We are fully immersed in tally marks math mode here!
J loves tallies and counting by fives, so to further encourage his interests, we used our Magna-Tiles to work on tallies. This simple math activity was also a great way to practice writing and addition.
This post contains affiliate links.
How to Practice Tally Marks with Magna-Tiles
J and I came up with this math activity together after spending hours playing with Magna-Tiles and dry erase markers. He spent over four hours with just these two materials. First, it was open-ended play. Then it was DIY mix and match creature puzzles. Then it was DIY dominoes with Magna-Tiles. And then there was the tally marks.
Only one group of five tallies were allowed per small square, which visually reinforces how multiplication by fives works. Here's his representation of the number 17. As a side note, I have no idea why he writes his sevens like this. He does it only occasionally though.
Anyway, J being J, small numbers just weren't going to do. He worked on big numbers like 120.
And 185.
205...and so on...until he ran out of Magna-Tiles.
Once he ran out of Magna-Tiles, he switched to addition mode. He would write an addition problem, of his own choosing, on a large Magna-Tile. Then he would write out the addition sentence using the small square Magna-Tiles, such as this one.
Other Ideas You'll Love
