Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Lego Math Two Ways

The first lego math activity is all over the blogging world so it is nothing new. You just find lego pieces and create simple addition/subtraction problems. If you put two pieces together (addition) have your child find the piece it would make. If you have one piece and take away a portion of it (subtraction) what piece would remain. I went back and forth on if the lego's  I chose should be the same color (and easy to find the matching block). I was afraid it would be too easy but I did it that way anyway. I did put the answer blocks mixed in with a handful of other blocks so he was actually looking at the pieces and not just matching colors. It was the right choice because it was just the right level of difficulty. Perhaps in the future I will have the colors all mixed up so he will have to choose more critical thinking.
The second math activity was introducing the idea of inequality: greater than, less than, and equals. My friend at Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational created a fabulous game to teach these concepts using  two things boys love: Construction Vehicles and legos. She made a game board of two dirt piles at a construction site. Then taking two handfuls and placing legos at each dirt pile a student can count the legos to see if they are greater than, less than, or equal. For the cases where the piles greater than/less than she made cards with front loaders with the scoop making the inequality signs. For when the piles were equal she made a pick-up (or dumptruck) grill be the equal sign. The way she explains it is "that the front loader always wants to pick up the heaviest load so the scoop needs to face the largest load". What a brilliant way to build a connection for boys (and girls) in regard to a difficult and easily forgettable concept. "A" loved this and in between each problem he helped on the construction of the building. We will definetly do this activity again! To get the printable for the boards and cards go to her sight above. Trust me you won't regret it-she has tons of fabulous ideas!

3 comments:

  1. I really like this. We don't have those legos :( my girls aren't that into it but I might just pick up a small set for use with things like this - great way to get interactive with math & critical thinking.

    Thanks for linking this up to the Sunday Showcase - I tweeted & FB it!

    Bern

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  2. Great minds think alike, Sarah! :) I just posted today about stamping with LEGOs (another math activity). Super fun! I'm glad you guys did the Under Construction game - thanks for linking back!

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  3. loved both your ideas!!!! I need to get some of these little legos - you have me hooked on doing this!

    Thanks for sharing on the Sunday Showcase. Looking forward to seeing what you have to share this week- he new linky is up.

    Bern
    http://momto2poshlildivas.blogspot.com/search/label/Sunday%20Showcase

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