Creative Ways to Teach Addition and Subtraction Facts

Having a first grader who just does not seem interested in flash cards, I had to come up with a more creative way to help my kids learn their addition and subtraction facts. If you can come up with a fun activity it may help your child remember the facts. Below is a project that my kids and I created to help them learn their number facts. The cup method is one way that I have found to help with learning math facts. Of course this method can take on a variety of forms, so feel free to adapt it to your basic needs.

To get started you will need to pick up the following supplies:

• Pack of Styrofoam cups (large pack)
• Black permanent marker
• Bag of dry beans

Once you have gathered together all of the supplies listed above you can get started with your fun game. You can start with the first few addition, or subtraction facts. Write one number on one of the Styrofoam cups, and the other number on the second cup. On another cup you can put the addition, and subtraction signs as well as the equal sign on a separate cup. You can then line up the number sentence using the cups. Based on the numbers on the cups you can put the same amount of beans in the cup. For example if you have a cup with the number two on it, you would have your child count out two beans and put them in the cup. They can switch the cups around and change up the sentence.

For additional practice you can have them copy the number sentence inside of their notebooks. This will give them the practice that they need with writing numbers, and learning about number sentences. Some kids even like to color code their cups. They can color the cups whatever colors they want, which may help them learn their numbers. When they are done counting out their beans for the day, they can use a Ziploc bag to store the beans. Then stack your cups and put them in a plastic storage bin to keep them packed away. Eventually the cups may end up getting damaged but if your kids put them away properly they will least at least until they have mastered their math facts. Be sure to label the bin so that your kid can easily find it. This is also a great way to keep younger children busy with a fun learning activity while you work with another child.