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Fractions for Four Year Olds

Engagement Time

10 Minutes

Fractions for Four Year Olds is designed to improve your little one’s ability to recognise that a fraction is part of a whole.

Materials Required

Piece of Cardboard Coloured Pencils, Markers or Crayons Ruler Scissors

Method

Many adults can recall spending time at school "playing" with coloured wooden rods of different lengths. These Cuisenaire rods were actually designed to demonstrate how one length of rod could be divided a number of different ways. In this activity you can complete a similar activity with your little one. To begin draw 5 rectangles 4cm x 12cm on your sheet of cardboard and cut these out. Colour the rectangles each a different colour and then divide each as below:

6 x 2cm rectangles
4 x 3cm rectangles
3 x 4cm rectangles
2 x 6cm rectangles
1 x 12cm rectangle

You can now cut out the various pieces of the rectangles and show your little one how 3 lots of 4cm make 12; 4 lots of 3cm make 12; 4 lots of 2cm + 1 lot of 3cm make 12. Let your little find as many different combinations as they can for covering the solid rectangle with their coloured pieces. Extension: Once you have found all the combinations make a chart of all the various ways you can combine the pieces to make the original rectangle. Note: This activity is not limited to a 12cm rectangle. You can complete the same activity with any rectangle although those with a higher number of divisible parts work best such as 10; 18 or 20cms.

This activity develops skills in these areas:

Numeracy Activities

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