Reuse Old Milk Cartons! Earth Day Language Arts and Math Games

Reusing Milk Carton Cubes to Teach Language Arts and Math

April is Earth Month, celebrated especially on April 21, Earth Day.  Participate in Earth Month with your students by teaching them the following simple games, which reuse old milk cartons in fun, hands-on, educational activities. 

Preparation: You can make a cube with two 8oz. milk cartons.  Cut the top off of one of the cartons.  Turn the second carton upside down and insert into the first carton until each side is equal, as in a cube.  Cover each side of the cube with a square of single-colored color contact paper.  Make a game for Language Arts and Math as follows.

Language Arts Game

Standard: Language Arts 1.2 and 1.15,

1.  Make three cubes.  On the sides of the first cube, write indicater words such as "this, that, one, a, the, or any."

2. On the sides of the second cube, write nouns such as book, house, boy, girl, dog, cat. 

3. On the sides of the third cube, write verbs such as runs, jumps, sits, plays, walks, skips. 

4.  Have the students roll the cubes and create sentences out of each set of words rolled (each roll of the cubes will result in one indicator word, one noun, and one verb.)  For example, if a student rolls "the," "boy," and "jumps," he or she may say "The boy jumps high."

5.  Have the students choose a sentence to  write down, illustrate, or act out.

Math Game

Standard: Mathematics 1.1 and 2.0

1.  Make 2 cubes. 

2.  Write or glue numerals 1 through 6 on the sides of one cube.  Write or glue numerals 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, and 2 on the sides of the second cube.  

3. Have the students roll the two cubes and read the numerals. 

3.  Have the students read or write the numerals and then add or subtract the numerals that are rolled.

4.  Have the students tell one another stories or sentences using story using the digits that are rolled.  For example, if a student rolls a 4 and a 1, he or she may add the two digits to equal 5, and then say "I want to own five cats."