About
Are you looking for a way to reinforce essential math concepts in an engaging way that helps your students make connections? “Design a Playground” is a real-life math project where students will complete eleven different tasks, each one focusing on multiplication skills. This project will help your students see how multiplication is used in real life.
Ideas for Use
Math projects are an ideal way to consolidate learning. I recommend using them as an engaging activity AFTER skills have been learned rather than during learning. You will likely find that engagement is very high and that your students ask to do more of these!
There are many ways to use math projects in your classroom. Some of the most popular are:
•a small-group or pairs activity
•a guided math activity to allow you to see where your students are struggling
•a fun, rewarding way to engage your early finishers
•a low-prep, easy-to-implement activity for a substitute teacher
You might choose to print specific tasks to use during Math centers, or you might make a booklet out of all of the tasks and let your students choose which one to do when.
This resource is included in PDF format for printing and in Google Slides™️ format for digital learning. This makes it useable with Google Classroom™️.
What's Included?
Take a look at what you’ll find inside this math project:
TASK #1: FUNDRAISING
Your town is fundraising for the new playground. Let’s take a look at two of the different fundraisers – the fundraising BBQ and the gala.
Multiplication Skills: facts to 12x12, skip-counting
Other Skills: addition
TASK #2: PLANNING THE PLAYGROUND
It’s time to plan the layout of the new playground! The playground will consist of 3 different areas: the Picnic Area, the Play Zone, and the Fun and Games Area.
Multiplication Skills: area
TASK #3: THE SANDBOX
It’s time to build a nice big sandbox for the new playground. You’ve got the materials – now let’s build!
Multiplication Skills: area
Other Skills: ordering
TASK #4: PLAYGROUND PROBLEM-SOLVING
Let’s solve some playground problems.
Multiplication Skills: fact families, arrays, repeated addition, skip-counting, groups of
TASK #5: TREE PLANTING
You’ll be planting a few rows of trees throughout the playground. But first, you need to plan!
Multiplication Skills: arrays, fact families, repeated addition
TASK #6: THE GRAND OPENING
The playground is complete and it’s Grand Opening day!
Multiplication Skills: problem-solving, repeated addition, skip-counting, basic facts
TASK #7: MOST POPULAR GAME
Complete the picture to find out what the most popular game at the Grand Opening was!
Multiplication Skills: basic facts to 12x12
TASK #8: BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
There’s a basketball competition happening at the playground today! Let’s see who wins!
Multiplication Skills: arrays, basic multiplication
TASK #9: MOST POPULAR ITEMS
The new playground is a huge hit! Let’s take a look at the most popular playground items today.
Multiplication Skills: multiplying by 10
Other Skills: ordering, subtraction
TASK #10: PLAYGROUND JOKES
Use multiplication to find the answers to the playground jokes.
Multiplication Skills: basic facts to 12x12
TASK #11: PICNIC PROBLEMS
The picnic area is a popular place for families and groups to get together. Use multiplication to solve the problems.
Multiplication Skills: problem-solving, fact families
What Teachers Are Saying
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "I used this as an extension activity for my higher learners who had already mastered the concepts of multiplication. They worked in small groups to work through the packet, and when they were done after a few days they used paper, cardboard, etc. to create small 3D models of their playground designs. It was fun!" Charming Classroom Creations
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "My students found this challenging, but engaging. They loved all of the details involved in the activity. This has so many components, so we spread it out over a few weeks in order to give each part the attention needed. It was a great activity to include in math group rotations." Laura B.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "This is a great form of summative assessment or the end of a multiplication unit. I've done something like this as a STEM project but like the math aspect as well. It's super easy to modify and allows for students to include things in their playgrounds that are meaningful for them and their friends!" Barbara G.
