Hands-On Learning with a Digital Twist: Fun Ways to Teach Fractions

Hi, friends! This week I’m back chatting about fun ways to teach fractions through hands-on learning with a little digital learning added into the discussion. As many of you know, I like to include everyday math learning into my products and lessons. This makes teaching not-so-fun math concepts engaging for our students and helps them learn better. First, lets’ touch on the basics of teaching fractions to young children and what is involved.

A fraction is an abstract concept for students to learn. Young children need visuals to understand this concept. One of the most effective ways to teach children is through everyday learning. Children learn best through play. Manipulatives are also an easy and effective way to visualize whole and parts of the whole. Let’s start by first going over the vocabulary that we want our students to know about fractions.

We want to start by familiarizing children to the concept of whole. For example, you can say things like, “This is a whole apple, let’s eat our whole grilled cheese sandwich for lunch, etc.”. Then, we can move on to parts of the whole. Tell children that you are cutting the paper into parts, for example. You can have students shade in parts of a circle or rectangle. Explain equal parts through a variety of activities that I will explain further along in this post.

Teaching Vocabulary through Hands-On & Digital Learning

Partitioning is another concept that should be introduced to young children. Students should be able to partition a shape into equal parts. Rectangles and hexagons are commonly used shapes to introduce this idea. Use a rectangle to ask students to take notice of the shape. Show them a variety of rectangles that are divided into parts. Ask the students which ones are divided into equal parts. Introduce 2 parts as halves, 3 parts as thirds, and 4 parts as fourths depending on the grade level. You can then extend learning with digital versions of these activities. Keep reading for links to check some out.

Everyday Fractions

Before writing this blog, I had some ideas of everyday objects to use to teach fractions. Once I really started to look around my home, I noticed that we have so many opportunities to teach math concepts each day. Most people, if asked, would probably list a pizza as an easy way to visualize fractions. I’m an advocate for using pizza, especially on a Friday night, to teach any math concept 😉, but there are many other things to use. Not so tasty, but still useful.

As the image shows, mandarin oranges can be used to teach the concepts of “whole” and “parts”. Ask your child how many parts are in their section of the orange. Another snack to use to teach these vocabulary words is a pack of gummies. Ask the children how many gummies are there in total. This would be the whole. Then, let them eat a few while counting them aloud. Explain how these are the parts.

The Digital Twist

Here’s a digital way to use pizza to teach fractions. Click on the image to see more.

Sitting on the couch with your child watching their favorite show can also turn into a learning experience. Explain how each of you are sitting on one section of the couch. Continue to explain how many equal sections that the couch has and what portion of it you are both sitting on. Another piece of furniture that works well for teaching fractions is a dresser. The drawers are parts of the whole dresser. I could go on and on with how many objects can be found in the home to help teach the concept of fractions. How many can you find?

Fractions in the Classroom

Like with the home, the classroom has many opportunities to instill the concept of fractions. Fraction circles help students visualize the terminology that we talked about earlier in the post. Fraction strips are a popular way to also show students the parts of a whole. They are simply rectangle strips of paper of varying lengths that are divided into equal parts. They can be folded into halves, thirds, etc. You can also have the students make their own! Paper plates can also be used to fold into equal parts. It is a fun way to represent fractions to your students.

Every classroom has a window or two. Use them to also help students visualize parts of a whole. If the window is already divided with grilles, point to what makes a half or a third of the window. If the window is only divided into two parts, top and bottom, use washable window markers to make more equal parts. 😊 Have fun while teaching fractions! Keep reading to see a digital resource that incorporates windows into fraction learning fun.

Digitally Learning Fractions

Students love to move around objects in digital resources. After using a real window to explain fractions, expand their learning with a digital resource in the math center. Click the image above, or here, to see how 2nd graders can use technology and moveable objects to understand parts of a whole.

For 1st grade fun, check out this fun digital resource to introduce students to partitioning.

If this post has sparked more ideas for teaching fractions through hands-on or digital learning, share them in the comments below.

As I explained in a previous post, it is simple to take a hands-on activity theme and make it into a digital product for your students. Interested in making your own? Start with a plan. Download your free planner here.

Have a great week!

Jess