Teen Number Flower Puzzles
Hands-on flower puzzles for numbers 11-19. A fun math activity for the spring or summer
Today I’m writing about a fun spring/summer plant-themed activity that’s brand new to our store: teen number flower puzzles.
These bright and colourful flower puzzles are great for kindergarten or grade 1. They’re engaging, hands-on, and allow children to explore the teen numbers and how they’re comprised of a ten and some ones (yes, a gentle introduction to place value!)
Read on for more information on these plant puzzles and how you can use them in the classroom or at home.
Tell me about these flower puzzles
These puzzles are for the teen numbers: 11 to 19.
The purpose of the puzzles is to reinforce the idea that the teen numbers are made up of ten, and some additional ones. So, for example, 17 is comprised of 10 (one ‘ten’) and 7 (seven ‘ones’).
There are nine plant pictures, each one a full letter-sized page. At the bottom of each of these pages is an addition: 10+1, 10+2, 10+3 etc.
On to each plant picture, children must add a flower (each flower shows a numeral: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 or 19).
Next there are two leaves to be added. One of the leaves will show a full ten frame (one ‘ten’), and the other leaf will show a ten frame with a number of dots from 1 to 9 (the ‘ones’).
Once the flower and two leaves have been added, the flower puzzle is complete.
In our example above we have the puzzle for 11. So children will match 10 + 1 along with the number 11, and two leaves (one showing 10, and the other showing 1).
Prep
These puzzles are included in both colour and black ink versions.
If you’re printing in black ink only, I recommend printing onto coloured card stock. Print the leaves onto a green card stock, the flowers onto something bright like yellow or pink. If you print the plant pages onto blue card stock, you can quickly shade in the stalk and the earth at the bottom.
If you’re using these in the classroom, I definitely recommend laminating the different plant pieces so that they last. This way you can use them with your students year after year.
Once you have printed and cut out all the flower pieces, spread the pieces out on the table (or floor so you have more space!) ready for children to build their flowers.
You may want to start with just 4 or 5 of the flower puzzles to begin with, or you can indeed have your child or students build all nine flower puzzles – simply tailor the level of challenge to what’s right for them.
Different ways to use these puzzles
These puzzles work really well as math station activity. They’re hands-on, bright, and children can work collaboratively or independently to build the flower puzzles.
Alternatively you can glue the different parts onto the flower pages to make teen number flower puzzle posters! These look great on display at home, or on the math bulletin board in the classroom.
Where can I find these Teen Number Flower Puzzles?
You can find these Teen Number Flower Puzzles in our TPT online store.
But wait… did you know that these teen number puzzles are also included in our ‘In the Backyard’ Math Bundle along with three other outdoor/nature-themed resources: Ladybug Doubles, Bees and Hives Sorting Activity, and Butterfly Numbers (1 to 10).
You can read more about the bundle, or buy it over in our TPT online store.
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More from Math, Kids and Chaos:
- Ladybug Doubles for 1+1 to 12+12
Or simply browse by grade level:
