Geoboards are traditionally flat surfaces used to explore and teach mathematical concepts in a hands-on way. In recent years, many educators have gotten very creative with how they might build their own geoboards for their students using non-traditional materials and how they use traditional geoboards in new, fun, and engaging ways with their students. The possibilities are endless with geoboards in terms of the learning that can take place. Check out our list below to find some awesome options.
1. Outer Space Themed Pack
Challenge your students or children’s spatial skills by trying to get them to create images on their geoboard that resemble items from outer space. They will have a blast as they try to recreate these task cards and complete their task.
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2. Make Faces of Animals
This cute activity will definitely help with your students’ animal recognition abilities. They can create their favorite animal with the help of this geoboard, some colorful elastics, and also by referring to the task cards. The bunny shown here is an excellent example!
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3. Muffin Tin DIY Geoboard
Your learner can still reap the benefits from an activity like this even if you do not have a geoboard on hand, which might be the case for many reasons. Muffin tins work just as well and the students will not believe they are using muffin tins in math class!
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4. Constellation Geoboards
Recreate these beautiful constellations with only rubber bands while working hard on their motor skills as they stretch, pull, and work on latching the other end of the rubber bands to other pegs. This example is perfect to show you how amazing this activity could turn out.
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5. Alphabet Letters
Are your students or children still working on recognizing and identifying the letters of the alphabet? This hands-on activity will help them commit this learning to memory by going through the motions of actually building the letter with their hands using their fine motor skills.
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6. Math Operations
If you are able to spend a little bit of money, check out these colorful geoboards. Your students or children can great different kinds of geometric shapes of many different sizes. The possibilities are endless with geoboards like these. Add them to your math center today.
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7. Shapes
Including this type of activity in a math center that you have will benefit students of a variety of ages. Creating and trying to recreate images they see on the task cards will allow them to practice their spatial skills and shape recognition skills at the same time.
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8. Symmetrical Designs
With symmetry being such an important concept for students to grasp in mathematics, having them practice with a wide variety of symmetry challenges could only benefit their thinking processes. Geoboard task cards can help with this activity to give students support.
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9. Online Geoboard
If you are doing online learning or are looking for an assignable resource for your students to work on at home, an online geoboard is a way to go because you don’t need to worry about sending home materials with students and not getting them back again.
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10. Numbers
Geoboard centers are an excellent idea to strengthen a variety of students’ skills. Geoboard ideas include the students creating numbers using the elastics they are given. You can support struggling students by providing visual cards to go with the activity center.
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11. Design a House
Who wouldn’t want a house made out of colorful elastics? Your children or students can design their very own house using these elastics. They can even create an outer perimeter or yard around it. They can be as creative as they like with this assignment!
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12. Geoboard Challenges
Your students or children might be more likely to buy into your math class or activity if they believe they are being challenged! Pulling out challenge cards, which are really just task cards, will have their minds committed to the task at hand and keep them focused!
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13. Geoboard Snowflakes
Are you looking for winter geoboard-themed ideas? Geoboard snowflakes are adorable and can be used in a variety of ways, especially to teach and learn about symmetry and line patterns. Doing this math with geoboards allows students to be creative too!
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14. Pumpkin Geoboards
This is such a clever DIY geoboard as it uses a pumpkin, massive pegs, and colorful elastics. This is especially an excellent activity to do during the Halloween season or fall as you can purchase a real pumpkin of any size! How exciting to include these in your next math class!
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15. Stump Geoboards
Add this idea of stump or log geoboard to your outdoor education curriculum. Mixing outdoor education and math in this way will keep your students engaged because chances are, they have never used or seen anything like this before.
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16. Geoboards and Light Table Play
This is also a creative geoboard idea that happens when you place a clear geoboard on top of a light table. Providing students with a list of shapes, basic shapes and complex, beside them as they work through this activity would help support them.
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17. Geoboard Geometry
Abstract shape pictures can be a task your students can work on with this type of geoboard. One of the best things about geoboards like this is that you can reuse them for many years to come. You just might need to replace the elastics that occasionally break.
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18. Corkboard Geoboards
Building shapes has never been so fun for students. You can buy corkboard pieces of different sizes and shapes at your local craft store or you can buy them online. You can also add geoboard cards to help the students model certain shapes.
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19. Christmas Tree Creations
In terms of hands-on learning activities, this one is amazing because it works on students’ spatial skills, color recognition, fine motor abilities and so much more. This clever geoboard activity can be done around the holidays or at Christmas time if you’d like!
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20. Birch Geoboard
You can also purchase a beautiful geoboard like this one if you are able to spend a little bit of money. Your students or children can make all kinds of geoboard art with it and you can purchase enough to make a class set.
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21. Letter Matching
This homemade geoboard activity is awesome because it works on so many skills at once for your young learner. Matching letters by placing stickers around plastic geoboards and having kids match them with elastics is exactly how this activity works.
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22. Geoboard App
Check out this awesome online resource! You can learn about perimeter with geoboards, make the biggest shape you can or build complex shapes while never needing to leave your home or school computer lab. This game is all about having fun with shapes.
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23. Geoboard Design Center
Teaching kids about shapes can be fun and engaging, especially with geoboards that have backdrops like these. Using and building common shapes can help your young mathematician construct the images in the photos. Pictures with shapes on them will help a great deal!
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24. Button Geoboard
If you are teaching very young students or students who are having a particularly hard time with their fine motor skills, using large buttons like these will help with their grip and grasp. Using colored bands with white buttons will definitely make the shape outlines stand out.
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25. Wood Board and Task Cards
All of the cool designs with rubber bands that can be made are endless with a board like this. If you are able to spend a little bit of money, you can purchase a few or an entire class set for your students. This bicycle is adorable!
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