Spin and Add Math Activity for Kindergarten

We were on the hunt for fun learning activities over the holiday break, and this Spin and Add Math Activity for Kindergarten was a great fit.

Spinners are so awesome! Something about the flicking and watching the hand go round and round is addicting, and my kids love it. In fact, I often find that the spinners to our various board games have gone mysteriously missing to be later found in the bottom of the toy closet or under someone’s bed.

You can imagine my excitement then, when I found a pack of number spinners at our local dollar store. SCORE!! There may have been a little happy dance going on in isle ten. 🙂 Since then, they’ve been stashed, secretly away in my school/crafting closet waiting for an opportune moment to bring them out.

I decided to use them for some math practice. We called it our spin and add math activity, and it was pretty straight forward. I gave my kids a spinner, a pencil, and a blank sheet of paper.

The child on a kindergarten level did a spin to add activity for 2-digit addition. He flicked the spinner once to get his first addend, and then flicked it a second time for his second addend. As soon as he solved for that sum, he got to start again.

The older kids got to practice something a bit more tricky like 3-digit addition or multiplication depending on their level. Happily the spinners came in a multi pack, and there were enough to go around for the kids that were interested in this activity.

I love this activity because it is so simple. If you can’t find spinners to purchase you can make your own, or up-cycle one from an old game by writing numbers in the spinner sections. After that you only need a paper and pencil.

It’s a quiet activity that could be done at a desk or would be fantastic for math centers. It’s interactive, and it’s easy to store and switch up to fit the topic you are currently working on.

Thank you for taking a minute to check out our Spin and Add Math Activity for Kindergarten. Start collecting spinners, and enjoy this one on a cold winter day.

Happy Spinning!