Adding Doubles Christmas Tree Math Puzzle for Kindergarten

As my first fall in the classroom drew to a close, it dawned on me that I wasn't going to make it through my curriculum. With mandated exit tests looming (as in, fail the test, and you don't graduate), I knew I needed to at least get the planned content in front of my students. I also knew that they expected to have a party the last day before Christmas break. In a move of desperation, I wrote an entire unit's worth of material into a Christmas theme and taught the whole thing the last day before break. They moaned and groaned, but most of them decided to play along, and when we reviewed months later they remembered our reindeer games!

It was a great lesson for me in the power of using seasonal activities to hold students' attention.

Today I'm giving you a Christmas math puzzle my kindergartener developed to practice adding doubles. She told me what she wanted, and I put it together. It's now free in my TPT store.

Materials

Printout available for free through TPT
crayons
scissors
glue (optional)
paper punch circles in holiday colors or pom poms to use as counters

Your kindergartners will love putting together their own addition Christmas Tree. Includes free template.

One thing we have noticed this year is that my daughter's fantastic teacher slips in fine motor practice wherever she can. We agreed that coloring and cutting would be a good way to start this activity.

Once all the pieces have been colored and cut, the math fun begins.

Start by grouping each math sentence together. Use the hole punch dots to figure out what the answer to the sentence should be. One dot plus one dot makes two dots.

Four plus four equals eight. Using counters will help your kindergartner develop an intuitive sense of addition.

Once each number sentence has been grouped together, cover a sheet of white paper with glue, and put each number sentence on the trunk of the tree. Use the counters to decorate for Christmas!

Merry Christmas and best of luck keeping your students on task, especially to all the first year teachers out there!

Click here to go to my Teachers Pay Teachers store to download a free copy of the template for this activity.

Want more Christmas themed activities for your kindergartners? Take a look at what my fellow bloggers in the KBN Kindergarten Blog Hop are offering today.