My kids and I are counting down the days to summer break. And they already have a celebration planned when it comes: an ice cream sundae bar! I thought the idea was brilliant and I think I’m as excited about it as they are! For the time being, however, we still have math to learn, so why not combine the two? This free printable “Build an Ice Cream Sundae” place value activity is perfect for kindergarten, first grade and second grade, and is a fun way to increase your kids number sense!

Place value is an early math skill that is essential for your kids to learn and understand. Not having a clear understanding of each numbers value will cause problems in later math exploration, such as addition and subtraction of large numbers.

And while this may seem so simple to us, this is actually a very complex concept that requires lots of time, practice and varied approaches. So don’t be discouraged if this is a topic that you have to return to again and again with your kids.

Here are a few ways you can explore place value:

• Build numbers with base ten blocks
• Read Sir Cumference and All the King’s Tens
• Use building blocks to display numbers
• Place free Place Value PB&J Game

And if you’re looking for yet another way to play with numbers and help your kids understand place value, you don’t want to miss this Ice Cream Sundae Place Value Activity!

 

Place Value Ice Cream Sundae Activity

The first thing you will need to do is print the ice cream bowls, scoops and cherries and cut them out. I suggest using a laminator for durability. Then this handy printable set can be pulled out any time you need to review place value!

I put the bowls, ice cream scoops, and cherries on easy to cut out cards, but you could cut out each individual scoop and cherry if you wanted.

After everything is cut out, you’re ready to build an ice cream sundae!

This fun printable set includes 22 ice cream bowls with three digit numbers on them.

Give your kids a bowl, then let them “build” the number using the hundreds scoops (vanilla), tens scoops (chocolate) and then a cherry for the ones value.

They can build straight up, or get creative with where they place the scoops. 🙂

Included in this download are 9 hundreds scoops, 9 tens scoops and 9 cherries, allowing kids to build one or two sundaes at a time. If you wanted to allow them to build all the bowls at once, simple print out more of the ice cream scoops and cherries.

Another fun way to use this set would be to have your child build all the sundaes (or even just a few) and then compare them.

• Which one is the tallest?
• Is it also the largest number?

For example, if you compare 295 and 408, you would see that 295 makes a taller sundae, but it is a smaller number. Take time to discuss why it is smaller to help them understand the meaning of the tens value and the hundreds value.

Also spend time comparing numbers that have a zero in the tens or ones place. What does that mean for your sundae? What does that mean for the number?

And finally, once your kids have explored and built the given sundaes, let them create their own!

Also included in this download are two blank bowls and a recording page.

Let your kids build whatever kind of sundae they like, then record the total hundreds, tens and ones used on their recording page to calculate the total number they made.

I hope you have fun exploring place value and looking forward to summer with this ice cream sundae printable set! And if you’re looking for more resources to help your kids understand place value and large numbers, check out this post full of ideas!

Ice Cream Printables

If you are looking for more ice cream activities to add to your ice cream theme of summer learning, check these out!

• AMAZING, Edible Play Doh Ice Cream Recipe that scoops like ice creaam!
• Ice Cream Themed, Summer Bucket List Ideas
• Work on tracing letter with these free printable Ice Cream Alphabet
• Delicious Ice Cream Alphabet Puzzles to help kids practice matching upper and lowercase letters
• Plus check out these Ice Cream Alpabet Playdough Mats
• Practice adding to to with these cute Ice Cream Make 10 Game
• Cute, Hands-on Ice Cream Number Bonds Practice
• Printable Digraph Activity scooping Ice Cream
• Ice Cream Compound Words Activity

 

• FUN Ice Cream Place Value Activity fo kindergarten and first graders
• Or scoop a sunday with this Place Value Activity for grade 1, grade 2, and grade 3 students
• Cut and paste sentences with this Sentence Scrambles to make your own Ice Cream Reader for pre-k, kindergarten, and first grade students
• Practice adding Ice Cream scoop endings to words with this suffixes activity
• Color Matching Ice Cream Activity
• Simple Ice Cream Coloring Pages
• Fun and EASY How to Make your own Ice Cream in a Bag
• Try our delicious and EASY homemade vanilla ice cream
• Or whip up some ice cream this winter with this outrageously fun and super YUMMY How to Make Snow Ice Cream
• Practice Addition with this Ice Cream Math task cards using playdough!

• TONS of cute Ice Cream Craft Preschool
• Cute Ice Cream I Spy Worksheet
• Make practicing math fun with these fun Ice Cream Math Worksheets
• Simple Ice Cream craft using washi tape for toddlers, preschoolers and kindergartners.
• Fun-to-Make, Printable Ice Cream Math Craft
• Count to 20 as you Build your Ice Cream Math Sundae
• Scoop up Ice Cream Counting Printable
• Ice Cream Math Game Book Based Activity for Kindergartners
• I is for Ice Cream handart project for kids
• Practice completing patterns with this FUN Ice Cream Pattern Printable
• Fun Ice Cream themed Shape Playdough Mats

 

Looking for more fun ways to learn this summer with popsicle themed activities? You will love these free printables:

• Summer activities for preschoolers making Popsicle Alphabet Puzzles
• Ice Cream Division Puzzles make practicing math FUN
• Popsicle Count to 10 clip cards are a fun, educational Summer Activities for Preschoolers
• Trace the Letters on the Alphabet Popsicles in this Summer Activity for Preschoolers
• Work on Number Sense with these Counting  Summer Activity for Preschool Puzzles
• 2 ingredient Gummy Bear Popsicles are so COLORFUL and EASY!

Don’t miss all our amazing grade 1 worksheets and  first grade activities with 300,000+ different ideas to make learning FUN! Or sneak in some seasonal kids activities to make the most of these precious early years!

Have other children you are homeschooling? You will want to check out our pre k worksheets, free printable worksheets for kindergarten and free alphabet printables. Plus find our history for kids and easy science experiments for kids or all our free printable worksheets for kids.

Download Place Value Ice Cream Sundae Activity

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