Apple Number Bond Activities

A fun way to learn number decomposition this autumn is with the use of our Apple Number Bond learning materials.  Vito is currently learning tens and number bonds as preparation for early addition.


Our learning material comes with an apple-themed mat and cards for hands-on learning.  Here, we picked a number, six, to decompose (what makes 6) and using manipulatives we set up our mat to reflect the number bond written in the task card.




After placing the manipulatives on the mat, you can start counting the whole number (in this example six) and it’s parts (two and four).  I told Vito that the whole part is 6 (in the tree) and it is composed of 2 and 4 (the apple fruits).  He later on counted the manipulatives and repeated that 2 and 4 is 6.

The task cards included in this pack are from story of 1 to 10 so you have a lot of numbers to decompose and practice on.  Choose the appropriate set that suits your students' needs.  In our case we always start with 10.


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We also used our Montessori beads with the task cards.  Here Vito is placing the appropriate beads on the number bonds mats. We worked on all task cards for the story of 6, counted how many different combinations we can make to form 6, and recited these combinations based on the formation of our beads.


Using themed activities has always been engaging for my kids.  This adds up spice and fun to the common ways of learning math which is usually done thru the use of plain math worksheets.  Don’t get me wrong, my eldest enjoys plain math worksheets.  But I believe that making learning math fun will help younger kids to have a more positive outlook on learning this subject as they grow.  And of course, nothing beats using manipulatives for hands-on learning.