units.
Snowball Math Materials
For these three math activities, gather together the following materials:
- dark or light blue construction paper, cut into 8 1/2" x 11" pieces
- cotton balls
- miniature marshmallows
- two large jars
- white crayons
- white stamping ink
Money-Saving Tip: Have you noticed how large cotton balls have become lately? Save some money and have a parent volunteer cut your stash of cotton balls in half to make them go farther.
Snowball Addition or Subtraction
This math project helps children create groups of snowballs to show simple addition and subtraction equations. In this case, the snowballs are miniature marshmallows, but the cotton balls can also be used for this math activity.
- Review simple addition and subtraction equations
- Pass out the 8 1/2" x 11" pieces of blue construction paper, one per child, along with a number of miniature marshmallows
- Students glue their marshmallow snowballs onto the paper to show their equations, writing the equation underneath their snowballs
Once completed, these snowball addition and subtraction equations can be hung up as an easy winter-themed bulletin board called Snowball Math!
Snowball Estimation
For this whole-class estimation activity, you'll need the two jars and a bag of cotton balls.
To prepare for this lesson, put 20 cotton balls in one of the jars. In the other jar, put as many cotton balls as you'd like to use for this estimation activity.
Show your kids the first jar and tell them that there are 20 snowballs in it. Then show them the other jar and explain that you have no idea how many snowballs are in that jar. Before you count them together as a class, however, you want everyone to take a good guess.
Discuss with your kids how they could use the first jar to estimate how many snowballs are in the second jar and ask what would make a good guess. Once students have settled on their strategies, go around the room and write down each student's estimation of how many snowballs are in the second jar, making a simple graph on chart paper.
Together with your kids, count the snowballs from the second jar, comparing the final outcome with your students' guesses.
Counting By Fingerprint Snowballs
This is a great activity to reinforce counting and grouping skills. Using the Create a series of snowballs in groups of twos, threes, fours or fives.
Using one 8 1/2" x 11" piece of blue construction paper per child, have them draw three circles on the page using a white crayon (this can also be done beforehand).
Using a stamping pad of white ink (one per group of students), have your kids put a series of thumbprints in each circle - for example:
- instruct students to put groups of two thumbprints in each circle and write the total number of groups of two on the bottom of the page. Change the amount of thumbprints that go in each circle based on the skill level of your kids.
- change the focus of the lesson from counting and grouping to addition or subtraction by instructing your students to create simple equations using their fingerprints in the circles and writing the equation underneath the circles.
- in each circle, have students stamp groups of two, three, and four, one set in each circle. Add circles to the blue paper as needed to expand the counting and grouping exercise.
Another option is to avoid putting the circles on the page to begin with, and simply having kids stamp fingerprints in groups beginning with the number one through the number ten, writing the corresponding number under each set of fingerprints.
Regardless of how you use this math lesson plan with your students, don't forget that the results can be used as an easy and cute bulletin board in your classroom or out in the hallway to help everyone celebrate the winter months!
The essence of who we are today largely depends on how we were educated as youngsters. Because early educational development is the precursor to our more advanced education, it is vital that parents take an active participation in helping to form the cognitive functions of their child’s minds. One of the most critical skills that your child will need to learn early on is that of counting, so let’s take a look at how to get your toddler interested early.
Counting makes up the basic principles of mathematics as well as in everyday life and should be one of the very first concepts your child attempts to learn. As numbers will always be a part of our daily existence, teaching your child to count should begin even before they reach preschool. The problem, though, is that children at this age are more inclined to playing than learning. So, how do you get to keep your little tykes interested in counting? The answer may be simple: Integrate fun into your teaching methods.
1. Counting Fingers
The concept of counting should be indoctrinated in your child’s mind even during their infancy. Even at a very young age, a child’s brain can already function and retain basic information. When giving your baby a bath or when changing their clothes, make sure to count aloud each of their tiny fingers and toes. When they reach the terrible two’s, try counting some of their sweets before they eat them.
2. Counting Rhymes
Fortunately, there are an array of sing along rhymes that have proven to be very effective at capturing the interest of toddlers. Music and sounds are great ways to get your children to count along with fun nursery rhymes they can easily understand and recall. You can also play these sing along counting rhymes in the car to help your child retain their interest in numbers.
3. Counting Blocks
When your child reaches the toddling age and begins to play on his or her own, you can give them different sets of connecting blocks to play with. While they keep busy trying to build the tallest tower, ask them to count how many blocks they are able to use. This will help your child harp on their mathematical skills as well as boost their imagination and enhance creativity.
Oftentimes, you do not need fancy books or toys to teach your child to count. When shopping, give your child the freedom to count items, like the number of cereal boxes, sodas, or potatoes that you buy. Little kids want to be just like grown-ups, so allow them to pay for your small purchases so they can learn to count money as well as perform simple addition and subtraction tasks. When going up or down a flight of stairs, ask your toddler to count each step, or you can have them count the number of houses you pass by when driving around the neighborhood.
The key to effectively teaching your little one to count lies in how much fun you can make it for them to do. With these easy tricks, you can be assured that your child will be able to count on their own in no time.
Those of us at AccountingDegree.net fell in love with math at a very young age. If numbers and logic put a smile on your face consider researching your accounting degree program options, such as these online MS in accounting. A love of numbers can lead to a great career.
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Challenge your students with addition and subtraction review and practice using this turkey-themed math lesson plan. Hang the finished products for an easy last-minute bulletin board!
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These Pattern Block Turkeys are a fun way to work on important math skills with kids at a variety of ages. Appropriate for a whole group or small group math lesson, this activity is also a great addition to a math learning center with pattern block activities.
Since Thanksgiving is coming up, these Pattern Block Turkeys also make an excellent combination of math practice with artistic expression. Once your lesson is done, have your kids take them home to help decorate for the Thanksgiving holiday!
Practice with Patterns and More
These turkeys are ideal for introducing or reviewing geometry vocabulary and shape identification. The pattern blocks used in this lesson plan include hexagons, trapezoids, triangles, rhombuses, parallelograms and squares. The shapes are also color-coordinated, which helps students identify and remember the names of specific shapes.
The turkey pictured above was created using a symmetrical pattern, which would also be a good concept to introduce or review during this activity. Students could be required to create symmetrical turkeys or encouraged to create asymmetrical works of art depending on the kids in your class.
Creative Turkeys
While creativity is one goal of this project, each Pattern Block Turkey must begin with a central hexagon in the middle of the background paper. If you want larger and more elaborate turkeys, bigger background sheets are required. The background sheet in this case was a half-sheet. The pattern blocks were white photocopies from math curriculum, which can actually help your students with identifying them through quickly and correctly coloring them using crayons.
Aside from using the hexagon in the center as the turkey's body, the rest of the turkey is up to each student's preference! I encourage students to explore different patterns using the shapes, and refrain from gluing anything down on the background paper until they've made final decisions about their designs. These magnetic pattern blocks can also help kids plan out their creative turkey designs.
Display the Variety of Patterns
Once students are finished gluing their pattern block pieces, provide them with googly eyes and other art materials to help them make creative turkey faces.
Display the turkeys with this Pattern Block Turkey Page, using one half for each student. For each turkey, students must count up the amount of each shape, including hexagons, trapezoids, squares, triangles, parallelograms and rhombuses. I also included a phrase regarding the symmetry of the turkey at the bottom of each half-sheet.
Use these creative turkeys as a classroom or hallway bulletin board before sending them home with your students for a festive Thanksgiving decoration!
