Do you wish you had an activity for your math students that was fun, effective, AND self-checking? Look no further! This blog post will explain how to create color by number math worksheets for your math classroom.
I like to use PowerPoint to create all of my math resources. If you don’t already have PowerPoint downloaded on your computer, you can get Office 365 for FREE with your school email. This includes Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote.
Color by number activities consist of two pages: a worksheet with the math problems students will solve and a picture that they will color in once they have solved the problems on the worksheet. You can use these activities all year and make the picture themed to a holiday or event happening at that time of year.
Page 1: Worksheet
The worksheet will include the questions students need to solve, answer choices, and colors. You can create these for questions that have numerical answers or answers that are words.
Numerical Answers
If the answers on your worksheet are numerical answers, you can put the answer directly on the picture where they should use the designated color. You will need to give students answer choices that have colors associated with each answer.
Students will solve the problem, choose from the answer choices and look for the number they get as their answer on the picture. For example, if the answer to a question is 15, your students would use the designated color anywhere they see a 15 on the picture.
Word Answers
You may have answer choices that are words, depending on the lesson you are doing with your students. If the answer is a word, you will need to give your students choices that have colors associated with each word.
They will select the correct word, which will give them the color they should use. You can then use the question number as the number they will look for on the picture.
Below is an example of a completed color by number worksheet.
Page 2: Picture
Using the Shapes tool in PowerPoint, create a picture for students to color. You can make this anything you want–get creative! Don’t stress if you aren’t artistic (I’m definitely not!). You can make your picture very simple.
Create a picture that has different sections for students to color in. You will label each section with a number that corresponds with the numbers on the worksheet (either the question numbers or the numerical answers).
Below is an example of a completed color by number picture.
After students have completed their color by number worksheets, you will know if they answered the questions right if the picture is colored correctly.
I hope this has been helpful! If you would like a template for color by number activities, you may want to check out my product The Resource Starter.
The Resource Starter includes templates for both printable and digital color by number activities, as well as templates for many other types of resources! These templates are designed to save you time whenever you need a new resource for your students!
