Do you start your day with math morning tub activities with your students? It is a fun and engaging way to get students ready to learn for the rest of the day!
Math tubs or bins are generally tubs filled with math materials that allow for either guided or open-ended math-based discovery and learning.
Most of the activities in math tubs should be activities students can work on independently, or with a small group of other students. They should be mostly play-based and fun!
Examples of Items to Include in Your Math Tubs
- Clothespins for clip cards
- Counters, such as bears or mini erasers
- Pattern Blocks
- Building Bricks
- Math Links
- Dough
- Counting Cubes
- And so many more! Here is a more exhaustive list of math manipulatives you can use!
5 Easy Seasonal Math Morning Tub Activities for Counting and Cardinality
1. Ten Frames (Grab this freebie!)
Ten Frames help students visualize numbers. Kids can use the dough, pom-poms, coloring, or any small manipulatives to use the ten frames. Fill in the form above to get a ten frames freebie for your toolbox that can be used all year long!
Click here to learn more about the benefits of using ten frames!
The freebie was designed with back-to-school season in mind, but can be used all year long! Click the image below to get ten frames for winter, spring, summer, and fall!
2. Ten Frames Clip Cards
Clip cards are a fantastic way for students to improve their fine motor skills while gaining number sense. They look at the ten frames and then clip the number they see with a clothespin.
3. Math Links
Math links can be used for counting or creating patterns. You can also use them to link two or more cards together (like a puzzle) or have students create a chain with the number of links shown on a card.
4. Pattern Block Mats
Pattern block mats are also a fun idea to include in math morning tub activities. They are easy to set up and clean up, which makes for smooth transitions. Here are some other ways you can use pattern blocks with your students!
5. Sequencing Puzzles
Sequencing puzzles are so fun. Cut out the strips and mix them up. Students solve these puzzles by placing them in number order – a great hands-on lesson for counting and cardinality making a great addition to math tubs.
Morning tub activities are an engaging, hands-on way to start the day. They are a positive way to get students learning independently or with peers and can even make students excited to get to school in the morning.
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