Math Game for Kids: DIY Nesting Math Eggs

We love to play and learn with plastic Easter eggs. In fact, we play with them year round because they are great for encouraging fine motor skills and practicing colour matching. They're also great for crafting or playing with on the light table. You can also use plastic Easter eggs to practice math facts like we did with these DIY nesting math eggs. You can easily set up this math tray in a matter of minutes and customize it to your child's skills.

You'll need:

• Plastic Easter eggs in two different sizes. The smaller size should fit inside the bigger size when closed.
• Dry-erase marker or window markers. You could use a permanent marker too, but I like to reuse plastic eggs.

If you use dry-erase markers, the numbers will wipe off quite easily, even during the activity. I find window markers are the best bet because they don't wipe off as easily as dry-erase markers.

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Depending on the age and skills of your child, you could try these variations:

• Write the number word (e.g., four) on the big egg and the numeral form (e.g., 4) on the small egg.
• Draw some dots on the big egg (e.g., five dots) and then write the numeral (e.g., 5) on the small egg.
• Write simple math equations (addition, subtraction, multiplication or division would all work) on the big egg (e.g., 8 + 0) and the answer (e.g., 8) on the small egg.

We focused on math equations since my oldest is quite gifted when it comes to math. I used a combination of addition and subtraction equations since I wanted my three-year-old to be able to participate as well. My three-year old, though, was more interested in "cracking" the eggs open like the little chef he is.

The idea is to answer the math question on the big egg before opening it to reveal the answer.

Then you can mix up all the small eggs and try to put them back in the correct large egg. Or erase the eggs and try out some different math problems!