Let’s let our favorite waddling birds inspire our math activity today! Once you’ve put together the penguin, cut out the fish (or use whatever manipulatives you have on-hand) to give your child a hands-on way to work through some subtraction problems. If you want to make it more of a game, use two dice to determine the number of fish in the water and how many the penguin “eats.”
What you need:
- access to a printer (don’t have one? we like this model)
- laminator + laminator sheets (optional, but recommended for repeating lessons)
- our penguin subtraction printable
- cardstock (one white and one color)
- glue stick
What to do:
First, build your penguin. Cut out the penguin pieces and glue them together like this:
Next, cut out the fish. You may want to print the fish page on a piece of colorful cardstock. Next, laminate, if possible.
Now you are ready to play! If your child loves a storyline for their math work, you could tell them that they are a zookeeper who needs to feed the penguinds. Next, present your child with a subtraction problem. For example, “There were 10 fish in the water. The penguin ate 7. There are how many left?” (You can also use one or two dice to determine these numbers.) Have your child move the “eaten” fish from the table to the penguin’s belly and then solve for the remainder.
Repeat the game as many times as your child would like to!
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