Have you been using Pop Its / Fidget Poppers to engage learners in the classroom? Well, check out more ways to use pop its in the classroom! They are fun engaging, visual, and hands on and get students engaged in the curriculum.
New Ideas for Using Pop Its
Matching Letters
This is pretty straightforward but you do need a pop it with letters A-Z on it. You can buy them already labeled or write letters with a sharpie on a pop it that you already own, like I did below. This is great to practice letter identification with young students. You can use magnet tiles, Fundations tiles, or simple letters on paper as I show below.
Finding Odds and Evens
This is a fun way to practice odds and evens. Students will pop every other bubble on the pop it. The first column of bubbles here are odd, the unpopped ones in the second column are even. Students find a bubble to match the number they want to check, such as 15 shown below. The fifteenth bubble is popped so that means it is odd. What a fun way to practice! Just make sure the pop it lines up with odd and even. Message me if you have questions!
6×6 fidget poppers work but what if you don’t have 6×6 pop its? This set on Amazon (click to see) has 8 of them for about $4 each. Or check your dollar store. Many kids already have one like this too.
Patterns
To practice patterns, students might pop say three bubbles, leave 3 unpopped, then do 2 and 2, and ask a classmate to predict what should be popped next. Another example is 2 popped bubbles, 1 unpopped, repeated, and then a friend identifies the pattern and continues it.
Phonemic Awareness
Want another fun way to use pop its in the classroom to teach curriculum? Students need to be able to identify and count words in a sentence. So you can say a sentence and students will pop a bubble for each word in the sentence! Easy and fun hands on practice.
100s Grid!
For a kinesthetic and visual Hundreds gird, either buy a labeled 100 bubble Popper or write with sharpie the numbers 1-100 on a blank one! Found this one on Amazon that you can buy (as of today) for cheaper than a blank 100 popper. Maybe your room parents would buy a set for small groups, or you and a colleague could each buy 2 and share.
Race to 100
Use a 10×10 pop it labeled 1-100 Race to 100. For this game, students will partner up. On each turn, they roll a die and pop that many bubbles, then the next partner has a turn. Whoever gets to 100 first wins! (the picture doesn’t show a 100 bubble fidget popper)
Resources all Ready for You in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store
Ready to use pop its in the classroom but don’t want to have to figure out the details? Try these already created pop it resources for math and phonemic awareness! I did the work for you!
Multiplication arrays
Help your students with basic multiplication concepts of arrays and repeated addition with these pop it resources! A busy teacher who tried it described how she feels: “My students were SO engaged by this activity. I used it first in small groups, but plan to add it into my station rotation so they can continue to practice it independently. Thanks for a great resource!” on Teachers Pay Teachers!
Graphing
Use pop its in the classroom to help students read, create and analyze data charts and bar graphs!
POP SYLLABLES
Identifying and counting syllables is an important skill! Help students practice with this fun resource with tasks cards, record sheets, and answer keys! I also include extensions for more ideas on how to use pop its in the classroom.
WORD PROBLEMS
Addition and subtraction can be visualized with hands on pop its! Students will be so engaged solving addition and subtraction word problems.
Multiplication
Students will also find it fun to pop and solve multiplication word problems! One teacher who tried it reviewed it on TPT: “My students LOVED this activity. They didn’t want to stop. 🙂 Great activity for students.”
Pop It Opinion Writing
Try a writing prompt: should pop its be allowed in school or not? Would you like to get a download of this printable, differentiated opinion writing free prompt that is already set up for you? Click to download it for free or on the image below!
Looking for more ways to engage learners? Check out this post on the blog called 8 Ways to Use Pop Its to Engage Learners.
Do you have your own ideas? Comment and let me know! What is your favorite of the 11 ways to use pop its in the classroom?
Here are some direct links to the resources shown above:
- Pop it Syllables Practice
- Pop it Math Graphing
- Pop it Math Multiplication Word Problems
- Pop it Math Addition and Subtraction Word Problems
- Pop it Math Arrays and Repeated Addition
And…check out this blog post for more ideas on how to use Pop its!
