When I was in elementary school I absolutely dreaded math. It did not come naturally to me and mental math was a struggle. I absolutely dreaded timed quizzes and playing Around the World with math facts. These types of games and activities gave me anxiety because I never had a strong conceptual understanding of what I was learning. Because of this I really struggled with math throughout my years in school. These experiences with math have impacted me as a teacher. They have made me aware of the anxiety timed quizzes and games where students are put on the spot can have on a student. They have also taught me the importance of building a strong conceptual understanding within my students. I strive to build that strong conceptual understanding within my students by providing them with hands on, engaging, interactive, and memorable math activities.
Here are 3 SIMPLE ways to make math ENGAGING and MEMORABLE for your students!
1. Change Up the Math Manipulatives Students Use
The use of math manipulatives helps make math concrete for students. So providing them with manipulatives that they can manipulate will not only make the lesson more engaging but it will also help them to better understand/remember the concept being learned. Of course you have your everyday manipulatives like snap cubes, two sided counters, ten rods, etc... But those can become over used and lose their magic. So below are items that can be used in place of those everyday manipulatives.
Math Manipulatives
Mini Erasers (Found in the Target Dollar Spot or at Dollar Tree)
Q-Tips
 |
| Did you know Q-Tips are also perfect for practicing showing numbers using TALLY MARKS! |
Pom Poms
Candy
 |
| Students practiced adding tens using sticks of gum as ten rods & gumballs as ones cubes. |
2. Use Games and Inflatable Objects to Teach/Review Math Concepts
Students practiced ways to make 6 using an inflatable bowling set. As students came up to bowl the class wrote how to make 6 on their recording sheet inside of their number bond.
For example: If a student knocked down 2 bowling pins they would show 2 and 4 as the two parts
Balloons are an inexpensive way to step up student engagement during math. For this activity students walked around the balloons to music. When the music stopped each student picked a balloon and then found 10 more and 10 less than their number using a 100's chart.
You can also put math equations on the balloons and have students sort or solve them!
Jenga is another game perfect for math reviews. I purchased this colored Jenga set from Amazon. I love that the blocks are different colors. This allows me to create review activities for my students and assign problems to a block color. My kids absolutely love when I break out the Jenga game and have it at my small group table or in our math center. 
You can grab my NO PREP Tumbling Tower math games by clicking the links below!
3. Making Ordinary Manipulatives Extraordinary
Turning your ordinary math manipulatives into extraordinary ones will up your student's engagement during math lessons.
Check out how @APlusFirsties created a life size ten frame on her floor using floor tape.
She also had her students use red and yellow paper plates instead of two sided counters. This floor ten frame would also be perfect for students to stand in to represent/model math problems.
Students can also create human number lines by each holding a number or two!
Or you can lay the numbers on the floor like @lifeas_missmichael and have your students walk
or hop alongside the number line to solve addition and subtraction problems.
I hope you were able to find some SIMPLE ways to make your math block more hands on, engaging, interactive, and memorable for your students!
I'd love to hear what other ways you make your math block engaging and hands on for your students. Share in the comment section below!
