Making your own number line with duplo
Making your own number line with Duplo
I know that the sound of the duplo box being emptied out into the floor sends a shiver down my husbands spine each time he hears it, but I honestly think that the duplo bricks are the best toy that we have bought for our children. They can be used for so many activities, although I think they are best for letting children just be creative and coming up with their own designs and games.
Today we are talking about learning about numbers with duplo bricks, specifically making your own number lines. It can take quite a while to stick all of the numbers onto the blocks, but it really is worth it as they stay on for ages so can be used again and again. When I first started out with this activity, I just did numbers 1-10, so my little ones could focus on learning the numbers and getting them in the right order. Gradually we added in more numbers and we now have numbers 1-100.
The beauty of this activity is that you can adapt it in so many ways to make it easier or more challenging. I have used a big variety of colours in my blocks, but if I were doing it again maybe I would try doing each group of 10s in the same colour – so all the single digit numbers were blue blocks, the tens would be on green blocks etc. This would make it easier for children as they were starting out (plus it would be much easier for me to organise them all…).
What you need for the activity:
Single duplo blocks
Paper
Pen
Sellotape
Scissors
What you need to do:
Write out the numbers you will be using, for example 1-10, then stick the numbers onto each block.
Give your children the blocks and ask them to put the numbers together in the right order. I normally give my children the blocks in groups of tens, as they seem to be able to concentrate better with a smaller number of blocks. This activity is a great way for your child to learn about number recognition and number ordering.
Ways to adapt this activity:
- Get the children to build the tower up as high as they can and see how many numbers high it can get to before it falls down.
- Use the number line to measure things, this could be toys that you have or even measuring how tall the children are.
- Make predictions with your children. Get them to write down how many blocks high they think something will be before you measure it.
- Once they have mastered counting in single digits, you could use the blocks to make number lines for times tables, so making a number line for the five times table for example.
Cover photo by By Yih Chang on Canva
