If you are looking for some fresh inspiration to get math skills to "stick" with little ones this school year, then check out the activities in our August blog post. We're featuring five math skills you can practice with the help of some dot stickers. Read on to find out more.
Ah, dot stickers. You probably know exactly which ones we're talking about. Sometimes called color coding labels or garage sale stickers, you can usually find these multi-colored circles at your local dollar store or office supply store. The great thing about dot stickers is that you can use them to practice a variety of math skills. Grab a pack of your own along with a marker and some paper, and get ready to practice the following math skills with little ones.
Here's an easy number recognition activity to try with very young children. Write digits from 0 to 10 on dot stickers. We recommend writing five or so of each digit. Then write big, bubble-letter versions of those digits on a piece of paper. Students will match the digit written on each dot sticker to the bubble-letter digit by placing the sticker inside the corresponding number.
This activity is a great way to practice counting with little ones. Draw a series of triangles on a piece of paper. The triangles should resemble ice cream cones. Label the ice cream cones with consecutive digits. Students will count out the corresponding number of ice cream scoops (dot stickers) and stack them on each ice cream cone.
Dot stickers make it easy and fun to practice basic addition and subtraction facts as well. Simply write out the components of a number sentence on a piece of paper, leaving a blank space for the addends in an addition fact or the minuend and subtrahend in a subtraction fact. Write digits from 0 to 10 on dot stickers. Place the digits into each number sentence at random. Students will add or subtract to complete the math fact.
You can also practice basic multiplication with dot stickers by making arrays. Use the dot stickers to create a variety of arrays on a piece of paper. Children can use each array to help them write a complete multiplication fact. As an alternative, give children a multiplication fact and ask them to use the dot stickers to create an array that represents the multiplication fact. Arrays are a great visual representation of basic multiplication!
Try using dot stickers to practice comparing numbers. Place a column of dot stickers on a piece of paper. Then write a number on either side of each dot sticker. Students will write a greater than symbol, less than symbol, or equal symbol inside each dot sticker to correctly compare the numbers. Compare two-digit numbers, three-digit numbers, and so on for an extra challenge.
As you can see from these quick, fun activities, you can practice a ton of basic math skills with dot stickers!
Did you try any of these activities with your little learners? Let us know how it went! Share your feedback in the comment section below.
Looking for more engaging, educational math activities to use with your elementary students? Explore the hundreds of online math lessons available on iKnowIt.com.
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