In the spirit of Earth Day I wanted to share with you how we re-use egg cartons in our math center. I always like to point out to students how we can re-use simple items to help reduce trash. I ask parents and family members to save egg cartons, toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, plastic containers, newspaper, paper bags, etc. There are so many classroom uses for these items (art projects, centers, STEM experiments, containers for paint & glue, table covers, etc.) but today I am just sharing one of them.
Make a simple math game with an egg carton and two marbles (you can use pom-poms for a quieter version). This game could be used to review or practice a number of skills (letters, letter sounds, numbers). We are working on addition so that is what I used it for in this post. Write numbers in the bottom of the egg carton.
Place two marbles (or pom-poms) in the egg carton. Students close the lid and shake the egg carton.
They then open the egg carton and add the two numbers together where the marbles landed. For example, in the picture below the student would add 10 + 5.
I also use egg cartons as ten frames. Simply cut off two cups and provide markers that can be placed in the cups. I use pom-poms. The students can use the ten frames to aide them in solving their addition equations. They write their equations on paper.
This is such a simple math center to set up and the students love it! They enjoy using the egg carton in place of dice. I differentiate it for students that are working on addition to 10 by doing two rows of numbers 0-5.
As I mentioned above, the egg carton and marbles can be used to review letters by using one marble and having students name the letter where the marble lands or they can name something that begins with the letter. I have also used it to review number recognition and counting by having the student name the number and use the ten frame to count out the correct number of pom-poms.
