Doing Math the Routty Way: Engaging Activities from A to Z (Day 16)

Quiz Ball- The quiz ball is a great brain break strategy when your students need a kinesthetic movement break!

Here’s how to create one:
1. Get a soccer ball.
2. Label each section of the soccer ball with a computational fact or a question using blank labels.

Here’s how to play:
1. Have students make a circle around the room.
2. Toss the ball to a student and have him/her catch it with both hands. (The section where their right thumb lands is the question the student needs to answer.)
3. The student reads the question or problem aloud.
4. The student answers the question or problem.

The quiz ball works great for reinforcing many skills. Here are some ideas:

Program the ball with single-digit numbers. Have students add or multiply the numbers in the spaces where their thumbs land.
Program the ball with subtraction or division facts.
Program the ball with numbers that can be rounded to a variety of places.
Program the ball with vocabulary words.
Program the ball with integer problems.

The quiz ball below has integer addition and subtraction problems. I actually just wrote on this soccer ball with a dry-erase marker. For this activity, students could answer the problem under their right thumb or the left thumb if the right thumb is covering a black space.