Lego Math Activities

📝 This post, LEGO Math Activities, was originally published in 2013 and has been updated with new information and resources.

If there is one thing I know about kids, it is that they can play with LEGO bricks for hours! So why not sneak a little math practice into all that building fun? These LEGO math activities are a simple way to reinforce important math skills while keeping kids engaged. Best of all, they are having so much fun that they hardly realize they are learning!

My own boys spent years building with LEGO bricks, so we always seemed to have tubs of them sitting around the house. Before long, I started pulling them out for math activities too. It was an easy way to make learning feel more like play, and the LEGO bricks were already there waiting to be used. As a teacher, I quickly discovered that kids were just as excited to use LEGO bricks for math as they were for building

Once you have gathered your LEGO bricks, you’re ready to start building and learning! Here are some of my favorite LEGO math activities for kindergarten through third grade..

What Are LEGO Math Activities?

Think of LEGO math activities as regular math practice disguised as building time. Instead of worksheets, kids use LEGO bricks to count, group, build place value numbers, explore fractions, and even make graphs. LEGO bricks make abstract math concepts more concrete and easier for kids to understand.

Why Use LEGO Bricks to Teach Math?

Some kids who groan when it’s time for a worksheet suddenly become excited when LEGO bricks are involved. Using LEGO bricks for math helps children:

👍🏼Build number sense in a concrete, hands-on way

👍🏼Stay engaged and motivated (it feels like play!)

👍🏼Develop fine motor skills at the same time

👍🏼Practice a variety of math concepts with one simple material

What You Need for LEGO Math Activities

✔️Lots of LEGO bricks — preferably one size (we love the bricks with 4 dots)

✔️Coloring Supplies

✔️A die

✔️A printer

✔️Optional: laminator or contact paper if you want to reuse the activity pages

📝 NOTE: You do not need a huge collection of LEGO bricks for these activities. A small bin of basic bricks works just fine.

Once you have gathered your LEGO bricks, you’re ready to start building and learning!

Here are some of my favorite LEGO math activities for kindergarten through third grade.

LEGO Math Activities and Games

If you want ready-to-print versions of these activities, they are all included in my LEGO Math Activities Packet on TpT. Just print the pages, grab some LEGO bricks, and you’re ready to go.

Create and Draw a LEGO Color Pattern

Print out several copies of the bricks page and cut them out. Ask your child to create a pattern using the paper bricks. After a few practice patterns, have your child color in the bricks on the page to match a pattern he created. This is a great starter activity for younger learners.

LEGO Grab and Group by 5s and 10s

Grouping by 5s and 10s is an important early math skill that builds a foundation for adding, subtracting, and understanding place value. To play, have your child grab a handful of LEGO bricks and place them on the green side of the Grab and Group Mat. Then group the LEGO bricks into groups of 5 and place each group on one of the colored rectangles. Once all the LEGO bricks are grouped, count by 5s (and by 1s if needed) to find the total. Record the answer on the recording sheet. The packet also includes the same activity for grouping by 10s.

LEGO Place Value Game

This is a classic place value game with a LEGO twist! This activity helps students see exactly what happens when ten ones become one ten, making place value much easier to understand. The first player rolls a die and places that many LEGO bricks in the ones column on the mat. Players take turns rolling and adding LEGO bricks. When there are 10 ones, trade them for a stack of 10 and move it to the tens column. Keep rolling, trading, and building until you reach 50!

Variations:

💡Race to 50: Each player has their own board, and the first one to 50 wins

💡Backward: Once at 50, play backward by breaking apart tens as you subtract

💡Number Cards: Use number cards instead of a die

LEGO Grab and Graph

Similar to Grab and Group, your child grabs a handful of LEGO bricks and graphs the results by color. This is one of my favorite ways to introduce graphing because kids are working with real objects they can see and touch.

LEGO Fractions

Color each brick in a stack a different color, then use the recording sheet to write the fraction each color represents. Fractions can be tricky for young learners, but LEGO bricks make them much easier to see and understand. 

LEGO Number Cards

These cards are surprisingly versatile. We have used them for everything from Go Fish and Memory to practicing math facts, odd and even numbers, and comparing numbers.

LEGO Math Activities from Boy Mama Teacher Mama

Looking for more LEGO math fun? Check out these resources from my TPT store:

LEGO Math Activities Packet — Print and play LEGO math games covering patterns, place value, fractions, graphing, grouping by 5s and 10s, and more. Perfect for K-3!

LEGO Structure Math Games — Fun and easy LEGO math games for K-3 that make building and math go hand in hand!

Love using LEGO bricks at home or in the classroom? Be sure to check out all of my LEGO posts for more ideas, activities, and organization tips!

Do you use LEGO bricks for math at home or in your classroom? I would love to hear about it in the comments below!