Terri Thompson

Colorful Buildings Paper Collages: Exploring Argentina Through Art

April 20, 2015 By Terri Thompson

We headed to South America for stop 7 in Project: Around the World to visit Argentina. Argentina is a vast country, the second largest in South America, and there were so many fascinating things to choose for inspiration. (See Argentina on a map here.) Would it be the pampas, which are the fertile grasslands, or the Andes Mountains? Would it be the tango, the dance that originated in Argentina, or the gauchos, the native cowboy of the pampas? We ended up using a small slice of Argentine life, the colorful buildings in the neighborhood of La Boca in Buenos Aires for inspiration.

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Supplies Needed:

White paper

Construction paper in several bright colors

Scissors

Glue

Black marker

I love this project because the process is super simple. It’s an open-ended project with such fun results.

The first thing you need to do it to decide on your buildings. We make simple square and rectangular shapes. Try to fill in much of your paper with the larger shapes. Glue all your shapes down. Overlap your shapes if you want the look of a busy city block.

Next, use smaller pieces for roofs, windows, doors, and other details. Your shapes don’t have to be perfect! Arrange them on your paper until you’re pleased with the results, then glue them all down.

After you have all your collage complete, use your black marker to add in details. Add bars to the windows, door knobs, shutters, or anything else that strikes your fancy.

Thank you for coming along on our virtual trip to Argentina. If you’d like to see all of the projects we’ve done for Project: Around the World, please click here or on the button below.

Play and Learn With Fun Hundred Chart Activities

April 16, 2015 By Terri Thompson

Don’t think I’m crazy, but I really believe that hundred charts can be tons of fun. It’s a perfect base for any number of math games.

So, let’s play and learn with some fun hundred chart activities.

Don’t think I’m crazy, but I really believe that hundred charts can be tons of fun. It’s a perfect base for any number of math games.

Why the hundred chart? Well, it’s an important math tool in the elementary years. It’s a map that shows number order and highlights patterns among the number. I got down to basics in my Math Homework 101: The Hundred Chart post. Check it out for the low down and to get your own printable hundred chart.

The hundred chart is not just for school. You can use it at home in all sorts of fun ways to help your child review math. You can absolutely have fun with it and your kids will be learning a ton in the process.

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for more details.

Here are some great hundred chart activities you’ll want to try.

Can you paint 100 colors? Turn your hundred chart into a work of art with this project from NurtureStore. You’ll even find some additional activities to do with it once it’s complete.

Do you have a light table? Still Playing School has a couple of great ideas using the light table. First, she shows you how to find patterns on the hundred chart. She also made a bottle cap hundred chart. This one can be used on or off the light table.

Buggy and Buddy has a great explanation about finding number patterns on the hundred chart. Plus, she’s got an awesome free printable hundred chart book of patterns. Awesome!

Can you put a hundred chart back together? Try it out with the Wacky Mixed Up Hundred Chart activity at Better Than Homework.

You can use a hundred chart to make pictures. This Reading Mama has free Mystery Letter Hundred Charts you can download and print.

Go on a penny hunt and put them all on a hundred chart. Rubberboots and Elf Shoes shows you how.

Coffee Cups and Crayons played with a sticky hundred chart on a window. So much fun! Check out all the ways you can use it.

Playdough to Plato shows you how to make hundred chart puzzles. Can your child reconstruct a hundred chart? These are so much fun to do!

For another kind of hundred chart puzzle, check out our fill-in-the-blank puzzles. They’re easy to make for kids at any level.

Finally, if you’ve got kids that need to move, play with a driveway hundred chart. I’ve got the details here, plus several options for games to play.

Go ahead, find some fun hundred chart activities. Your kids will have a blast!

Fill-in-the-Blank Hundred Chart Puzzles

April 13, 2015 By Terri Thompson

Does your kid love puzzles? Mine do.

And luckily, many learning activities can be turned into a puzzle.

These fill-in-the-blank hundred chart puzzles are an easy DIY game your kids will love.

Grab a few colorful markers and sit down to make this fun hundred chart game.

Try filling in a small snippet of a hundred chart with these easy to make Fill-In-The-Blank Hundred Chart Puzzles for a little extra math practice at home.

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for more details.

Supplies Needed

Hundred chart (You can find one to download and print here.)
Graph paper
Markers

If you don’t have graph paper, you can use plain paper to draw your puzzles. I just found that the graph paper made the drawing so much easier. You can also find free printable graph paper online.

How to make your hundred chart puzzles

To help you figure out the shape of your puzzles, take a marker and draw a few shapes on your hundred chart.

Make large cubes, L-shapes, crosses, angles, etc. Make them as hard or as easy as your child needs.

For example, I only used horizontal lines for my kindergartner. She’s not advanced enough for the complicated shapes and the last thing I want to do is make math discouraging for her.

After I found my shapes on the hundred chart, I recreated the shapes on my graph paper.

For the final step, I filled in one or two of the numbers in the shape.

How to work your hundred chart puzzles

The challenge for this game is to fill in all the blanks. Each puzzle is just a small section of the hundred chart.

Your kids have to figure out the missing numbers using the shape and the numbers you provided.

Depending on the shape, they may have to go +10 or -10. Or, they may go +1 or -1. The game can be quite challenging.

My girls had so much fun with these puzzles.

And, they were learning along the way. They were working on simple addition, like +1 and -1, and number order. They also worked on adding 10 and subtracting 10.

There are just so many skills to learn with this simple game.

Don’t you just love when you can make learning fun?

Driveway Hundred Chart Game

April 9, 2015 By Terri Thompson

My kids often use a hundred chart on paper. But, sometimes it’s fun to go a little bit bigger.

While my kids were at school one day, I ran outside and created a giant hundred chart on our driveway so we could play a fun hundred chart game.

I couldn’t believe how excited they were to see it. And, I love that they still get excited about things like this!

Take math outside and have some fun with this Driveway Hundred Chart Game. Your kids will be moving, learning, and having tons of fun.

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for more details.

Create your driveway hundred chart

All it takes is some sidewalk chalk, a large portion of concrete, and some elbow grease to create your hundred chart.

You’ll want it set up exactly as the paper form that your child is familiar with.

You need 10 number across and 10 numbers down. I did not create a grid, just wrote out all the numbers.

Make sure you leave plenty of room for your kids to hop, skip, and jump!

How to Play Race to 100 Hundred Chart Game

You can use a driveway hundred chart in so many ways.

We played a simple game I called “Race to 100.”

All you need to play this game is your driveway hundred chart and one or two dice. (Just grab a couple from a board game.)

Each person started at zero. They threw the dice and moved that many spaces. The first person who got to 100 won.

It’s that simple. While they were at it, my girls were learning number order and simple addition.

You can also play a slightly different version by going in the opposite direction, “Race to Zero.” Start at 100 and go backwards. Now you’re working on subtraction.

There are so many other ways to use a driveway hundred chart.

Let your kids walk, jump, or skip their way through the chart while saying the numbers out loud.

Test your jumping skills by skip counting. Can they make the big leaps required when counting by 5’s? It’s fun to try

Walk your way through addition or subtraction problems. It’s a fun way to practice your math facts.

Practice your multiplication tables. Jump your way through the 2’s or 3’s or 4’s or… you get the idea. Jump from 3 to 6 to 9 to 12 all while reciting your threes multiplication facts. Sometimes kids just need the movement to help them learn these things.

I’m sure if you and I kept brainstorming, we could come up with many more versions of this fun driveway hundred chart game.

Do you have any fun ideas? Leave them in the comment section. I’d love to see them!

Math Homework 101: What is a Hundred Chart?

April 8, 2015 By Terri Thompson

Pull up a chair. It’s time for another addition of Math Homework 101.

Today, we’re answering the question, what is a hundred chart?

What is its purpose? And, why on earth is my kid using it so much in class?!

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for more details.

What is a hundred chart?

If your child is in the early elementary years (kindergarten, 1st, 2nd), chances are you’ve seen the hundred chart.

Hopefully your child’s awesome teacher has already sent one home. My daughter has one that stays in her homework binder.

If you don’t have one, I’ve got a couple of versions at the end of this post you can download and print.

Let’s get down to it! What is a hundred chart?

So, what is the point of the hundred chart? One way you can think about it, is that it’s a bulkier version of the number line. It can help your kids learn number sequencing in the higher numbers. They can use it for addition and subtraction help.

What’s 34 +4? Start at 34 and count 4 spaces to get the answer.

What’s 57-9? Start at 57 and count backward. In this way, it works exactly the way a number line does.

But, that’s not all a hundred chart is useful for.

You can use it to see patterns in the numbers. See the highlighted column above. If you find all the numbers that end in a five, you’ll see that they’re in a straight line. Same with the 6’s, 3’s, etc. It’s a great visual tool for any kid that needs to see something to understand it.

The patterns can also be used to help with skip counting. Suddenly, skip counting becomes more than just memorization. Your child can see the numbers they skip over. They can see the pattern.

I’ve seen kids who struggle with skip counting master it after using the hundred chart for awhile. (And by master it, I mean they are able to skip count without using the the hundred chart for help.)

What else can your kids learn about numbers with the hundred chart?

Take a look at the highlighted squares above. The number in the middle is 55. When you isolate that cross, you can see at a glance what the +1, -1, +10, and -10 facts are. Four sets of math facts at once. That’s powerful.

What else can you learn at a glance?

Highlight the columns in two alternating colors. Now you can see even and odd numbers.

Use it to help count coins. Place dimes on the 10’s column or nickles on the 5’s and 10’s. They’ll see how counting money relates to skip counting at a quick glance.

Cover up a number and see how quickly your child can figure out the hidden number. They’ll use the surrounding numbers as clues.

Hundred charts can be used even beyond the lower grades. Check out this post to see ways to use it in the upper elementary years. It can even help with multiplication!

Now that you know the answer to the question, what is a hundred chart, it’s time to embrace the hundred chart. It’s a valuable tool to help your child understand math.

Pease click below to download and print your own hundred chart. I’ve included 2 versions. They first is from 1-100 and the other is from 1-120. Many schools (and Common Core standards) are expecting kids to count beyond 100 to 120. Use the chart that best fits your child’s needs.

Hundred Chart 1-100

Hundred Chart 1-120

Now that you have your own hundred chart and have learned all about it, it’s time to do some fun activities. Try one of these fun ideas:

Hundred Chart Fill-in-the-Blank Puzzles – Can your child figure out the missing numbers by their location on a hundred chart?

Driveway Hundred Chart – Make a giant hundred chart on the driveway and play some fun games.

Ways to Play & Learn with a Hundred Chart – A round-up of fun hundred chart ideas from some of the best kid activities blogs.

Do you have any questions about the hundred chart? Ask your questions in the comment section and I’ll answer!

Find all the Math Homework 101 posts at this link.

Terri Thompson

Colorful Buildings Paper Collages: Exploring Argentina Through Art

Play and Learn With Fun Hundred Chart Activities

Here are some great hundred chart activities you’ll want to try.