Fine Motor
Math & 123sPreschoolersGrade SchoolKindergartners12 Comments
We had a little learning fun with a pom pom drop! So simple!
If you want to make just a basic pom pom drop for toddlers, just take out the visual addition element of this. It’s super fun for toddlers to poke pom poms into it.
This time, I didn’t have any cardboard tubes on hand because I didn’t plan to do this. It kind of just came up while I was researching for another post and came across this addition activity in a classroom from Mothering with Creativity.
We made cardboard tubes out of cereal boxes. I cut the front and back off a cereal box and cut it in half. I rolled it into a tube (inside out) and taped it together with painter’s tape.
I know many parents don’t like to use toilet paper tubes, so these homemade tubes would be a great replacement.
I taped the tubes to a wall.
Honestly, the hardest part of this activity is finding a blank wall! I don’t have much of that…
When I taped the tubes on, I had the boys test the placement to make sure the pom poms (actually, we used cotton balls because I couldn’t find our pom poms for some reason) would fall through both tubes in the run.
I positioned the tubes to be in two different runs, but falling into the same basket.
I added a simple addition sign between the tubes and equals sign before them (but above the basket).
Learning with Visual Addition
The equation is Run 1 + Run 2 = Basket.
Find more addition activities for kids.
We did a practice run first. I had both Henry and George pick out 2 cotton balls and put them in (one at a time) their tube to fall in the basket.
When they were all in the basket, they would count the total number of cotton balls.
This math is new to George, but a very visual addition lesson.
Once we got going, the boys chose how many cotton balls they wanted to put in each time.
After they wanted to put in 100s, I put a limit on 10 at the most for each run.
Henry would do the math in hid head as they were putting them in the tubes. He’s in first grade, so most of these equations were simple for him. He didn’t need the visual.
But George would count them out in the basket to solve the equation.
The counting was perfect for George to do. He’s been working through the teens!
More addition activities:
- Obstacle Course for Number Bonds to 10
- A Learning Obstacle Course (for addition problems and learning letters)
- A Quick Addition Game
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tina says
Love it?