OK people…I admit it. I have a problem. You see…I see an idea…I try it…and it works and I love it. Then I get this uncontrollable urge to do more of that idea or find ways to tweak that idea for other uses. That often leads to hoarding of random objects.Case in point: Test tubes! Weird, right?! (Don’t ask about the beach balls!) So after test tube sight words comes test tube math!
So I might have a couple bags of test tubes and 10 or so beach balls laying around. Don’t judge me!
So, I did a sight word activity with test tubes after seeing it posted on HeidiSongs. It was such a HUGE hit in my class…I wanted to use more test tubes. After all…the brain loves novelty and test tubes in centers is definitely novel!
So…here we are with test tube math!
You need: (Click the pictures to see the items on Amazon!)
Test tubes (I used these colored tubes for more fun!)
number cubes (7mm white cubes)
Now the easy part!
I choose two numbers. I made sure that they only added to 10 or less. This can be differentiated to 5 or higher than 10 to meet the needs of students! SEE! DIFFERENTIATION!
Place the numbers in the tube.
Add water. Fill to about 2/3 full.
Put a little glue around the top and place the cap on. BAM! Test tube math is complete!
Here’s how I used the test tubes:
We have to write an addition equation AND subtraction equation with the numbers in each tube! This was great practice for remembering to put the bigger number first when subtracting! (To differentiate: only add or place the numbers in the tube with the larger number on top and only subtract) For higher grades you can multiply or divide!
#commoncoreisfun
And here’s your free test tube math recording sheet:
