math centers Archives - Teacher's Brain

3 Creative Ways to Teach Math Concepts in Kindergarten

February 9, 2024 teachersbrain Math

Looking for some math activities for kindergarten that will engage your students and make math fun? You’re in the right place!

How can I make math fun for kindergarten or 1st grade?

As early elementary teachers, we understand the importance of laying a solid foundation for mathematical understanding. So I’m sharing some of my favorite math activities that your students are sure to love.

Math in Motion

Incorporate movement into your lessons by using activities like counting hops, jumps, or claps. This not only reinforces counting skills but also helps develop gross motor skills. Consider organizing a math scavenger hunt where students search for a certain number of objects in the classroom or even outside, turning learning into an exciting adventure.

Everyday Math Explorations

Bring real-life context into the classroom by exploring math in everyday scenarios. Create a pretend grocery store or a mini post office where students can use play money to practice addition and subtraction. This hands-on approach not only enhances mathematical skills but also cultivates a practical understanding of how math is applied in daily life.

Math Through Art

Fuse creativity with mathematics by incorporating art into your lessons. Have students create number collages, where each number is represented by a corresponding number of objects or images. This not only reinforces number recognition but also allows for self-expression and creativity. Additionally, explore geometric shapes through crafts, connecting visual arts to basic math concepts.

The sky is the limit with these math activities for elementary students! If you are looking for some math resources that your students can enjoy without much prep on your end, you’ll love these ready-to-go math activities!

Spring Math Crafts

math crafts: math activities for kindergarten

Students LOVE crafts! What better way to engage students in learning math than incorporating some crafts with these differentiated activities? Students can review addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division and you can use the editable PowerPoint to create your own problems if you can’t find what you are looking for with the pre-made worksheets.

Measurement and Data Math Centers

Looking for a new way to engage your students in learning math? Creating an Addition Math Cafe or Math “Salad Bar” is an engaging way to hit target skills, ignite the students learning, and free you up to monitor learning or remediate. You can use these Measurement and Data “recipe” cards as task cards, set up a math cafe in your room for easy cleanup, or just use the printables in small or whole groups.

Kindergarten Math Centers Year-Long Bundle

kindergarten math activities: math centers yearlong mega bundle

Looking for some kindergarten math centers for the entire year that will keep your students engaged in learning and hits all the standards? I have you covered with these Math “Salad Bar” or “Cafe” Centers. Students love it and you will too! Each center comes with printables, and a recipe card (task card) to help students identify materials to participate in the activity.

If you are looking for more math fun, check out my post here for some free math centers!

FREE Kindergarten Math Centers Your Students Will LOVE

September 19, 2021 teachersbrain kindergarten survival, Math

Math centers are a fun and effective way to get kindergarten students engaged in learning and applying important math skills and strategies that we are working on in the classroom.

Your students get to have a more active role in their learning when you use engaging centers, and it gives you a chance to do more one-on-one instruction with the students who need it. This gives students an increased sense of independence, which is always a great thing!

They will also get the opportunity to work with hands-on manipulatives. With students this age, this improves their motivation to learn which then increases their outcomes and helps them hit benchmarks with ease. You can do individual testing once they know how to do centers independently.

I love coming up with fun and creative centers to get my students excited about math. The opportunities are truly endless!

My favorite math centers theme is a “Math Salad Bar” or “Math Café”.

You can make your Math Café (or Buffet or Salad Bar) out of a bookcase or a rolling cart. A student pulls out the manipulative cart and then they choose a recipe card that functions like a task card. It includes the material list, number of people who can participate in the math activity, picture cues, and directions. They will choose their partners if required, fill their tray with materials, and do the activity anywhere in the room! They can easily clean up by using a tray to hold their materials.

Here are three fun activities to include in your café.

Roll and Cover Caterpillar
Sorting Bears by Color
Fish Match-Up Addition

The best part is, you can get all three of these math centers for FREE by visiting my store here.

You’ll get everything you need to get started with your own Math Salad Bar or Math Café.

Check out this video on how to set it up in your classroom!

For more tips, you can also check out my post here.

If you love these and want some more activities, you can get more with the full bundle here! This yearlong bundle includes digital cards, blank recipe cards, assessments, posters, and crafts as well as more math centers.

What is your favorite thing about math centers? Let me know in the comments!

Math Centers for kindergarten

Math Center Ideas For Kindergarten That Are Actually Fun

March 19, 2021 teachersbrain kindergarten survival, Math, Teacher's Pay Teachers, Teaching Tips

Most teachers are familiar with using math centers in the classroom. Centers provide a great way to practice skills while encouraging group interaction. They also allow students to work with concepts while teachers employ direct instruction with an individual student or small group of students. Centers can provide the perfect opportunity for students to use manipulatives for practice.

Math instruction, especially for younger students, is often most effective with manipulatives. Children learn math concepts more easily when they are able to touch, move, and see them in action. They can explore challenging concepts with manipulatives, and increase their confidence before moving on to algorithms or memorization.

Ready to use centers and manipulatives in the classroom, but not sure where to start? Here is an easy way to get started with math centers.

First, choose an area that will store your math centers where students can access them. You may use a particular bookcase, or even a rolling cart that can be moved as needed. Next, choose containers for your manipulatives. Fabric bins with a clear window for labels are a great choice, as you can put one of the manipulatives in the window to identify what belongs in that bin. Even the youngest students can then clean up easily.

You will also need containers for your task cards (or “recipes”), and a container for the worksheets needed. Worksheets can be placed in clear pockets and students can use dry erase markers if you like the idea of using less paper. Be sure students know where to turn in assignments if you would like to check them.

Now that you have your “Math Cafe” ready, you can add the assignments to match your needs! Each recipe card should list the manipulatives needed, how many students should be in the group, and worksheets needed. It should also include picture cues for younger students. Students can then choose a recipe card and complete the tasks independently.

The tasks do not need to be super involved- just simple, fun, and engaging. Need some help finding the right tasks for kindergarten? Check out my Kindergarten Math Centers Yearlong Bundle. This bundle includes enough math salad bar or math cafe task cards for 14 math units.

You’ll also get posters, assessments, photos, material lists, crafts, and more!

Here’s a video tutorial on how to set it up in your classroom

Your students will love visiting the Math Cafe and practicing their skills!

For more kindergarten tips, check out my post on homework ideas for kindergarten students.

How To Set Up A Math Cafe

August 14, 2020 teachersbrain Back to School, Math, Teacher's Pay Teachers, Teaching Tips

Kindergarten Math Cafe

Looking for a NEW way to engage your students in learning math at the beginning of the year? Creating a Math Cafe or Math “Salad Bar” is a great way to hit target skills, engage the students, and free you up to monitor learning. You can use the “recipe” cards as task cards, set up a cafe in your room, or just use the printables in small or whole groups.

math centers

What is a Math Café?

I like to keep all of my math manipulatives in one place, and hold students responsible for cleaning up after their activity. You can make your Math Café out of a bookcase or a rolling cart.

A student pulls out the manipulative cart (Café). Students choose a recipe card (task card – with the material list, number of people who can participate in the math activity and directions), choose their partners if required, fill their tray with materials, do the activity anywhere in the room, and easily clean up by using a tray to hold their materials.

You float around and take notes. One task card is labeled “Teacher’s Group.” This can be used when you see a student needs extra help with a concept. They will sit with you to review the concept, if you give them the card. There are also ipad, computer and blank recipe cards.

My Math Cafe Kindergarten Math Centers resource will give you everything you need for your own Math Cafe.

This resource focuses on counting and cardinality numbers 1-5.

math centers

Here’s a look at what you’ll get:

Standards
Unit 1 Counting and Cardinality with Numbers to 5 Directions, Suggestions, and Links
Materials List Needed for Activities
Task Cards (“Recipe Cards”) 1 Blank, 1 Teacher Station, 1 Computer Station, 1 ipad Station
Trace Write Draw Activity
Read and Roll Card with Printable
Spin and Color the Fish
Spin ROLL Doh WRITE
RACE CAR Game
Race and Roll to the TOP
Cover It –Spin a Number
Roll and Color a Picture
Number Order (count on from a given number)
Trace the Numbers (using sheet pan, magnetic numbers)
Roll and Color (5 Frame)
Roll and Build a Cube Tower
Bowling with Markers
Roll and color the Bugs
Roll and Cover Caterpillar (with pom poms)
Race and Roll to the Top with Number Words
Count and Color the Number
Color by Number (Roll a die.)
Assessment Numbers 1-5
Small Posters for Touch Math Numbers 1-9
Posters for Numbers 1-20 with Ten Frames
Rules Sign
Math Café Sign
Recording Data Sheet for Teacher
Pictures of Set Up

Here is a helpful video about how to set up a Math Cafe or Math Salad Bar for math centers in your kindergarten classroom!

If you love this bundle, you’ll also love my Math Centers Yearlong Bundle! It includes 14 units along with the Math Cafe bundle above to keep your students engaged with fun math centers for the entire school year.

$math centers$

For more Kindergarten math center fun, check out this post here!

How do you like to make your math centers more engaging? Let me know in the comments!