Addition Sentence Fact Cards Freebie

Here's a lesson from my personal experience about the importance of following directions for assembling things or at least skimming the directions.

A few weeks ago I was perusing through Walmart's Easter goodies for children and I couldn't resist getting an inflatable ring toss bunny. 

0 rings on one ear plus 4 rings on the other ear equal 4 rings in all.

I was envisioning outdoor fun by tossing the rings onto the bunny's ears.  All I needed to do was blow up the two air valves on the inflatable.  One valve was on the back of the rabbit and the other was on the base.  This was going to be a snap! 

I don't always read the manufacturer's directions.  I don't want to waste my time reading directions for things I already know how to do.  Or should I say THINK I know how to do!  How difficult could an inflatable bunny be anyway?  There are two air valves.  Blow air into them . . . right?  So I blew up the rabbit.  Afterward, my little rabbit would not stand up.  There was no way we could use it when it kept falling down.  I thought, "My inflatable is defective!  It's standing up in the photo on the product packaging but not for me!  See the photo below.

This is the packaging from the product.  The directions are on the back of the package.

I felt disappointed in my purchase.  I thought, "This is a cheap product that doesn't work!"  I gave up on the idea of having a ring toss.  Later on, I had a few minutes to reevaluate the "rabbit" situation.  I was almost ready to locate my receipt and make a return trip to Walmart.  Then I looked at the packaging and decided to read the directions.  Sometimes what seems to be the obvious process is not what is intended.  The valve on the BACK of the rabbit is for AIR.  The valve on the BASE is for WATER.  The water acts as a weight to hold the inflatable upright.  I removed all the air and started over again.  This time I filled the base valve with water.  Viola!  It worked like a charm and I had no issues with the bunny falling over.

The ring toss activity is a cute idea but little kids might become frustrated attempting to toss the rings on the rabbits' ears.  I would allow the children to simply place the rings on the ears instead of tossing.  If you use outdoor learning stations, this might be something that could be adapted as a first grade math station.  Students could read an addition sentence on a 3 x 5 card and arrange the rings on the rabbit's ears accordingly.  (There were four rings included with the inflatable which makes this work with sums up to four . . .  unless you have additional rings.)

It's almost Teacher Appreciation Day so I made a freebie for you!  It's a set of addition sentences for sums up to ten.  They're 3" x 5" cards.   I've included the combinations for two addends.  Get creative and make up your own activities with them or use the suggestions I've included in the file.  Click on the first image shown below the get the original freebie.  Click on the second image shown to get a version that does not display the sums.

That's all for now!

Copyright 2017 Molly McMahon, Lessons by Molly