The 4th grade math curriculum is full of standards built around the different angles. So how do you make this fundamental geometric concept fun for kids? Angle games and activities to the rescue!
The teachers here at the Teach Starter offices have been having a little too much fun (if there is such a thing!) digging deep into the ways we can make math class extra engaging, and we knew we needed to include ways to work in some ways to teach elementary students how to identify simple angles, how to calculate and identify different configurations of angle and more.
The result is this fun list of games and activities for your math classes.
Before you begin, don’t forget to print out protractors for your students!
Fun Angles Games & Activities for Kids
Look for Angles in Letters
To kick things off, we’ve got a simple activity to teach kids about different angles with a real-world application. Have your students use a ruler to create the first letter of their first name. The letters should be outlined and squared off — no rounding — like the H below.
Then, with the ruler, have each student draw random lines within their letter and color as they wish. What does this have to do with angles? Simple! Students then need to find as many angles as possible within the letter and measure each angle!
Go on a Right Angle Hunt
Right angles are all around us — from the corners where the legs of the desk meet the top to the spots where the vertical and horizontal components of the door frame meet. Challenge your students to work as angle hunters to find them.
Pair students off, and send each pair on a right angle hunt to find as many as they can, recording where it was found. After the allotted time, bring students back together as a class, and ask each pair of angle hunters to share one or two of the right angles they discovered during the activity.
As an extension activity, you can go beyond right angles and the classroom door. Challenge your students to identify other angles they observe in the classroom or around the school.
Measure Angles in Pictures
Finding angles is a lot more fun on a cute picture of a dog, don’t you think? Print this dog picture, hand out a protractor, and let the angle finding begin!
This angle activity could be done individually, or you can print it onto a tabloid-size piece of paper and provide small groups with a copy. Each student in the group could be allocated a particular angle to find, or the sheet could be passed around for each student to find one angle at a time!
When they’ve worked their way through the entire dog, challenge your students to measure the angles on a birthday cake or a pencil.
Play Angles Bingo Games
Is there ever a time when kids don’t like Bingo? We haven’t found one! Our students love yelling “BINGO” at the top of their lungs when they play this fun angles game.
Check out Angles Bingo for a classroom game that will help them learn the differences between obtuse, right and acute angles and then some!
Washi Tape Fun!
How much do you love washi tape? Probably about as much as we love this angle activity for kids that use this sticky stuff. In this activity, students stick bits of it all over a piece of cardstock.
Then, they need to find and measure the angles they’ve just created. This “find the angles” activity could also be done directly on students’ desks, using a whiteboard marker and, of course, their trusty protractors.
Name the Angles Take Two
We already mentioned that you can use the first letter of a student’s name for a fun angles activity. Why not increase the challenge by having students write out the entire name?
Using a grid paper template, instruct your students to use a ruler to write their entire name in pencil on the grid paper. Each letter should be squared off without any curved edges. Students then trace over their name with a maker and find each of the angles in their name. If their first name is short, they may wish to include their last name as well.
As an extension activity, students could find reflex and straight angles.
Play I Have, Who Has? Angles Game
Use this whole-class game as an angles activity to reinforce students’ understanding of complementary and supplementary angles. Print and cut out the game cards, and provide each student with a card.
The student who has the sentence “I am the starter” begins the game by standing up and reading their card. Once they have read their clue, the student that has the matching complementary or supplementary angle on their card stands up and reads what is on their card.
The game continues until the last person calls out that they’re finished.
Measure Door Angles
This is a fun angles activity for kids that has real-world application. Using washi tape or painter’s tape that can easily be removed from the classroom floor, plus an angle maker, challenge students to measure out the different angles the classroom door can hit as you open and close it.
Thanks to Middle School Math Man for the image!
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