Rainbow Hundreds Chart Puzzle

In this rainbow math activity, we used popsicle sticks to make a rainbow hundreds chart puzzle that was perfect for my kindergarten and second grade kiddos. (And, it would be a nice hands-on math activity for first grade, too.)  This is a multisensory math idea that combines fine motors skills with the colors of the rainbow to teach kids about groups of tens in a hundreds chart.

Combining numbers into groups of ten and those tens into hundreds is a math concept that is so important for so many math concepts.  We worked on fine motor skills to build the tens columns and combined them into hundreds to work on a few math skills.

Another great fine motor activity is our Fruit loop rainbow craft ideas.

This was such a fun rainbow activity for the season, but this activity could definitely be used year-round.

Hundreds Chart Puzzle

Amazon links are included below. You’ll need a few materials for this rainbow hundreds chart puzzle:

• We used ten different colored popsicle sticks from our collection of Rainbow Craft Sticks.
• Glue Stick
• White Paper
•  Hole Punch

A punch like this one is perfect for building gross hand grasp strength. BUT, if you want this crafting project to move by faster than a snail’s pace, use a 3 Hole Punch. It’s perfect for working proprioception to the arms.  Fold paper into columns and slide it into the punch to get a bunch of holes punched at once.

To make the rainbow puzzle:
Punch a ton of holes from the white paper.

Sort the popsicle sticks into rainbow order on the table surface. Kids can work on visual scanning and visual perceptual skills for this task as they look for colors of the rainbow.

Next, Swipe the glue along the craft sticks and count out ten holes from the white paper. This is a super counting activity for kids to practice counting ones and grouping into tens.  

The fine motor work going on here is fantastic, too. Picking up those itty bitty paper holes is a precision grasp workout.

Punch extra holes from the colored construction paper.  

And, you’re done!  Practice counting the numbers using the tens craft sticks.  Arrange them into groups of ten sticks to create a hundreds chart.  

Multisensory Math activities

Use this rainbow hundreds chart puzzle for a variety of hands-on math activities:

• Sort the popsicle sticks into rainbow order.
• Count the dots by tens
• Add up all of the colors that are the same, being sure to count by tens.
• Build two and three digit numbers
• Practice addition with and without regrouping using the manipulatives as counters.
• Practice subtraction with and without regrouping using the craft stick manipulatives.
• Build a two or three digit number and ask your child to name the number.
• Ask your child to name a number and then build a two or three digit number.

Looking for more ways to learn with rainbows?  

Our favorite multisensory math activities:


Regrouping double digit math

Outer Space Regrouping Maze

Regrouping Tips and Tricks

How would you play and learn with this rainbow hundreds chart puzzle and math popsicle stick hundreds chart?

Take multisensory learning further with the rainbow theme. Try our new Colors Handwriting Kit. It now includes a bonus pack of fine motor, visual motor, and directionality pencil control activities.

Rainbow Handwriting Kit– This resource pack includes handwriting sheets, write the room cards, color worksheets, visual motor activities, and so much more. The handwriting kit includes:

• Write the Room, Color Names: Lowercase Letters
• Write the Room, Color Names: Uppercase Letters
• Write the Room, Color Names: Cursive Writing
• Copy/Draw/Color/Cut Color Worksheets
• Colors Roll & Write Page
• Color Names Letter Size Puzzle Pages
• Flip and Fill A-Z Letter Pages
• Colors Pre-Writing Lines Pencil Control Mazes
• This handwriting kit now includes a bonus pack of pencil control worksheets, 1-10 fine motor clip cards, visual discrimination maze for directionality, handwriting sheets, and working memory/direction following sheet! Valued at $5, this bonus kit triples the goal areas you can work on in each therapy session or home program.

Click here to get your copy of the Colors Handwriting Kit.

Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.