Hula Hoop Math Practice

Hula Hoop Math Skills

Looking for a fun way to mix up your classroom math practice routine for the new school year? Pick out some hula hoops and check out these clever ways to practice math skills with your class. From telling time to adding and subtracting with number bonds, you can keep your students in the math skills loop with a few hula hoops! Read on to find out more.

Hands-on Hula Hoop Math Practice 

If you're ready to try a different approach to classroom math practice for the 2021-22 school year, consider grabbing a few hula hoops for your classroom and using them to practice the following math skills. You can find hula hoops at your local dollar store, Walmart, Target, or even online retailers like Amazon. For a low cost, you can pick out a few different sizes and keep them on hand to practice math skills with your students. Hula hoop math practice is great for little ones who are tactile, or kinesthetic, learners. These hands-on math activities are fun and educational. 

Be sure to tag @iknowitcom on social media if you try out these hula hoop math activities. We love checking out your classroom adventures! 

Telling Time

Telling Time with Hula Hoops

Practice telling time with a hula hoop that you can easily turn into an analog clock! In addition to a hula hoop, the materials you will need for this activity will depend on how you decide to set up your hula hoop clock. If you want to use your classroom whiteboard, you can use dry erase markers to draw the numbers on the hula hoop clock face as well as the hour hand and minute hand. Also have some masking tape handy to adhere the hula hoop to the whiteboard. 

If you'd rather set up your hula hoop clock on the classroom carpet, you can use printable numbers, felt numbers, magnetic numbers, etc., as well as a six-inch ruler for the hour hand and a twelve-inch ruler for the minute hand. 

Alternatively, you could do this activity outside on pavement and use sidewalk chalk to draw the numbers on the clock face as well as the hour hand and minute hand. 

Here are a few telling time skills your students can practice with their hula hoop analog clocks: 

  • Telling time to the nearest hour
  • Telling time to the nearest quarter hour
  • Telling time to the nearest five minutes
  • Telling time to the nearest minute
  • Calculating elapsed time

Use hula hoops to practice telling time as a whole-class activity, small group exercise, or as a math learning center. There are lots of possibilities when it comes to telling time with hula hoops! 

Number Bond Addition and Subtraction

Hula Hoop Number Bond Addition and Subtraction

Sharpen basic addition and subtraction skills with hula hoop number bonds! It's quick and easy to use hula hoops to make life-size number bonds. Here's how: 

Set up three hula hoops on the classroom floor or outside in an open space. Connect the hula hoops with rulers, sidewalk chalk lines, or strips of paper to form a number bond. Students can practice adding and subtracting with the hula hoop number bonds a couple of different ways:

  • Use sidewalk chalk to draw two of the numbers in an addition fact or subtraction fact in two of the hula hoops. Students must solve the math fact by writing in the missing number to complete the number bond. If the activity is set up indoors, printable numbers, felt numbers, magnetic numbers, etc., can be used to complete the number bond. 
  • Assign each student in your class a number. You can give them a printable number card to carry or have them write their assigned number on an index card to keep with them. Guide different students to stand inside the hula hoop number bonds. Students must decide whose number is needed to complete the number bond, and that student should step forward into the empty hula hoop to complete the number bond. 

Use hula hoop number bonds to help children understand the relationship between the numbers in an addition fact or subtraction fact. When little ones can immerse themselves in the process, you can help them achieve a better grasp on basic addition and subtraction. That's a great accomplishment for a few hula hoops! 

Geometry Skills 

Hula Hoop Geometry Skills

The circular shape of your classroom hula hoops makes them the perfect math manipulative for practicing basic geometry concepts. Here are a few different geometry skills your students can practice with a hula hoop: 

  • Symmetry – Use yarn or string to divide a hula hoop different ways. Students must decide whether the line you have placed on the hula hoop is a line of symmetry. 
  • Attributes of Circles – Use a hula hoop to demonstrate different attributes of circles, especially the lack of sides and angles. 
  • Radius, Diameter, Circumference – For older students, use a hula hoop to show how radius, diameter, and circumference can be measured. Students can use string and their rulers to measure the classroom hula hoops. 

There are plenty of math skills your students can practice with hula hoops! We hope these ideas inspire you and your students to find new ways to master important math skills this school year.

If you're searching for more fun, interactive math activities to step up your math practice game in the 2021-22 school year, make sure you check out the hundreds of online math games available on iKnowIt.com. Teachers and students love experiencing the difference engaging, online math practice can make—and we hope you will too! 

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