Sunday, September 15, 2013

5 Foam Apple Math Activities





I bought these foam apples in the dollar aisle (I think it was at Target) and decided to put to them use for some fun math activities! 

1. Patterning- The girls have been talking a lot about patterning lately. They have been making patterns in their drawings and in their everyday play. So I asked them each to make a pattern and my 3 year old made a red/green pattern. 



My 5 year old decided to make a  red/green/green pattern. After they put their patterns together I asked them to tell me the pattern they made. Saying the pattern out loud helps to reinforce the concept and it's fun for them to say it as well! 


2. Number Sequencing- Ahead of time I wrote out the numbers 1-10 on stickers and stuck them to each apple. I then mixed them up and asked my girls to place the numbers in order. I gave my 3 year old the 1-5 numbers and my Kindergartener I gave 1-10. ( My 5 year old easily did this so if I were to do it again I would add more numbers to make it more challenging) As you can see this obviously can be adapted for different developmental skill levels. 



3. Number Matching- We used the numbers again for this activity. This time I pulled out our gems and had the girls match the correct number of gems to the corresponding number. Again, you can add higher numbers to challenge kids who have mastered the 1-10.




4. Puzzles- I think the girls had the most fun with these "make our own puzzles". I cut out different shapes in one apple and used a different apple as the puzzle base.


I ended up adding numbers to the pieces when my 3 year old put it together because it was a little difficult for her without them. It was easier for her when she could follow along with the numbers.



5. More/Less/Same- We explored the concepts of More/Less with this next activity. I had my 3 year old sort the red apples into a pile and the green apples into the other pile. I asked her to count them and tell me which one had more and which one had less. She then matched the More/Less cards to the corresponding pile of apples.








We ended up not using same but there's several ways to add that the next time around. Another idea I had was to make a graph with the apples and graph by color and then count them.

There really are endless ways to use these foam apples for math concept play!

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6 comments:

  1. These are fabulous apple activities--thanks for sharing!! I'm pinning it!

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  2. Thanks for sharing this post at my linky part this week over at Crystal & Comp. I just shared with my facebook fans and I will pin it now as well!

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  3. Thank you for sharing! I've pinned your post to my Autumn Fun board on Pinterest :)

    I found your post through the Bee Crafty Kids @ To the Moon and Back.

    www.dottodotconnections.weebly.com

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  4. Apple themed educational fun is great for the fall. This one looks super cute too. Thank you for linking up this week to the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop :-)

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  5. What great ideas!! Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!

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  6. What a fun collection of apple-themed math activities for kids! I can't wait to try them with my boys. Thanks for sharing!! Malia {Playdough to Plato}

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