Gone Fishin'! Hands on math FUN!

Hi all!  Long time no see.  Since the manic pace of the last week of term I've been enjoying a few days of 'nothingness' during my Spring break - which has basically involved lying on the couch watching TV.  But this morning I dragged myself into a vertical position and decided it was high time I updated this old blog of mine. :)

You know how I love hands-on activities for my kidlets - if you popped into my classroom most times of the day you would find that at least some of my little learners were working on a task that had them up and moving, using playdough/sensory materials/fine motor tools, or perhaps playing a game.  I truly find that this is the most effective way to engage 5 year olds, and it's also the best way to make sure that the learning 'sticks'.  Anytime we can link touch/movement/competition to a new (or old!) concept is a good thing.  (Sorry... I'll jump down from my soapbox now!!)

I needed a fun way to revise number recognition and number sense (particularly for a few of my kidlets who are still struggling with numbers to 10) so I whipped up Gone Fishin' - a pack designed to be made into a magnetic fishing game but also perfect for all sorts of matching and ordering tasks.  Numbers from 0 - 20 are represented on fish cards as numerals, words, ten frames and dot patterns (to 9) or tens blocks (10 - 20).  I've included 6 differentiated worksheets for kidlets to record their learning by cutting & pasting, matching or writing.

If you have a toy fishing rod from one of those commercially made fishing games all you'll need is some paperclips and you'll be good to go.  Otherwise, here's how I turned some random bits and pieces into a cute fishing game:

First up you'll need a dowel rod (or a stick from the garden would work just as well!).  Tape a length of string/wool/rope to one end.  Hot glue a magnet to the other - I used ugly fridge magnets and just pulled the magnet bit off the back of them to sandwich the string in between.

Once you've printed and laminated the fish cards you want to use, slip a metal paperclip on each one near the mouth.

Put the fish cards either on the ground or in a large container and let your kidlets fish away to their hearts content.  My plan is to use this activity in a container with some blue cellophane strips to add to the realistic fishing experience!  :)  I've provided bucket mats to sort on, or you could label buckets or cups to pop the fish in.  Depending on the group that's going fishing I will use numerals to order as a number line, number words to match with dots/blocks or numerals to match to ten frames etc.

Use any of the recording sheets you feel are relevant for your kidlets.

Cut & paste.

Write.

Match.

Have a lovely day, friends!  Another cup of coffee and hopefully some Real Housewives is my plan for the rest of the morning. :)