Place Value Math with Bean Bags

Looking for a hands-on place value lesson to teach place value through play? This fine motor math activity builds skills through kinesthetic learning.

Remember these ice cream cones?  We shared how to make them not very long ago.  Besides being very cute and super easy to make, they are a learning tool, too.  We used them in a creative summer activity to practice some second grade math skills, specifically adding place value to two and three digit numbers.

Ice Cream Cone bean bags for working on place value and adding tens and hundreds with mental math, perfect for second grade math skills.

 

 

Place Value Lesson

Make your bean bags.
 
Grab a few pieces of paper and cut out circles.  On them, write +10, -10, +100, and -100.  
 
Next, spread the circles out on the floor.  Position the kiddos around the circles and tell them that they are about to have some math fun, ice cream style! 
 
You’ll want to tell the kids a number.  It might be a single, double, or triple digit number.  Then, kids can toss the bean bags onto the circles.  When the bean bag hits a circle, they need to either add 10 or 100 to their number or subtract 10 or 100 from their number.  This is a fun way tp practice place value and mental math of tens and hundreds place with two or three digit numbers.
 
There are infinite number of ways you could play this with an ice cream cone theme to work on math skills.  
 
Ice Cream Cone bean bags for working on place value and adding tens and hundreds with mental math, perfect for second grade math skills.
  • Add single or double numbers by writing different numbers on the circles.
  • Each color of the ice cream cones indicates a different number.  Kids can add together numbers based on the color that hits a target.
  • Add near doubles with the bean bags.
  • Add 100’s up to 1,000.

How would you use these ice cream cone bean bags in playful math?

 
 
More hands-on math activities you will love:
Make a paper door to introduce concepts in first grade math like regrouping in addition. 

 

                                           How to Add with Regrouping