Thursday, March 31, 2011

A MATH GAME FIT FOR THE EASTER BUNNY!

Easter is just around the corner and coloring Easter eggs is one of our favorite traditions.  Once you turn those hardboiled colored eggs into your meal of choice, don’t throw out that egg carton!  It can be used for your child’s newest math game!  With a sharpie, the empty egg carton, and a couple of jelly beans (courtesy of the Easter Bunny), you can turn a simple Easter tradition into a fun way to learn math.  Take the empty egg carton and write the numbers 0-12 in any order on the inside of the individual egg compartments.  You could also write 0-9 with two wild card spaces for younger children.  Place the two jelly beans in random compartments and close the egg carton lid.  Have your child shake the egg carton and the jelly beans will fall into two different compartments.  Open the lid and have the child add, subtract, multiply, or divide (whichever math concept you are working on) the two numbers the jelly beans landed on.  This game can be modified to teach number recognition to preschoolers as well.  It’s a game the whole family can play all courtesy of the Easter Bunny.
Instead of writing numbers, you can draw shapes and/or colors in the egg compartments to teach preschoolers their shapes and colors.  Make multiple games each time you run out of eggs.  The kids will have a blast and be learning at the same time. 

1 comment:

  1. This is a good idea! Tyler did something very similar in Kindergarten with an egg carton, marbles and sight words which were written in the bottom. I like the Easter spin on it. I'm sure the kids would have fun decorating the outside for Easter or whatever other holiday was coming up. Egg cartons are pretty cheap so you could change them up pretty frequently! I think the only problem would be me eating the jellybeans!! =)

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