Place Value Activity – Falling into Place Value

Hi there! I am a mom with 5 boys. My 2nd grader will be starting out his school year learning about place value.  For each of his lessons, I will be creating games and printables to help him have a better understanding of each concept.

I personally put this place value activity together just for him and am happy I can share it with you!

 

FALLING INTO PLACE – PLACE VALUE ACTIVITY

This printable “Falling Into Place” place value activity, is perfect for introducing place value to your child. It doesn’t matter what grade your child is in if they don’t understand place value, this is perfect for them!

• Preparing the activity

Preparing this activity is pretty simple. Just print the files, laminate, and cut. Laminating each piece is definitely optional. However, I do recommend it. Laminating each piece makes them much more durable! You will be able to use these over and over again! It’s totally worth it!

If you don’t have a laminator, I absolutely love mine! I snagged it off of Amazon pretty cheaply several years ago. This one right HERE is only $21 and they literally last forever! If your planning on printing several educational resources it will be money well spent.

After laminating, I cut out each piece by hand. You could do this part a lot faster with a paper cutter like this one here, but you can also just use a pair of scissors!

And that’s it for the preparing part. You will need a dry erase marker. I purchased some cheap ones at the Dollar Tree.

Now you’re all ready to teach your child about place value!

• Setting up the activity

I used a bright yellow poster board as a background so we could see the pieces well. This also helped me keep up with each piece. ( This is optional just putting the pieces out on the kitchen table or floor would be fine!)

Lay out each Apple Tree (place value tree) starting with Hundreds, Tens then Ones.

Have your child help you organize the Place Value Blocks or (apples in a basket) into the individual piles. As your setting this up, explain to them what each set of blocks stands for.

The picture below is exactly how I set this activity up!

 

Steps to teaching place value with the Falling into Place activity

• Explain what place value actually means

Use the definition card to explain to your child what place value actually means. It’s important for them to understand that each “digit” has a value and the place of the digit within a number determines it’s value. This may completely blow your child’s mind at first, but don’t worry they will catch on!

• Explain what each place value is

I recommend starting with hundreds, tens and ones and working your way up to thousands.  Start by showing them the square with the number 126 on it, say the number and read the place values out to your child. I had my son repeat it back to me.

• Write the number 126 on the apple trees

Use a dry erase marker to write the number on the apple trees. Start with the number 126 as an example.  The number 1 should go on the hundreds tree, the number 2 on the tens tree and the number 6 on the one’s tree.

Example

• Use the place value blocks in the baskets to make the number

Each digit has a place and each place determines its value. Tell your child that the 1 is in the hundreds place, so that means there are 100 apples on that tree. Have them find the basket with 100 blocks and place it under the hundreds tree.

Now continue with the tens place and explain that this number is the tens place and this means there are two sets of 10 because there is a 2 in the tens place. Have your child put two sets of 10 blocks under the tens tree.

Last ask your child how many apples are on the one’s tree? They should say 7. Tell them yes, there are 7 apples on this tree. Have them place 7 single blocks/baskets under the one’s tree.

• Now count the number using the blocks with your child

Have your child help you count the groups of blocks and say the number. Explain again that the 1 is in the hundreds place, the 2 is in the tens place and the 6 is in the one’s place. Once you are finished with the example you can try another example or you can continue on.

• Have your child or student work out each number

Now that you have finished the example you can have your child draw a number from the number pile. Have them write it out on the trees putting the digits in the correct place. Then have them make the number with the blocks. Your child may need a little assistance at first but will get the hang of it before he/she reaches the end of the number pile.

The idea is for your child to continue until they have finished making all the numbers in the pile. You can break this up into different lessons or have them do all the numbers in one sitting.  It’s completely up to you!

 

This was a really fun and easy way to explain place value to my son. He seemed to really enjoy it. I found it very simple to put together. Just laminate each piece do a little cutting and your all set!

What do you think? Do you have any other fun ways to teach place value? Leave them in the comments below, I would love to hear about them!