If your kids are anything like mine, they love anything hands-on that they can play with while they are learning. At this age, they need something concrete that they can hold and manipulate while learning. Snap cubes are definitely a favorite tool in our classroom. Before you can just hand your kids a bucket of snap cubes and have them use them as learning tools, there’s a few things you should do first. Check out my earlier blog post and read about how to set your students up for success using snap cubes.
Now that your kids are snap cube experts, it’s time for them to start using snap cubes for learning! There are so many different activities that you can do using snap cubes. They do not just has to be used to building but there are so many ways that you can bring snap cubes into your math and literacy activities!
Math with Snap Cubes
There are so many different ways that you can incorporate snap cubes into your math centers, math games, and lessons. They can be simple activities such as sorting the cubes by colors, graphing to show which colors you have the most of. Students can also use snap cubes to measure and compare objects around the classroom.
Snap cubes are also great manipulatives for students to use when learning and practicing addition and subtraction. Younger students need something concrete to hold and manipulate when they are in the early stages of learning addition and subtraction.
One of my kids favorite activities to do with snap cubes is Roll Frame and Roll Graph. Students will roll the dice and use the code to match the colored snap cube to the mat. They will then fill in a square on the ten frame or the graph. Students keep rolling and filling the mat until the picture is finished. You can check them out in my store by clicking the pictures.
Snap cubes can also be a fun way to practice number recognition and counting. One activity that we love doing is to help practice number recognition and counting is another matching game. Students will look at the code on the side and count or match the number to create the picture.
Phonics with Snap Cubes
My kids love using snap cubes to help us practice letters, sounds, and to build words. Students can use the cubes and snap them to create letters then put them together to build words. Another way we make words with our snap cubes is to write letters on each cube then put the cubes together to build words. This makes it a fun hands on way for students to blend and manipulate words.
Sometimes we even try to mix a little math with our phonics! Students build the letters then count the cubes they use to build each letter
Snap cubes can also be a fun way to practice letter recognition and beginning sounds. One activity that we love doing is to help practice letter recognition and beginning sounds is another matching game. Students will look at the code on the side and count or match the number to create the picture.
There are so many ways to use snap cubes in learning in your classroom. Leave me a comment and let me know how you use snap cubes in your classroom!
