Easter Math Centers

Every year I plan to do my Easter centers, but typically we have Field Day that week or it becomes a zoo in my classroom since it's the week before Spring Break, so I don't manage to squeeze in centers. This year, I was determined because I have Easter centers I made a few years ago. Plus, who doesn't want to play with Peeps and chocolate ducks?

To get them in, I changed it up a little bit. Most of the time, I prefer doing rotations for holiday centers. This time, we did centers, but I used them more as whole group activities. I let the kids pair up in groups of two or three and then everyone did the same center. These centers would have worked fine as a rotation, but I knew I didn't have time to get all the rotations in, so this was my way of finding a happy medium. Really the kids don't care how they are done as long as they get to do a hands-on activity where they can work with a friend.

Here are a few pictures of some of the centers we did.

To help my kids figure out if the equation was true or false, I let my kids use stamps. I also laminated these sheets so that I could use them more than once. My kids turn in the sheet with their answers and after I check for understanding, I clean the sheets and we reuse them the next day.

With this center, I had my students draw lines between the numbers (easier to see in the second photo), answer the problem, and then match the carrots to the correct problem. Most of the groups caught on after I showed them how to do one problem.

I have wanted to do this center for several years, but never had time to do it. I bought tons of Peeps and mixed them into the boxes. This allowed me to preset the questions that my students would need to answer about the graphing sheet. This year, we did this whole group, but it would be easy to have this as a rotating center. Also, since I bought all of the Peeps, I kept them in their boxes and stored them in gallon-sized Ziploc bags. This way I won't have to buy them again. Not to mention, I won't have to sort them again. I discovered that I hate the sugar on Peeps. It's like glitter, but sticky - yuck!

My kids love doing these little spinners. The biggest thing is make sure to set a number for how many spins you want them to make. I've had a few of my kiddos spin until the whole graph is full.

This was my favorite! I can't believe that I found these little bunny dice on Oriental Trading. The kids loved them and even though they are foam, they are pretty solid.

When we do this, I try to make a point to pull three or four of my struggling students to work with me at a table. Since everyone is working with partners it isn't overly obvious to the other kids.

Be sure to have an extra activity for your early finishers. I usually keep little card games, flash cards, or allow them some time on the iPads playing math games.

If you like these centers, then feel free to grab my packet by clicking an image below.