#BrightonBricksBuild LEGO Numbers
How to use LEGO Bricks for Teaching Numbers
Numbers are one of the most important things to learn when you growing up, from learning to count, doing multiplication to doing things like Venn diagrams and fractions, you can use LEGO Bricks to make learning fun. Here are a few ideas and suggestion
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Counting
For little ones this can be done with Duplo Bricks, and you can get them to count how many bricks you have. For older kids you can get them to count the number of studs on a brick.
One DUPLO Set I would recommend is the 10847 Number Train set, as it contains DUPLO Bricks with numbers 0-9 on them, so perfect for getting little ones learning to count
Once they have an understanding of numbers, here is a game they can try
The Number Line
Line up row of numbers, from 1 to 10, you can higher if you write the numbers down on a piece of paper or card, and then get the little one to build a tower above each number, using a number of bricks equal to the number they are building on.
A more advanced number line is where you create a long line of numbers, with bricks alongside them. Then you can have a LEGO Minifigure up and down the line as you add and subtract. You can find out more on Frugal Fun 4 Boys
Building The Bricks
Another good way of learning numbers, as well as helping with hand-eye co-ordination is to get them to build the numbers. You can start by using DUPLO bricks and then move onto LEGO Bricks.
These bricks build numbers were build by Little Bins for Little Hands
Number Mats
Using number mats like the one seen below, which you can get from various sites on the internet like 123homeschoool4me.com you get the little one to build up the number on the sheet
Multiplication
You can use LEGO Bricks to help with multiplication and times table, by using 1x1 bricks. You can visually show was 3x4 is, by having 3 rows of 4 bricks (or 4 rows of 3 bricks) and then counting the number of bricks you have. The only limit is number of bricks you have got! If you don’t have enough 1x1 bricks, you can use any bricks, and use the number of studs on a brick.
Other Ideas
Fractions
LEGO Bricks can help with Fractions. If you use a 2x4 brick as a whole, then a 2x2 brick would be a 1/2 (half) and 1x2 brick would be a 1/4 (quarter). This works because a 2x4 brick has 8 studs, a 2x2 brick has 4 studs, and 1x2 brick has 2 studs. So if you have a different number to work out fractions, you just need to increase or decrease the number of studs.
Venn Diagrams
Venn diagrams help to visually represent the similarities and differences between two concepts. In the photo below you can see an example, where the circle on the left is yellow bricks, the circle on the right is 4 studs. The middle circle is bricks which are yellow and has 4 studs
Good Sets To Buy
Creative Birthday Party £49.99 for 200 pieces
Bricks Bricks Plates £64.99 for 1504 pieces
If you have any other suggestions or tips I could add to this post let me know at nick@brightgreenpenguin.com
