Dinosaur Place Value and Other Math Fun

There is something magical when kids learn that numbers move in patterns and they really only need to know 0-9.  Showing kids the pattern of 10s unlocks a new world of math but it’s kind of confusing.  Or really confusing.  We recently tried to show Logi-Bear how 9 to 10 is just like 19 to 20 and 29 to 30.   Royal has already accepted this so I thought teaching him similar facts in the 100s would be a breeze.  199 goes to 200.  He was absolutely amazed.  He picked it up fairly quickly, thankfully, but there was definitely a moment of complete awe.  Place value can take that awe and turn it into understanding.  And if we’re going to be practicing place value, might as well make a dinosaur place value set, right?

We are on day 8 of the 31 Days of Printables in October!  And today is day 1 of the dinosaur theme!  6 more days of dinosaur themed fun, coming right up!

How to Set Up the Dinosaur Place Value Set

I just laminated this set (Amazon has a great price on their laminator).  With regular paper is can be difficult to manipulate the pieces.  I think cardstock would work fine too, but both aren’t necessary.

The board will need to be laminated or put into sheet protectors.  We bought some new Expo markers with the eraser on the lid.  Love them.

Cut out all the dinosaurs and laminate the board and you’re good to go!

The idea is actually the same as my pumpkin place value, but with dinosaurs instead.  There are three types of dinosaurs – brachiosaurus, hadrosaur, pteranodon.  The brachiosaurus is 100, the hadrosaur is 10, and the pteranodon is 1.  I tried to make a decent size difference to illustrate that 100 is bigger than 10 and 10 bigger than 1.

How to Use the Dinosaur Place Value Set

We like to build numbers with these.  Start with nothing and just add dinosaurs as you please.  As we add more dinosaurs, we change the numbers.  I think it’s illustrated nicely when you add a 100 and only change the 100s place.  It really helps them visualize how these numbers work.  It works with subtraction too.  Here there are 3 tens…

 

Take one away and only the 10s changed.  I’m trying to show Royal how easy mental math would be when thinking in terms of place value. If you can ignore the other numbers, most of us can do this simple math in our heads.

Go Here to Download the Dinosaur Themed Place Value

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