Penguins
on Ice™ is a highly
engaging math activity set that integrates hands-on fun with a multitude of
math skills. Develop counting, sorting, problem solving, estimating, and basic
computation skills using these perky penguins and the cool blue ice bars. Keep
little hands and busy brains working hard for hours of creative work and play!
Includes: 10 Ice bars
and 100 penguin counters
Explore and More
* Let students explore and play independently with the penguins and ice bars.
Show students how to fit the penguins on the pegs of the ice bars. Demonstrate
how the ice bars can hook together both end to end and side to side. Let the
students discover different ways to use this activity set.
* Play “What’s Missing?” with a small group of students. Place five different-colored
penguins on an ice bar. Have students carefully study the penguins, and then
close their eyes while you remove one penguin. Ask students to open their eyes
and guess which color penguin is missing. Repeat this activity. You may also
want to switch roles.
Math Skills and Concepts
* Sorting—Sort the penguins into color sets. For younger students, limit the
number and color of penguins to be sorted. Gradually increase the numbers and
colors as the student becomes more confident.
* Patterning—Build patterning skills by creating patterns with the penguins and
the ice bars. Start with simple patterns (two-color patterns, AB patterns, etc). Ask students, “What color
comes next?” As students become more familiar with simple patterns, add another
color to create more challenging patterns. You can also create a
pattern
(such as red penguin, white penguin, red penguin, white penguin) and have
students try and copy what you created. Copy the clip art shown at the bottom
of this guide for students to use as a “recording sheet” for the patterns made
* Counting—For basic counting skill development, call out a number and have
students place that number of penguins on an ice bar. Have them check and
compare with others. Be sure to reinforce one-to-one correspondence when
counting (that is, saying each number as you count and touch a penguin).
* Problem Solving—The penguins and ice bars can help students develop problem
solving and computation skills. Tell a story such as: “Five penguins were
sitting on an ice bar. Four more penguins waddled over and sat on the ice bar.
How many penguins are on the ice bar altogether?” You can also create stories
involving subtraction.
* Estimating—To begin building a strong sense of estimation, ask students how
many penguins they think they can hold in one hand. Record answers, and then
see how many penguins each student can actually hold. Compare the numbers. Use
key math vocabulary words such as more and
fewer.
Extend and Enrich
* Develop higher-level number skills by connecting all the ice bars together to
create a 100 grid. Let students explore the many ways to place 100 penguins on
this grid.
* Ask students to place any combination of 10 penguins on one ice bar. Have
students create number sentences to match. For example, 3 blue penguins + 4
yellow penguins + 3 red penguins = 10 penguins. Copy the clip art shown at the
bottom of this guide for students to record the number sentence.
* Use a number die (not included) and the penguins to play “Penguin Pile.” Put a
pile of 50 penguins in the center of a playing area. Two players take turns
rolling a number die and taking the matching number of penguins from the pile.
The winner is the player with the most penguins after all the penguins have
been taken from the center pile.
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Resources, Inc.,