Here are just a few - they're perfect for when you're teaching numbers to 5 (with a focus on number 3) but can be adapted for other work too.
Writing Number 3
- using our Number 3 coloring page have your children trace the big number 3, draw 3 clouds, color 3 flowers
- as they write number 3 you can help them learn the rhyme - jump, jump, like a big B, that's how we write a number 3
Drawing / Writing Pattern Lines
- on big paper teach your children 3 different pattern lines for developing stronger handwriting skills
- let them do big strokes using marker or crayon from left to write across the page - they could chalk on the ground too
- straight lines, zig zags, waves, jumps, hops and loops are good first patterns
- after practicing big patterns they can incorporate 3 different patterns into a paper craft - like our Apple Bowl craft
Apples in 3
- explore making a group of 3 and equal groups of 3
- play in a small group - for example in a math warm up at your small-group table
- play with yellow, green and red counters
- students take turns to roll a standard 6 sided die, collecting the matching number of counters (in any color)
- the aim is to make a perfect set of 3 or some equal-groups of 3
- for example, if a student rolls a two and then a one on his next roll, he has made a 3 and wins
- if a students rolls a 2, then a 5 (now 7), then a 2 - he wins as he has made 3 groups of 3 totalling 9
- show students how to make groups of 3 as they continue through the game
- if you have made the apple craft and have them on display you can reinforce the idea of a set/group including 3
3 Leaves Pattern Game
- this is a listening game and perfect for a brain break or warm up
- if you have leaves on a classroom display you can refer to them in your instructions for the game
- tell your children a color pattern (if it's the first time playing a game like this you may like to draw it or write it with symbols on chart paper to support your students listening)
- e.g. yellow, orange, red, yellow, orange, red, yellow, orange, red
- repeat the verbal pattern several times giving your stduents opportunity to remember it
- have the class join you and say the pattern together or by asking students seated in a circle to say the next color in the pattern order
- increase the complexity - e.g. yellow, yellow, red, orange, orange, yellow, yellow, red, orange, orange, yellow, yellow, red, orange, orange
Drawing or Making with 3 Shapes
- give your students 3 pattern shape blocks or show them how to draw 3 shapes - e.g. circle, pentagon, oval
- challenge them to do a drawing with just these shapes or cut them out and create something - e.g. what could you draw with rectangles ,triangles and squares
- use our one page piglet template to make a cute piggy with 3 shapes and read the 3 Little Pigs
- you may also like our guided drawing with shapes pack
I hope these ideas help you use creative activities more confidently in your classroom knowing they can support essential work in math and literacy too!
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