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Easter is only a couple of weeks away! Around this time you can find plastic eggs a-plenty! And right after Easter, you can grab them discounted at many stores. And with these eggs, egg-straordinary activities can be created for your students! Keep reading for a dozen 🤠ways to use plastic eggs!
Ways to Use Plastic Eggs for Math
1. Sorting and Matching activities– Students can sort the eggs by color or pattern. You could, also, take the eggs apart and have them matched incorrectly or place all the parts in a container and students would find the correct match.
2. Estimating– You could use one egg or many for this activity. Fill an egg with small objects such as M&Ms, pennies, beads, etc. Have students make an estimate of how many are inside the egg. Then, open the egg to see how close their estimate was. To use many eggs, you would place a different amount of the same small object in each egg and have the students shake each egg and guess how many are in each one.
Note: I would not use M&Ms at an independent center activity for estimating, only whole class. Otherwise, students will eat them. Feel free to give out the M&Ms once the activity is complete.
3. Practicing Equations– This could be done in a multitude of ways! Here are a couple examples:
Example 1: Use a set of 10-12 eggs. Fill each egg with a paper slip printed with an equation. Two of the equations must equal each other (ex. 3+5 in one egg and 4+4 in one egg). Then, students will open the eggs and match the equations that are equal.
Example 2: Use a set of 10-12 eggs. Place a different amount of small objects in each egg. As students open each egg, they count the objects, and write an equation to go with it.
4. Subitizing– Write on each piece of an egg in permanant marker. One half will be a number and the other half will be the dots that represent the number. Take the eggs apart and mix them up. Have students find the matching number pairs. Use eggs all the same color for more of a challenge.
5. Number Lines– Place a number inside each egg and have a blank or partially blank number line out. As students open each egg, they place it in the correct spot on the number line.
6. Story Problems– Students can use the eggs to act out story problems. You could provide your students with some story problems or you could have students create their own!
Ways to Use Plastic Eggs for Reading
1. Sight Word Practice– In each egg, place the letters to build a sight word. (Tip: Old Scrabble tiles would work well for this.) Students will open the eggs one at a time and build the sight word. Have a list available to help students unscramble the words.
2. Word Family Eggs– Use a permanent marker to write letters, blends, or digraphs on one half of an egg all the way around. On the other half write a word family, such as -at. Students will turn the egg and read each word created. This idea came from Clumsy Crafter.
3. Ordering a Story– Place strips of paper with a sentence or two from a story. Hide the eggs. Have students find the eggs, take out the strips, read them, and put the story in the correct order. Add a competitive twist by doing this activity in teams. Each team could be assigned a color/pattern of egg. The first team to correctly put their story together is the winner!
4. Letter/Word Hunt– Based on the skill level, eggs could be hidden with either letters or words in them. Students find the eggs, open them, and match them to letters or words on a sheet of paper. You could easily have students match upper to lowercase letters or have students match vocabulary words to definitions for more of a challenge.
5. Syllable Practice– You could use the eggs to demonstrate and practice open and closed syllables. Write on one half of the egg a open syllable real or nonsense word. On the other half write the letter or letter to make a closed syllable real or nonsense words. With the egg closed, read the closed syllable word and explain how the vowel is short. Take the egg apart, read the open syllable word and explain how the vowel is long. For more on syllable types check out my post The Importance of Teaching Syllable Types.
6. CVC Words– The plastic eggs will be used taken apart for this activity. On each piece write a letter or digraph, so that the letter can be seen correctly when the egg piece is flat side down. Students can build cvc words or make substitutions to create new cvc words after a word is built. This could be placed at a center with a recording sheet for accountability. To create a substitution recording sheet, I would give the starting word, such as cat. Then, I would put change the c to a p and have a blank line for students to write the new word and continue for about 10 substitutions. That way the finished product the student turns in would look like a word ladder.
Final Thoughts
It’s amazing how adding one new thing can increase the engagement and excitement of your students! And that one new thing is as simple as plastic eggs. I hope you enjoyed this post of a dozen egg-straordinary ways to use plastic eggs! Share in the comments which ideas your students loved or add one of your own.