Penguin Math

This was an old Math Their Way activity that I used years ago.  I used some dried lima beans and spray painted them black on one side.  The result was a bean with one side black and one side white.  During this small group activity, children worked on counting and tallying the results of the game.  Each child had between 3-10 "penguins" in their cup.  They shook the cup and then spilled them out on the table.  They counted how many black ones they had and how many white they had.  Then they made marks on each side of their recording sheet to reflect their results. 

It was fun to see the various abilities of my students shine through in this activity.  Some could complete the entire activity independently.  Some needed help recording their findings.  Others needed help counting and recording their findings.  Some students just enjoyed shaking and dumping and counting their penguins.  This is a great activity that can be used with children at all levels!