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!

 

FUN and FREE Math Activities for Kids

• Addition Mini Book (Adding 0-12)
• Apple Number Bonds Activity
• Blueberry Muffin Math
• Candy Corn Number Puzzles
• Christmas Dot-to-Dot
• Deck of Cards: Subtraction 
• Doggy Addition File Folder Game
• Flower Number Bonds Activity
• Gumball Math: Addition & Subtraction
• Ladybug Addition Game
• House Fact Families
• Kindergarten Number Practice 1-20
• Mazes: Skip Counting by 2s-10s
• Money Mini Book
• Safari Count to 30 Game
• Solve & Stamp Math Worksheets (addition / subtraction)
• Spring Bird Addition File Folder Game
• Valentines Day Candy Box Math
• 2000+ page of free math worksheets

 

Download Place Value Ice Cream Sundae Activity

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• This set is for personal and classroom use only.
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