1st Grade Math Activities
First grade is a year of firsts: your child's first full day of school, the first time she'll write a small story herself, and the first time she'll read a complete book cover to cover. We've got dozens of wacky reading and math activities, cool science experiments, and indoor and outdoor games to keep the learning fun.
This hands-on activity uses just a few ordinary supplies to create an extra-fun Fourth of July craft. You and your child can celebrate our nation's heritage while also boosting skills in geometric thinking. And while you're at it, you'll even demonstrate a little wind power!
Lots of everyday objects can be fun, whether it's buttons, beans, or LEGO blocks. Here's an activity that uses coins to build problem-solving strategies.
More math activities for first grade:
Paint for Learning at "Sidewalk School"
Help your child practice new writing and math skills with a fun outdoor activity that will have your child teaching you! By using watercolor paints to practice writing letters, sentences, and math problems, your child will practice essential first grade skills in his "Sidewalk School."
Chalk it Up! An Outdoor Classification Activity
Classifying and sorting into groups is also a large part of the first grade math curriculum. The outdoors offers an abundance of learning tools for children, and classifying in the natural world gives your child an added lesson in scientific observation and classification.
Sandbox Math Sticks
One of the goals for first graders is to memorize basic addition and subtraction math facts by the end of the year. Practice in the sandbox with this fun outdoor math activity!
Make a Sweet Symmetry Treat
In first grade, students are introduced to many new math concepts, including the concept of symmetry. Here’s a fun way to explore symmetry that will leave your child with a sweet symmetrical treat!
Seventeen: A Math-Builder Card Game
Your kid probably knows that two plus two equals four. But what does it take to get to seventeen? Try this card game to explore all the possibilities, build math fact skills, and, more importantly from a kid-perspective, have a great time while you're at it!
Make a Clock!
You thought this day would never come, but guess what, it's time! Time for your child to learn to TELL time, that is. Mastering this skill can seem hard at first, but hands-on practice helps. Here's a fun at-home activity that lets kids make a clock of their own.
Slap It!: An Odds and Evens Card Game
This activity is based on the popular card game, Slapjack. It's rip-roaring fun, and it reinforces the concepts of odd and even, which in turn will help your child succeed in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
Play Placemat Place Value
With a little help from grownups, almost anything can equal math discovery for kids. Take ordinary drinking straws, for example: fun for drinking juice and even for spitballs when you're not looking, but also fabulous for learning math.
Weight Wonders: Big and Light...Heavy and Small?
First graders generally love to think concretely. So if it's a rock, it's heavy. If it's a little box of raisins, it's light. Right? Well, not always. Here's a fun activity to help build thinking skills in young scientists, and to encourage them to have a blast exploring the mass and volume. ...
Group It!: A Skip Counting Activity
Counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s may not sound like much fun. But using "skip counting" with real objects you find or make at home is a different story...it can be hours of entertainment. Here's a hands-on activity to touch and move real stuff while building abstract reasoning...paint, shoes, and coins ...
