Mitten Match-up

It's the season for mittens!  What could be more inviting and fun than matching up mittens while learning math facts?  Problem solving and engaging activities are all here in the 
Mitten Match-Up game.

I wanted to create something that I could use with my First Graders to build fast and familiar recall of those Addition and Subtraction facts to 10 and 20.  After I copied the various pages on colored paper of my choosing, I cut them out and laminated them for years of mileage.  It's a lot of work to prep some things, so I made sure to  do it well so it would last being shared among many small hands.

The idea is simple.  Sort the various addition and subtraction equations to their matching mittens.  

The Mitten Match-up Game.  Complete with mittens to sort and printables for accountability.

There are many mittens with subtraction facts.  They include subtraction facts to 10 and 20, but you could even divide them up for facts up to 5 or 12 if that was the stage your students needed.  I actually did divide the equation mittens up based on need and understanding so that everyone could be participating in this activity in a way that was appropriate for their needs.  
Some kids got facts to 5 and only mittens that were equal to 3 and 4 (as an example), while others sorted out mittens with facts to 12, but maybe specifically only 9, 10, 11 and 12.   So many options!

Mitten Subtraction Equation Fact Pages

Here is an example of the mittens with addition facts.  Again, these are done through 10 and 20, so they could be sorted and used for children who need to work on particular addition facts.

Mitten Addition Equation Fact Pages

Here are the larger mittens with the answers on them.  The smaller mittens with the equations match up with one of these.  Mittens with 0-20 are included in the set.

These are the Match-up mittens to use when sorting.
Students match an addition or subtraction fact to the appropriate larger sized mitten.

Recording pages are made that match up with all equation mittens and help with accountability.

Mitten Match-up Recording Pages

Here is a blank Match-up mitten fact page which enables teachers to differentiate the task for their students.

Blank Mitten Match-up page for differentiation.

 While it's important for children to start to have immediate recall of all those facts, it equally important for them to begin to understand the relationship between and adding and subtracting. So if you're working on fact families, like I am, you might like these. We've been using them not only for sorting, but when solving story problems.  

I did have to copy these onto a color I wanted as well, and cut them out and laminate them, but I know the time I invested will be well worth it in the coming years.

I haven't given all of the sets to all of my kids.  Instead, I've given four Fact Families and their matching addition and subtraction sentence to a small group of children and had them sort them out and record their findings.  This is one activity that keeps them engaged and has been helping them make those beginning connections to adding and subtracting numbers and how they relate to one another when solving specific equations.

Fact Family mittens with equations.

Recording page for Fact Family Mitten Sort.

One other great feature to these mittens, is that they can be used for many months.  I've only just started using them in my classroom, but I know that they will have a purpose for the next few month of winter.

If you like this product, see it HERE, or visit my TpT Store, FirstLittleLessons, for lots of other great games and printables.

I hope it's warm where you are. Please send sunshine our way in cold and snowy Michigan!

Stay Warm!