Activities With Egg Cartons
Whether cardboard or foam, egg cartons are the neat containers crying out for reuse when the eggs are removed. While they are used to make a variety of crafts, these cartons are excellent teaching tools for young children. A parent or teacher can recycle the egg carton into a math or sorting machine.
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Counting Lesson
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This is a good way to help preschoolers count. Cut out small squares of tape and write the numbers one through 12 on them. Use clear tape to attach them to the bottom of the cup in the egg carton. Work left to right and top to bottom so that the top row of cups is one through six and the bottom row is seven through 12. Place at least 78 dry beans in the open lid of the carton. It is OK to have leftover beans but do not run out. Ask the child to read the numbers or take this time to practice reading the numbers. Ask the child to put the right number of beans into the correct cup. He will get practice counting to 12 and counting out objects.
Egg Carton Addition Game
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An empty egg carton; a bowl full of tokens like beans, round beads or marbles; paper; a marker and pencils are all that is needed to play this addition game for first graders. Use a marker to write the numbers one through 12 on the bottom of each cup. Place two tokens in the carton and close it. Give each child a piece of paper and a pencil and place the rest of the tokens in the center of the table. Shake the carton and open it to reveal which numbers the tokens landed on. The children use paper and pencil to add up the numbers. Let each child take a turn shaking the carton and revealing the math problem. The child with the highest number of correct answers after everyone has had a turn gets to take a token. If there is a tie, both or all children get a token.
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Word Math Problems
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Use the egg carton filled with plastic eggs or ping pong balls to teach children about word problems. For instance, if John has a carton with 12 eggs and he takes out three to make a cake, how many will he have? If there is a carton with six eggs and one with seven eggs and Alice needs eight eggs to make an omelet, how many eggs will be left? The children can also create word problems for the class to solve.
Sorting
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Using the egg carton as the sorting container, give the children an assortment of beads. The beads should be in primary and secondary colors, in different shapes such as round, square and cylindrical. Include round or square beads that come in a variety of sizes as well. Ask the children to separate all of the shapes by putting a different shape in a different cup in the egg carton. Have them mix up the shapes and then repeat the process by sorting the colors and the sizes.
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References
- PreschoolRock.com: Egg Carton Counting Rock
- Education.com; "Play Egg Carton Additon"; Victoria Hoffman
- Teaching Resource Center; "Egg Carton Math"; Kelly Wilson
- Mississippi State University Early Childhood Institute; "Gross and Fine Motor Activies for Early Childhood Preschool Children"; Stacy A. Callender
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/BananaStock/Getty Images
