This week we had lots of fun exploring math practice and skills with some fun Hanukkah symbols with our Hanukkah Math Fun. We used the Hanukkah Math Pack printable I made (and which you can download for free!), along with some hands-on Hanukkah fabulous manipulatives.
What You’ll Need
- Hanukkah Math Pack free printable
- Scissors
- Glue
- Cardboard
- Clothespins
- Sharpie
- Dreidels, gelt or other Hanukkah symbols
- Crayons or markers
- Dot Paints
- Yellow paint (optional)
- Hanukkah Counting/Memory/Math Fact Cards free printable (optional)
Putting It Together
- Print the Hanukkah Math Pack free printable.
- Follow the instructions on each page for some math and Hanukkah fun.
- For the clothespin Hanukkiah, cut around the Hanukkiah. Glue it to a piece of cardboard, then cut around that as well. Number the clothespins one through eight. We also painted ours yellow, but that’s completely optional. Invite your child to match the numbered clothespins to the numbers on the candles. This is also a great opportunity to talk about the shamash and when and why it is lit first (and not counted as one of the nightly candles).
- To put a Hanukkah spin on math manipulatives, set up a ten or twenty frame (either a store bought one or make your own out of egg cartons!) and practice counting with dreidels or gelt. We used our Hanukkah Counting/Memory/Math Fact Cards (also available as a free download!) to guide us with the numbers to count and to set up some math facts.
- If you have a 100 board (or want to make your own!), you can count how many dreidels (or gelt or other Hanukkah symbols you have around the house) by placing one object in each number of the board.
- As you see the Hanukkah symbols or use them as manipulatives, talk about their importance and what they mean.
Finished & Loving It!
We spent multiple days exploring these different Hanukkah Math Fun activities. It worked really well to focus on one or two of the activities at the time. And some of the kids were more interested in certain activities than others, and that’s perfectly ok! It worked well to meet them where they were at, and where their interests were, and encourage math practice while talking about Hanukkah. They really loved the Hanukkah twist on these activities!
Hanukkiah Clothespin Number Matching
We loved working with our Hanukkiah Clothespin Number Matching! The Hanukkiah printout is part of the Hanukkah Math Fun Pack printable. Working with the clothespins helps develop fine motor skills and strengthens those hand muscles. The activity helps with number exposure, identification and matching. You will probably want to explain why the shamash is not counted as one of the eight candles, but that didn’t faze my kiddo at all. He loved manipulating the clothespins and felt a lot of satisfaction when he lit all eight candles on the hanukkiah.
Dreidel Graphing
The dreidel graphing activity is part of the Hanukkah Math Fun Pack printable. It’s an easy way to practice color recognition, fine motor skills, and graphing. And get to play with some dreidels too!
Dreidel Ten (or Twenty) Frame
We set up our own ten and twenty frame using old egg cartons (yay for also practicing bal tashchit!). We used our Hanukkah Counting/Memory/Math Fact Cards as cues for the numbers to match, then as math facts. This was such a fun way to practice counting out the numbers and doing addition!
Count By 2s
This Hanukkah Count by 2s is part of the Hanukkah Math Fun Pack printable. It’s a simple but Hanukkah-fun way to practice number sequencing and thinking about counting by twos. It’s also set up like a clock for that number order exposure.
Dreidel 100 Chart
It was so fun to gather all our dreidels and set them up on our 100 chart. If you don’t have a 100 chart, it’s easy to create your own by writing out the numbers 1-100 on a large piece of paper. You can then match a dreidel (or a piece of gelt!) to each number. This practices one to one correspondence, number sequencing, fine motor skills, and is of course a fun way to see how many dreidels you have!
Hanukkiah Dot Counting
Hanukkiah Dot Counting is part of the Hanukkah Math Fun Pack printable. It’s an easy and fun way to practice number correspondence, counting, addition, and fine motor skills. The final math fact (adding up each of the candles per night) will need a little help by explaining that we also light the shamash each night so add eight to the total of candles they dotted and you’ll get the magic number of how many candles you need per hanukkiah each Hanukkah!
Dreidel Math Facts
Dreidel Math Facts is part of the Hanukkah Math Fun Pack printable. There’s one page that’s pre-set and a second one where you can write in your own math facts. The idea is two correspond each number of the math fact with the correct number of dot paint dots. This visualization helps with the math fact.
There were so many fun ways to explore mathematical concepts, skill development, and Hanukkah learning! Hope you have fun too!
Don’t forget to kick off your Hanukkah learning with our Hanukkah Montessori-Style 3 Part Cards!
Check out some of our favorite Hanukkah resources:
For some of our favorite Hanukkah books, take a look at our Bookshop.org With Love, Ima Storefront (each purchase supports local bookstores!).
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