LEGO Math | Place Value

We love playing with LEGO at our house. My son asks for new LEGO sets for every birthday and Christmas and then builds and rebuilds his creations during quiet time. I have recently harnessed his enthusiasm by using LEGO bricks to teach him everything from math to reading to science.

Tommy is a very bright five-year-old with math being one of his very strong subjects. However, he was having a difficult time grasping the idea of place value. No matter what I tried to draw for him on paper or explain to him in words, he just couldn't understand what I meant when I said something like, "Eighteen is one ten and eight ones," or, "Twenty-two is two tens and two ones." He just looked at me like I was crazy. It was too abstract. That is, until I pulled out the LEGO bricks and our place value flip chart and showed him. Suddenly the idea of place value became concrete and he understood it perfectly. Now he can add two-digit numbers together with ease after this one simple lesson.

All you need to do is designate one column as your "10's" and the other column as your "1's". Choose a number on your flip chart and then arrange your LEGO bricks to reflect that number. Easy! Take turns choosing numbers and arranging them with LEGO bricks. Turn it into a game! Have fun with it.

Looking for more early elementary math ideas? Check this out:
Follow Crystal's board Math for Kids in Kindergarten, First Grade, and Second Grade on Pinterest.

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Saturday Science

And now on to our Saturday Science linky party! Check out our wonderful co-hosts and link up your own math and science activities:

Fall Science Experiment for Kids | Pinecones from Lemon Lime Adventures
Ears and Sound from Suzy Homeschooler
Animal Trackers Club from The Joys of Boys

An InLinkz Link-up

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