Mitten Number Bonds Math Game

With the icy weather this last week in the UK the theme for our early years learning this week is perfect – Mittens. With cold winds and the kids wanting to play in the ice – they are obsessed with it and keeping their hands warm when they sensory seek the feel of the ice and cold is a challenge. But that’s not what today’s post is about instead we’re working on number bonds at the moment – working out numbers that added together make 10. We’re at the stage with T where we combine activities like this with using our fingers as she hasn’t learnt the facts by rote yet but the more times that we do the activities the more times they are going to register. So today for our #TeachECE post we will be sharing how to create your own quick and simple DIY mittens number bonds to 10 math game.

Learning Objectives

• Can recall all pairs of addition number bonds to 10.

Materials Needed

Coloured Paper

Pencil

Scissors

Marker

Prep

Using a child’s hand draw around their hand in the shape of a mitten

Draw this mitten shape 12 times – you don’t have to worry about left or right.

Cut out the mittens

With the hands in the right-hand position label them 0 to 10 and an extra mitten number 5

Flip each mitten into the left-hand position and write the same number on the reverse – e.g. 5 on both sides

Playing the Mitten Number Bonds to 10 Game

We started with the 10 mitten – I lay the mittens in the left-hand position over the table and asked which mitten do we need to make the total of both of them 10.

True to form my daughter looked at me as if I was an idiot and said – none of them you already have a mitten with 10 on it Mummy! So I said ok is there any mittens that have the number none on them she quickly picked up zero and we matched up the pair.

I worked back from 9 then – with the number mitten in the right-hand position that I wanted to find the matching number for.

As we worked we took away the pairs that we had already matched as she is at a stage of learning these by rote so I wanted her to get quicker and match them up.

Once we had gone through from 9 – 5 I switched it up and we worked up from 0 to 5.

Extension Activities

For students that already know their number pairs then instead of removing the pairs already matched from the game put them back into play so that each stage as the same difficulty.

For students that working on number bonds to 10 is a stage to far adapt the game to work on number bonds to 5.

More mitten based activities for Early Years

Mystery Mitten Letter Sound Game by Growing Book by Book

Mitten Letter Matching on a Clothesline by Mom Inspired Life

Mystery Mitten Tactile Counting Game for Preschool! by The Preschool Toolbox Blog

Pass the Mitten Storytelling Game by Capri + 3

Mitten Matching Activities for Preschool by Life Over C’s

The Mitten Experiment by Powerful Mothering

Mitten Sight Word Games by The Educators’ Spin On It

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Author

Cerys Parker

Cerys is a marine biologist, environmental educator, teacher, mum, and home educator from the UK. She loves getting creative, whether it is with simple and easy crafts and ideas, activities to make learning fun, or delicious recipes that you and your kids can cook together you'll find them all shared here on Rainy Day Mum.