This educational arts and crafts activity can be completed easily using a paper plate, markers or crayons, scissors, construction paper, paper fasteners and pencil and paper. Hand out paper plates to students and instruct them to make a small hole in the center of the paper plate. The paper plate will be the face of the clock.
Instruct students to write the numbers in the appropriate places on the clock with a marker or crayon. Students may use the classroom clock as an example of where the numbers should go. Help students cut out two arrows from construction paper for the clock hands. Make sure that one is longer for the minute hand and the other is shorter for the hour hand. Using a paper fastener, have students pierce the ends of the arrows and slide them through the hole in the center of the clock. Secure the arrows in the back with the fastener. Have students use their paper clock for in-class time-telling activities.
This activity allows children to explore geometric shapes using everyday household items. Gather a bunch of clean, empty household items and present them to the class. Items such as empty paper towel and toilet tissue rolls, milk cartons, cereal boxes, Styrofoam cups, shoe boxes and aluminum pans work well for this activity. Have children sort and organize the items by shape. As the children sort the items, identify and discuss each shape and its characteristics. Then have children work in groups to construct a castle with the items. Have each group present their castle and discuss the shape that makes up their castle.
This hands-on math game is designed to teach first-graders math addition facts. All you need is one clean egg carton for each player, a bag of jelly beans and a pair of dice for each student. Give each student an egg carton and instruct them to label each compartment with the numbers 2 through 12. The first compartment should be marked with an asterisk. This space can be used to represent any number. Give each player 12 jellybeans. To play the game, have the students roll the dice and add the sum of the numbers on top of the dice. Instruct students to place a jellybean in the section of the egg carton that represents the sum of the two numbers. For example, if the problem is 2 + 4, the student will place a jellybean in the section of the egg carton marked with the number 6. If the sum is a number that already has a jellybean in it, the student may place their jellybean in the space marked with the asterisk.The first player to fill up each space in their egg carton wins.
This interactive measurement activity requires students to have only a pencil, lined paper and graph paper. Tell students that they will be measuring the classroom. Ask them how many steps long they think the room is. Once the class guesses, record their answers. Then have them walk across the room, counting their steps as they go. Instruct them to write down the result on a piece of paper. Have students compare answers and discuss why some students' measurements may have been longer or shorter, depending on the size of their feet. For homework, ask students
to measure a room or hallway in their house. Have them record their findings and bring them to class the next day. Using the grid paper, help students create a graph of the measurements. Instruct students to draw a line that is as many squares long as the steps it took to measure the different areas of their house. Label each area and compare the results. Below it, turn your other number results into lines on the grid paper. On a sunny day, this activity can be done outside. Have students measure the steps it takes to get from the cafeteria to the schoolyard or from the schoolyard to the gym.