Math Butcher Paper Activities

Check out these math butcher paper activities handcrafted for preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten students. There are ideas for measurement, patterns, counting, addition, shapes, and more! I love using butcher paper activities for morning arrival, table time, small groups, center time, and so much more.

If you aren’t familiar with butcher paper activities, let me give you a quick overview. They are hands-on activities that are on a large scale so that students are up moving around while learning. This helps them burn off energy and build their larger muscles to help their fine motor skills develop. These are great for moving larger body parts while developing gross motor skills. They help students learn with their peers in a multi-sensory, play-based activity that is educational. They also help students develop social skills while focusing on math concepts. Butcher paper activities are great for morning time, table time, small groups, or center time.

Grab the Butcher Paper Activity Guide for ideas for the whole year! Grab my favorite butcher paper supplies from Amazon here.

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Dice Options for Math Butcher Paper Activities

Dice Options! There are so many dice options to help you differentiate your math butcher paper activities. You can make one math butcher paper activity and use different dice to reuse it for multiple days. There are color, numbers 1-6, numbers 1-3, numbers 1-8, dot die, shape die, and many other options.

The shape dice above are homemade to fit the needs of my students. I used a wooden cube and taped colored shapes to the sides. So, there is no reason you can’t make some DIY dice to differentiate your math activities to meet the needs of your students.

Counting Math Butcher Paper Activities

Weather Roll & Count! Make a simple roll-and-count game for any theme. The piece of butcher paper pictured above is a weather theme with rain clouds, and the students rolled a die and added that many raindrops with the blue dot markers. This is a great way to practice basic math skills!

Fall Roll, Count, & Sort! In this math butcher paper activity, young children rolled a die, counted that many manipulatives, and placed them inside the matching leaf. Students are working on sorting, one-to-one correspondence, and counting. I used fall table scatter, pom poms, and stackable counters. Again, you can change the theme to match your current theme in the classroom. Laminate this project so that it can be used each year.

Dinosaur Count! For a dinosaur theme, I drew some number volcanoes. Students simply counted out the correct amount of dinosaurs to add to the number volcanoes. This could easily be done for any theme on kraft paper rolls with a variety of manipulatives!

Dinosaur Domino Count! Using the same butcher paper activity from above, I gave students dominoes to count and match to the number volcano. This is a perfect way I can reuse materials, hit new academic goals, and still get kids up and moving.

Lemonade Count! These fun activities for lemonade counting are perfect for students to practice counting and help build fine motor muscles. I had students build towers with linking cubes to match the numbers. They could also practice patterns if you wanted.

Addition Math Butcher Paper Activities

Lemonade Addition! Inside the ice cubes, I wrote addition problems. Students used linking cubes to show and solve the problem. Butcher paper activities are different ways to practice literacy and math skills and are so much fun. 

Popsicle Addition! For this one, I drew popsicles and wrote addition problems inside. Then, I cut the popsicle sticks shorter and wrote the sums on them. Students solved the addition problems and placed a popsicle stick to complete the problem.

Counting to 100 Math Butcher Paper Activities

Counting to 100! For the 100th day of school or when practicing counting to 100, I like to make these butcher paper ideas. I drew 10 circles to make sets of 10 for easier counting for little learners. Then, I gave them lots of manipulatives to count and group into sets of 10 to get to 100. Each child can have their own, or they can work in groups to complete the activity. This is the perfect multi-sensory activity for the 100th day of school. 

Sorting Math Butcher Paper Activities

Color Sort! Create a simple color-sorting game with loose parts! I drew rectangles and wrote in the color that I wanted students to place the items in. Then, they sorted loose parts into the areas. You can use any colored manipulatives for their sorting pieces.

Family Color Sort! To make the butcher paper activity, I drew houses and wrote the colors with the matching markers. Then, students rolled a color die and picked that colored manipulative. Then, students placed the people manipulatives in the matching house.

Number Sort! Draw a simple number graph and give students a math manipulative. For this activity, I gave them dominoes to count and sort into the correct area.

Chain Counting Sort! Use the same number graph previously mentioned and give students a different math manipulative for a new activity! This will save you time and materials and help you hit multiple academic skills. For this math activity, I gave students chain links for them to count and put together. These are great for fine motor development.

Color Graph! This color graph is perfect for introducing your students to butcher paper activities. It is simple and so versatile! Once you make it, it can be used for tons of themes and with loads of different manipulatives.

SHape Math Butcher Paper Activities

Shape Build! Draw some shapes on a large piece of paper and give students bingo chips to build the shapes. I like using bingo chips because students can use magnet wands to clear their area when they are done. I also had students build the shapes in the matching colors for this activity.

Shape Sort! For this shape activity, I used the same butcher paper as above and gave students shape buttons to match and sort.

3D Shape Sort! During a 3D shape study, I had students sort 3d objects and blocks onto the butcher paper sorting mat. My students liked walking around the room, finding 3D-shaped objects, and placing them in the correct area.

Pattern Math Butcher Paper ACtivities

Fish Patterns! Draw an object that matches your theme (fish) and start patterns in them. Students used cut-up pipe cleaners to complete the patterns. This would work for so many themes like rays of sunshine, flowers, scarves, mittens, animals, buildings, cars, etc.

Measurement Math Butcher Paper Activities

Cube Measurement! Practice nonstandard measurement with pieces of tape and linking cubes! I love using colored masking tape to make it a little brighter. Then, students used linking cubes to measure and count how long the pieces of tape were. Make it even more challenging by having them match the colors, too!

Map Math Butcher Paper Activities

Farm Maps! Have students create large maps of familiar areas like a farm, the school, or the park. I like these activities because each student adds more detail and background knowledge to share with the class. Bonus: I like to use these as bulletin board decorations!

Creating math butcher paper activities doesn’t have to be as hard as you think! So many of these can be made basic or customized for a certain theme, and I love that they use manipulatives I already have in my classroom! Butcher paper activities are a hands-on way to practice math problems, letter recognition, fine motor skills, and so much more!

Grab the butcher paper activity guide to get over 100 butcher paper ideas! These will make your lesson plans complete with less effort from you!

Check out these butcher paper posts for more ideas for your classroom!

Want to see some more math butcher paper activities in action? Check out this video.

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