Our LEGO Duplo Number Line blog post is one of our most popular educational activity ideas here on In The Playroom.
The other day I was tidying N’s Duplo box and came across our LEGO Duplo Santa figure and suddenly I had the idea to re-create this activity in a Christmas theme.
By choosing a Christmas themed minifigure like Santa Claus / Father Christmas or an Elf, or whatever else you have handy in your LEGO collection, you can easily transform this into a festive activity.
We chose red and white bricks for the base of the number line – candy cane vibes – so festive!
It’s always fun to tie learning into the current season, to keep it relevant and engaging for the kid especially with the younger ones. You can compliment our Christmas number line with this fun winter counting activity, to help solidify their number knowledge.
So, what is a number line and how do they work?
A number line is a visual representation of the set of natural numbers. It looks like a horizontal line with equally spaced points, these points correspond to the integers and represent them in consecutive order.
You can grab our free printable number lines here, if you want some extra number line resources.
We used the bricks of the LEGO to represent this in an easy practical form. All the children need to do is jump the LEGO minifigure forwards or backwards the correct amount of spaces along the line, and they are completing addition or subtraction problems in the most hands on way.
Number lines are great for younger children in EYFS or KS1 (keystage 1) who are getting to understand how do numbers work, and the basics of addition and subtraction.
You can also adapt this activity to other themes, tie in your child’s favourite characters to keep their attention and mix things up. N wanted to bring one of her Paw Patrol Megabloks figures to have a turn on the number line – it’s totally flexible, and by including their interests your child will be so happy while learning.
If you do not have DUPLO, if your child has moved over totally to the small LEGO blocks you can still make the same activity with smaller LEGO bricks it will obviously just be scaled down.
And if you want to incorporate LEGO into some literacy activities as well as numeracy, check out this lego minifig writing prompt idea.
The Original LEGO Duplo Number Line Activity
Visit the original post here, and find out more about this simple maths activity, and ways to use a number line.
More Fun with LEGO
Zavvi sent us one of their LEGO Friends sets, the Heartlake City Grand Hotel. This is going to be so much fun to put together and play with.
LEGO Friends have such a nice variety of LEGO sets to appeal to children who enjoy imaginary play with the sets, at real life locations like shopping malls, campsite, hair salon or the hotel like this set. With LEGO friends we find that the builds are not too technical or tricky, so they are great for a set that you want to put together and then get playing – rather than the more technical sets where you focus so many hours on the builds.
If you need more ideas, check out our list of gift ideas for Lego lovers
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Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.