Activities
Counting hands is a great way to introduce addition and subtraction to your early math learners.
Fingers are a wonderful manipulative material, and they’re always on hand! But remember, the more variations of manipulatives you introduce, the better chances you have to impress concepts with kinesthetic learners. The real point of manipulatives is not to get answers, but to create ideas and images in the mind that allow your child to get those answers without the manipulative. Have you ever noticed your child struggling to count fingers? They have to put down their pencil, or even worse, start all over because their counting hand becomes the counted and it gets confusing! As your child learns basic addition and subtraction in sets of 10, this DIY activity offers an extra set of hands to rely on.
As you introduce the learning tool, start with counting and folding the fingers. Discuss what the “up” position looks like and the finger “down” position looks like. Next, work on adding up different sets of fingers. Finally, practice taking away fingers to learn subtraction. You might cue your students with questions such as, “How many fingers are down? How many fingers are still up?” It may be useful to count in order, for example, start with the left finger and count in sequential order, reading left to right. After this concept is mastered, you can add a challenge by doing it backward or with random fingers! Counting Hands Craft is perfect for your 1st or 2nd grader, ages 6-9.
Materials:
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White background paper
Colored cardstock paper
Glue
Scissors
Pencils
Steps:
1. Trace Hands
Trace your left and right hand on colored cardstock paper.
2. Cut out hands
Using scissors, cut out each hand.
3. Glue palms to background paper
Use glue to secure the colored hand to the white background paper. Make sure you only put glue on the palm of the hand, you don’t want to glue down the fingers!
4. Thumbs in!
Place the left and right hands next to each other with the thumbs facing in so it looks natural.
5. Fold fingers
Pre-fold each finger so they fold down comfortably. Press the fold so the crease is remembered by the paper and easy to fold up and down.
6. Count fingers
Count all ten fingers aloud (do not write these numbers on your background paper).
7. Addition
Practice all the combinations that add up to 10. You could write them down on the lower half of your background paper or use a different sheet.
8. Subtraction
Name all the combinations that a set of 10 could equal. Write the answers on the bottom of your page, or on a different sheet of paper.
Learning addition and subtraction for the first time is fun when you have an extra pair of hands! The paper manipulative is a great alternative for children who aren’t comfortable using their own hands or to solidify the concepts and switch up your daily routine!
Read: Teaching Contractions With LEGO Blocks – Making Learning Fun
