Basic Maths with Bottle Caps

Today we are participating in the Math Made Fun with Everyday Manipulatives Blog Hop hosted by School Time Snippets. Our chosen manipulative is bottle caps. These may be recycled milk bottle tops or drink bottle caps – we used a mixture of both. Best of all – the manipulative is free!

Here are 5 ways you can use bottle caps to aid your little ones mathematical development.

1. Counting

The bottle caps are great to practise one-to-one correspondence. They can either be moved across, turned over or simply touched when counting each cap.

2. Number Recognition

Use a permanent marker pen to write numbers. Start with numbers 1-5 to begin with and increase them as your child gains confidence. Adam loves to use his milk bottle top numbers in the bath and fish out particular numbers.

3. Ordering Numbers

Once your child can recognise their numbers move on to ordering them. Begin with ordering the numbers 1-5 then increase to 1-10 and 1-20 over time.

4. Repeating Patterns

Patterning is a basic math skill on which many mathematical concepts are based. Draw shapes on the milk bottle tops with a permanent marker pen. Start with creating a repeating pattern with two shapes and then increase this to as many shapes as they can manage.

5. Making Shapes

Use the bottle caps to create shapes. Take a photograph of a shape you have created with the bottle caps. Print off the photograph and see if your child can copy the shape. They can either create the shape next to the photograph or place the bottle tops on top.

Bloggers from around the world are sharing their Math Made Fun with Everyday Manipulatives. See how maths can be made fun and hands on using simple supplies found in the home. Click on the image below to see how to use resources such as sea shells, Lego, coins and buttons.