Geoboards have been popular ever since they were introduced back in the 1950s, and for good reason. These cool math manipulatives also lend themselves well to creative play. You can DIY some geoboards or buy them instead—we love this set of five double-sided boards, with a square on one side and a circle on the other. Either way, there are plenty of fun activities to try with them!
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1. Start with simple shapes.
Introduce geoboards as a learning tool with these free printable shape cards. Use the cards to teach them shapes, then challenge them to make the shapes by name without seeing the cards first.
Learn more: Mrs. Jones’ Creation Station
2. Practice the ABCs …
Here’s a fun and unusual way to practice letters! Get free printable cards at the link below.
Learn more: Mrs. Bremer’s Class
3. … and the 123s!
You can get free printable number cards too. (Like the idea of a larger geoboard? Get it here.)
Learn more: Mrs. Bremer’s Class
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4. Create pictures with geoboards.
Go beyond basic shapes and challenge your students to create pictures on their geoboards. The site below offers free printable pattern cards, but be sure to encourage kids to come up with their own ideas too.
Learn more: Playdough to Plato
5. Analyze geoboard designs.
Have your students create a design of any kind they like using at least 10 rubber bands. Then have them look more closely: What shapes can they find in the design? How many triangles are there? What kind of triangles are they? They’ll be surprised at what they find. (Get your own transparent geoboard here.)
Learn more: Math Geek Mama
6. Match upper- and lowercase letters.
Label points on the board with upper- and lowercase letters, then challenge kids to stretch a rubber band between each two matches.
Learn more: A Little Pinch of Perfect
7. Use geoboards to teach area and perimeter.
Area and perimeter can be challenging to understand, so explain them using geoboards. Learn how at the link.
Learn more: Triumphant Learning
8. Use shapes to make more shapes.
Encourage deeper thinking with this set of free printable geoboard challenge cards. Visit the link to get the cards and some geoboard game ideas too.
Learn more: Math Geek Mama
9. Make DIY geoboards.
Make your own geoboard with corkboard trivets and push pins. (Be sure to supervise little ones closely for safety.)
Learn more: teach.investigate.play/Instagram
10. Map out the constellations.
Use the same corkboards with map pins and rubber bands to discover the constellations of the night sky.
Learn more: Babble Dabble Do
11. Make a geo-ball.
Turn a foam ball into a unique geo-ball to add a new dimension of learning.
Learn more: ICTLearn/Instagram
12. Decorate a geoboard pumpkin.
Decorate for Halloween without any messy pumpkin guts! This works with real pumpkins or the foam ones you can get at the craft store.
Learn more: Room 7
13. Turn a wall into a geoboard.
Create an oversized board by driving nails into the wall or get the same effect with pushpins on a bulletin board.
Learn more: Rozenn/Instagram
14. Create pretty snowflakes.
Explore symmetry by creating snowflake shapes on your geoboards.
Learn more: Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls
15. Build a marble maze.
Craft a maze for marbles with this fun STEM challenge.
Learn more: The Immersion Room
16. Turn muffin tins into geoboards.
This is ingenious! It’s also a terrific way to play with geoboards when kids don’t quite have the fine-motor control for smaller pegs.
Learn more: And Next Comes L/Instagram
17. Learn about fractions with geoboards.
Geoboards are fantastic for fractions. Use a dry-erase marker on plastic boards and wipe off when you’re done.
Learn more: Love2Learn2Day
18. Build geoboards with LEGO bricks.
Is there anything LEGO bricks can’t do?
Learn more: St. James’ Sebastopol/Instagram
How do you use geoboards in your classroom? Come share on our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group.
Love math manipulatives? Here are 24 Creative Ways to Use Math Manipulatives to try next.
