4 Engaging Activities to Practice Addition Skills
Teaching little ones to add is a concept that usually requires a LOT of practice before it’s completely mastered skill. BUT, practicing these skills can be really fun and engaging too! In my experience, a key strategy to developing a strong foundation in addition is to consistently practice in a variety of ways…especially ways that put the student in charge of their own learning! Scroll to check out a couple of effective, festive ways to practice addition skills with your students this season.
Playing addition games is a great way to allow students to forget that they’re “learning” addition skills and just let them just be kids for a bit! By adding in an element of fun to any skill, it’s immediately easier to get little ones to participate. Also, games are a great way to allow students to learn to work together, take turns, lose AND win graciously, and play with others kindly. Check out these free Christmas-themed addition game that you can download right away or grab these no-prep addition games for your elementary learners!
Using hands on activities is a perfect way to instantly increase student engagement AND help their learning really stick! Any time you can get students moving cards, using magnetic numbers, or showing their thinking with manipulatives, it’s much more likely to create lasting learning. This free resource is one small way your learners can move around picture and number cards to build addition sentences…add in some mini erasers or unifix cubes and they’ll be solidifying their addition knowledge in a handful of ways using just one activity!
Having a bunch of task cards to practice addition skills close at hand is a low-prep way for teachers and parents to set kiddos up and then let them go for it on their own! I love using task cards because students can work at their own pace, practice their addition skills, AND usually have a great time doing it. They can solve problems on their own or work with others to teach each other skills, which deepens their own knowledge tremendously by teaching others. Another reason I love task cards is that you can hang them around the room and get some movement into learners’ days as well! Instead of sitting still at a desk, they can walk around the room or find cards hidden in sneaky places to up the engagement and interest in practicing addition facts. These addition task cards for this season are a great way to get started! And if your students are ready for more, these 2 and 3 digit addition task cards are a great next step.
We all want our students’ learning to last and one of the best ways to encourage that is to require students to use higher order thinking skills! So, providing students with activities that require them to do think deeper than “what’s the answer” is a great way to help them strengthen those skills. This number building activity is a simple way to get students thinking more critically about addition instead of just finding answers. They’ll start with the sum and need to think of ways to represent that number using addition sentences. They can write the number sentences or build them with manipulatives, depending on what’s best for you and your learners.
I hope these simple activities were helpful for helping your little ones practice their addition skills! What other activities are your favorite to use in your classroom? I’d love to hear your ideas too! :)
Cheering you on and happy learning!
