Using Toy Boarders in Math

My sister-in-law found some wonderful new toys - Toy Boarders.  These toys look almost like toy soldiers, but with a twist.  They come in packs of snow boarders, skate boarders, or surfers.  I just knew my kinders would love these!  Besides being a great play toy, I thought they would be fun for math.
We are currently working on composing numbers so I designed a problem using all three types!  I told the children that I'd discovered an amazing new play park where children could snow board, surf, or skate.  But, only 10 children could go in at a time.   I had my children work in small groups. They made combinations of ten using the boarders and printed scenes.

 

Then, after several combinations, they chose one to record.  I thought my children needed a little help with the recording and wanted them to record what they had discovered not a different combination.  So, I made some small pictures they could use to paste to a recording sheet to show their chosen solution rather than having them draw in their journals.

 

The students were very successful and enjoyed sharing their findings later.  When packing up for going home, one boy commented, "That was fun!" as he placed his recording sheet in his backpack.

Enjoy!   Molly