Egg Carton Ten Frame

A ten frame is a math tool to help kids visualize numbers and math facts. It is usually drawn with squares on paper, but I thought it would be neat to make it 3D with an egg carton. It is much more fun to drop items in a little hole than place them on a paper, right? Are they even called holes? Okay, I looked it up. Wikipedia says they are called dimples. That’s funny. 🙂

How to make it:

Cut off the lid of an egg carton and two of the dimples. Yep, it is still making me smile .
Number them 1-10. Usually ten frames aren’t numbered, so if this is for an older kid feel free to leave it blank.
Find small objects to count. For a reluctant little mathematician, use food. Snacks will motivate anyone to do math!

Now use it to teach:

(Common Core Standards appear in italics. They correlate with specific standards in different grade levels. These standards are used in almost every school in the country. Click the Common Core tab above to learn more.)

one-to-one correspondence– Toddlers might be able to count to ten, but they might not understand what the numbers actually mean. Touching objects as they count teaches one-to-one correspondence. Show them how to pick up an object, say the number, and place it in the egg carton. For more of a challenge, try to pick up objects using a spoon or chopsticks! (kindergarten- When counting objects, say the number names in the standard order, pairing each object with one and only one number name and each number name with one and only one object)
number recognition- If you number your egg carton, then they will be able to SEE the number as they SAY the number and drop in the item.
addition facts to ten– Using the egg carton, it will be easy to “see” the facts. There are seven items in the egg carton and three empty spaces. See if your child can write the addition fact 7+3=10. (kindergarten- For any number from 1 to 9, find the number that makes 10 when added to the given number, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and record the answer with a drawing or equation)
relationship between addition and subtraction- The egg carton is a good visual to show how fact families work. Place six objects in the carton and then write all the facts. Another way to think about 10-6 is to find the number that makes 10 when added to 6. Say “Six plus what equals ten?” and write 6+__=10. (first grade- Understand subtraction as an unknown-addend problem)
place value- Make some more egg carton ten frames to count larger numbers. Each carton is a “ten.” (first grade- Understand that the two digits of a two-digit number represent amounts of tens and ones)
estimation- Practice guessing how many objects and then checking by counting them in the egg carton.
even and odd– Explain that a number is even if it can be divided into two equal groups. I talked about “even means it is fair” with my students. Kids always have a concept of what is “fair and even” when dividing up goodies. The egg carton is divided into two rows, so it is easy to see if a number is even (split equally and fairly) or odd. This works even better if you are using food in your egg carton and actually split it up between two kids! (second grade- Determine whether a group of objects (up to 20) has an odd or even number of members)

We used our egg carton to do some math with our morning snack (goldfish and blueberries). Little Sis worked on counting and one-to-one correspondence and Big Sis practiced some addition problems.