We will be walking through a full-size corn maze when we go to the pumpkin patch until then we have small corn maze math activity in our backyard. It doesn’t have any dead ends or twists to it. It is a simple avenue of corn that we can walk through.
Our corn maze is simply construction paper husks of corn placed on stakes. (The stakes have been collected over time. Our lawn care company places them in our front yard along with a placard with their company name on them. We keep the stakes and pitch the placards.)
I placed a wide variety of numbers on the corn cobs. JDaniel is working on the numbers 1-100 at school this year. I picked numbers that are all over that range.
We then planted the corn husks back onto the stakes. I should have laminated them. The construction paper started to crease a little when we put the corn back on the stakes.
As we walked through the corn this time I asked JDaniel to tell me the numbers that came before and after each number on the corn. This took a little longer and required a little thought. Simply recalling the number had been much easier. This required visualizing the number and then the numbers that appear around it. Moving up to a new level in the higher levels of thinking was a good brain stretcher for him
The last time through the numbers I had JDaniel tell the number in the ones and ten places in each number. I think understanding what makes a number a number helps children bring meaning to the number. This wasn’t that difficult for him. I didn’t think it would be. The goal of was to help him start to build up the number sense compartment of his brain.When he learns expanded notation in school, knowing how many tens and ones a number has will be helpful.
(Visited 1,332 times, 1 visits today)
This is fantastic! We went to a sunflower maze with a number activity and my daughter got really into it. Today we may hit a corn maze. I also like the idea of making our own in our backyard.
This so cute!!!!!!!!! I love this idea! When I have kiddies this will be on my list!
*Besos*
http://www.cmichellestyles.com
Instagram: Cmichellestyles
Pinterest: Cmichellestyles
We are visiting a corn maze this Friday! What a fun idea to make your own version right in your backyard! I love how excited your son was to do the activity again-always a blessing to see our kids enjoy the activities we plan for them 🙂
Great idea! Ours are learning numbers now and this is perfect. I pinned it to my Fall board (http://www.pinterest.com/pin/17732992256337967/).
What a fun and active way to practice learning numbers!
Featuring on Monday’s After School Linky – and pinned to our group board 🙂
what a GREAT activity…and a nice way to enjoy the beautiful weather
Thanks so much for the inspiration. I have a class of 20 Pre K children, so I modified your corn maze to be a group activity. I cut corn from yellow felt, 20 in all. I wrote the numbers 1-20 on the pieces, and then had the children glue on the appropriate number of yellow beads. (The corn kernels) The next day, after they had dried, I randomly spread the corn around our school’s grassy area. I gave each child a number card, from 1-20. The child had to find the matching piece of corn, then the class followed to that spot. I was afraid they might get bored going through all the numbers, but they stuck with it. Afterward, we lined the corn up in numerical order. Then I placed the pieces in a bin in our math area, so that the children could continue to explore them. This is really why we glued the beads on, to encourage the children to count while working with the corn.
I am so glad you found a way to make it work for your class.