DIY Math Tool: Felt Five Frame


As teachers, we become masters of DIY. Many times we have to be to keep learning fresh, fun and relevant. And we love a new idea to put into practice. Here’s a DIY Lana Hansen created for her classroom to build visualizing and structuring skills in young mathematicians.

It’s called Felt Five Frame. It goes great with the game Fill Up Fives or a new game called Roll Away.

All you need to get started is:

  • Roll of heavy paper
  • Pins
  • Felt or cloth

Download the directions (with pictures) and tracers.

Download the directions in Spanish.

The key steps include:

  1. Cut out a 12 ½ in. x 40 in. rectangle using heavy paper. (32 cm x 102 cm)
  2. Fold the paper rectangle in half lengthwise. Be sure to match the corners as you fold.
  3. Fold the smaller paper rectangle in half again. Be sure to match the corners as you fold.
  4. Cut out the tracers and place them on the heavy paper as shown. The word “FOLD” must align with the folds made with the heavy paper. The two tracers will overlap slightly to help create straight lines for the pattern.
  5. Trace to create the pattern on the heavy paper.
  6. Carefully keeping the edges together, cut along the traced line. Unfold to reveal the five frame pattern.
  7. Place the pattern on the felt and pin the pattern down securely.
  8. Cut out along the pattern lines to create one five frame.

You can reuse the paper pattern to create as many number frames as needed for your classroom. These frames are durable and will last a long time to help children build visualizing skills in math.

Download the directions (with pictures) and tracers.

Download the directions in Spanish.

What’s a DIY game you have created? Share it with us here. We may feature it in an upcoming post.