Here is a really fun math center that you can make with just some plastic eggs and a permanent marker to help kids practice matching sets, numbers, and number words. I call this activity Easter Egg Number Matching. The thing that makes this one kind of fun is that it makes use of some semi-transparent plastic eggs, plus some regular plastic eggs, too. Read on for more!
Preparation:
1. Go shopping! Find some transparent or semi-transparent plastic eggs or some kind of spring objects that will fit regular plastic eggs inside. I found mine at the 99 Cents Only store! They had chicks, bunnies, carrots, and eggs in various colors. Here is the same thing that I also found on Amazon, but they are NOT one dollar! LOL!
I also used some plastic eggs with a colored base/stand that I also found at the dollar store… and here is an Amazon link. Again, Amazon does not sell them for a dollar!
2. You’ll also need to get some regular eggs plastic eggs as well.
3. Grab a permanent marker and start drawing!
– Make dots in an array on the top of the transparent egg.
– Write the number word on the bottom of the transparent egg.
– Draw the numeral on the regular plastic egg that goes on the inside. (Note: If you want this activity to be self-checking, make sure that all of the colors match. So, a blue regular egg would go inside a blue transparent egg, etc.)
4. You may wish to have the children put counters inside of each egg as well, just to take it a little bit farther. However, there is no way to easily check and see if the children did this right or not.
To Use:
Have the children take the eggs apart and mix them up. All they have to do is try to match the sets of dots, the numerals, and the number words on the eggs. If you made your set so that they colors also match, you may or may not wish to point this out to the kids… just wait and see if they figure it out!
I always try to introduce an independent center to my kids first in a small group so that I can watch them use it and explain how it goes. That’s what usually works best! I introduced this activity to my daughter’s TK (Transitional Kindergarten) class a few weeks ago in a small group when I volunteered in her room, (which I LOVE!!!)
Oh my word, those children just went crazy over this manipulative! The biggest problem was that not many of her little ones knew the number words, so they had to rely on the “puzzle aspect” of the shapes and colors to see which eggs should go together.
I only had two complete sets, but it probably would have been better with at least one or two more sets! Two sets was not enough for the five children, (even with me directing the activity,) of course. Many of them chose to do it again during their playtime.
When children chose a learning activity for their playtime, that’s when I KNOW I hit the jackpot!
I think that this sort of activity could be adapted to be used with sight words or CVC words and pictures, or for addition equations and sums, etc. Please share if you have any other ideas! What fun!
For some more great Spring and Easter Egg activity ideas, check out these blog posts below!
Sight Word Eggs Match Up Freebie!
CVC Eggs!
Egg Blog!
Enjoy and have fun making your own egg matching activity!!
– Heidi
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