1st Grade Math Activities

Fun 1st grade math activities will help make learning math a lot more exciting for kids. You'll find activities here that are great for use at home or in the classroom.

1st grade math activities

Fun Activities

with

Fact Families


Skill: Recognizing addition and subtraction fact families

Number of players: 1 to whole class

Object of the game: Write the fact families for the given numbers

Supplies: Game board for each player. Buttons or coins to be used as Counters for each player. The number of counters needed depends on the size of numbers you want your students to work on. For fact families up to 20, each player will need 20 counters.

Preparation: Print game board for each player. Copy and laminate the game board. Each player should be given the appropriate number of counters.

To Play:

  • Tell the players how many counters to place on their board.You can use buttons, coins or anything that is convenient for the counters. In the above example we started with four counters on the left-hand side of the circle and one counter on the right-hand side.
  • Each player will then write as many addition and subtraction fact families as they can using the counters on the left as one number and the counters on the right as their other number.

For the example, in the above picture, each player could write the following fact families on their sheet:

Addition Facts

4 + 1 = 5

1 + 4 = 5

Subtraction Facts

5 - 1 = 4

5 - 4 = 1


Fact Family - Triangle Card Activity

Another fun and simple 1st grade math activity to help the young ones to learn addition and subtraction facts is with fact family cards.

fact family triangles 1

Here's how they work: The triangle fact family card above on the left has three numbers on it that make up a fact family. Underneath it four rows of empty squares that need to be filled in with numbers by students to make four true math fact statements.

The picture on the right has all of the empty boxes filled in correctly to make the four true fact family statements.

Fact Family Card Teaching Ideas:

You could have students cover up one of the three numbers on the card. Then say each missing number as part of an addition problem or a subtraction problem. Look at the examples below.

4 + ? = 7

Ask "What plus 4 is 7?"

7 - 4 = ?

Ask "7 minus 4 is what ?"

What is 7 - 3?

If you enjoyed this one, you'll probably also like Addition Concentration.


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