My son is one of the most avid LEGO enthusiasts I have ever met. Recently, I harnessed his enthusiasm by using LEGO bricks to teach him everything from math to reading to science. Today I am going to show you how to use LEGO math to teach place value.
A handful of my blogger buddies just published a new book called Learning with LEGO® that my kids are absolutely crazy about! If you are looking for more ways to leverage the power of LEGO in your students' learning, take a look at this great book!
My five-year-old is very bright, 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.
I had an idea to try some LEGO math games since he loves LEGO so much. I pulled out the LEGO bricks and our place value 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. Using LEGO math worked a miracle!
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.
Great use of Legos! Thanks for sharing.
What a great idea!! When I taught we had Algebra Tiles that were somewhat similar, but Legos are even better. Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!!
I know, I went to the store to buy some math manipulatives and then I thought, "Why don't we just use Legos? They are basically the same thing and we already own them! Thanks for stopping by!
Learning with Legos is the best kind! I'm pinning this idea for when my daughter is learning this math concept!
Thanks for stopping by! Hope they enjoy this activity, too!
Teaching places values with legos?! What a great idea!
Than you so much for stopping by!