Math Exploration – Final Pinecone Roundup

Today I am going to complete my Pinecone activity Roundups with Math activities!  Please check out my post on Pinecone Art Activities as well as Pinecone Science Activities.  I’ve had a lot of fun gathering ideas for different curriculum elements using natural materials that our youngest learners inquire about.  Fall has definitely hit New England and it was great to be able to bring nature inside and get those little minds inspired and little fingers engaged!

The first place I visited was Nurture Store: Creative Kids Learning for their Math Station.  I love that their math station leaves room for it to be an independent activity, group activity, or teacher directed activity, so many choices!  An investigation sheet leaves room for various questions, that you could come up with ahead of time, or come up with together as a group.  Then there is room for an estimation, as well as the actual answer.  Teaching young children how to estimate, and then test their answer is a valuable tool!  Cathy then goes on to use various tools to help identify answers.  Some of these tools included a ruler, tape measure and kitchen scale.  So many great conversations and ways to incorporate new math vocabulary!  What a rich math station.

Pinecone Math Station from the Nurture Store

Next I stopped over to Living Montessori Now, where they had some great ideas for math time outside!  By bringing chalk outside they had a whole huge canvas to use!  The possibilities are limitless.  Here Deb used the pinecones as math counters and children were able to match the correct number of pinecones to the written numeral.  She also recommends bringing two colors of chalk, that way younger children can trace numbers that you write.  Excellent way to think outside the box!

Outdoor Math Station with Living Montessori Now

And finally I stopped over at Toddler Approved where they created a Simple Counting Game of Pinecone Toss.  This not only included our math skills, but also hand eye coordination, bonus!  Kristina set out three bowls, big – 1 point, medium – 2 points, and small – 3 points.  Children took turns rolling a die, based on the number they rolled they tossed that many pinecones and tried to get the most points.  So for example, if they rolled a 3 and tossed all 3 pinecones into the furthest bowl they would have a total of 3 points.  If they tossed 3 pinecones, missed 2, and got the 3rd into the smallest bowl they would also get a total of 3 points.  Children can practice writing their numbers, or even tally marks, as they keep track of their scores.  What a simple and basic game, but I can see it being a lot of fun!

Pinecone Toss over at Toddler Approved

I hope that you all enjoyed my three Roundups on various pinecone activities.  Who knew that there were so many ways to use nature in the classroom?  In one day you could incorporate a Math, Science and Art activity into the classroom all with nature.  Let me know if you try any of these, and what your children think!

As a reminder, if you gather your own pinecones and want to get rid of bugs, sap, or other grit before using them with children, this is a great article to walk you through how to properly clean and preserve them.

Happy pinecone hunting!