Number Bonds with Shells

Early elementary school kids are often taught Number Bonds as a math technique to grasp the concept of a whole number and the parts that make up that whole number. So I thought it’d be great to create this Number Bonds with Shells activity to help kids grasp this math concept. Make it a play based learning activity by turning the activity into a simple game! Scroll down to learn the Number Bonds with Shells game mechanics below.

What are Number Bonds?

Number Bonds provide kids with a visual picture of a big number and the smaller numbers (or parts) that can be combined to make that big number. As an example, Number Bonds to 10 would be 8 and 2, 5 and 5, 1 and 9… all of these number combinations make 10. I’ve come to realize that this concept is called different terms in different countries. Using the number 10 as an example, Number Bonds is also known as ‘Making 10’ or ‘Complements of 10’ or ‘Friends of 10’ or Number Pairs. Many different names, but the concept is the same.

Items needed for this Number Bonds with Shells activity:

Sea Shells. Gather a few from the beach or purchase some sea shells
Number Bonds with Shells Free Printable by Kidz Activities
If you’re doing the game: Sand or Kinetic Sand

How to Teach Number Bonds with Shells

Print, cut and laminate the Number Bonds with Shells Free Printable <<< Get the Printable by clicking on this link.

Note: The Free Printable was designed for Number Bonds to 10. But if you print 2 sheets of the Number Bonds to 10 Free Printable, you can easily re-use, mix and match to test kids’ knowledge on other Number Bonds (such as Number Bonds to 8, Number Bonds to 5, etc.)

Lay out all the laminated print outs on the table. If doing Number Bonds to 10, have a bowl containing 10 sea shells handy for kids to use. Print and laminate the grid, also found in the free printable, for the child to use as a guide.
Let the child take one card from the table. The child may create a visual of the card by taking the number of actual sea shells that correspond to the card and placing these sea shells on the squares of the grid.
Then let the child find the pair of this card. The pair is the number that will make 10 when added to the first card chosen. Encourage the child to continue using the sea shells and grid to help them solve it.

Number Bonds with Shells Game

Make this Number Bonds with Shells activity more interesting by turning it into a game. This game is played much like a Memory Game.

Number Bonds Game Preparation:

Hide the laminated print outs in sand or kinetic sand. Give each player a bowl of 10 sea shells.

How to Play:

The first player takes a shell print out from the sand.
She then tries to ‘find’ the pair of the first number, by lifting out another hidden card. Let the kids use the sea shells as counters if needed.
If the child does not successfully find the correct number pair, she puts the shell print out back where she found it. And the next player takes his turn at picking out a card and guessing where the pair is.
When a number pair is found, the player keeps the pair.

When all the print outs have been taken from the sand, the player with the most pairs wins.

Wasn’t this a fun learning activity for primary aged kids? If you liked this Number Bonds with Shells activity, follow Kidz Activities on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram to get more play based learning ideas.

Here are more ocean themed activities for primary school kids….

Ocean Currents Science Experiment from Life Over C’s

Marine Mammals or Fish? from Still Playing School

Ocean Animals Food Chain Printables from Living Life and Learning

How Do Fish Breathe? from Parenting Chaos

Why Can’t Freshwater Fish Live in the Ocean? from Schooling a Monkey

{FREE} Ocean Animals & Plants Cards from Preschool Powol Packets

Ocean Animal Addition Cards from The Kindergarten Connection

Ocean Animal Vocabulary Cards from The Letters of Literacy

Super Simple Edible Coral Reef from Lemon Lime Adventures

Coral Reefs Game from Line Upon Line Learning

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