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Use these 100 Items to Use to Count to 100 with estimation jar ideas and 100th day of school activities!

Teaching kids math concepts and how to count to 100 is a big milestone & one that parents and teachers work on for a few years.  It’s a long journey fraught with numbers like “fifteen-ten” and other assorted creative ways to count.  And along the way, kids are also learning to count by 2’s, 5’s, 10’s and categorize numeric values.

Many kids around the country are celebrating their 100th day of school this month and we are having some math fun with them!

100 Items for the 100th Day of School & Estimation Jar Activities

For a number of years, I remember my kids coming home with a note asking that each child in the class bring in “100 of their favorite item” to celebrate the 100th day of school.

100 of their favorite item — whew!  Now those were some long discussions —

Kid:  “How about 100 stuffed animals Mom?”

Me:  How about we think of something a little smaller?

Kid:  “I want to bring in something that the other kids won’t bring.”

Me:  Ok, how about crayons?

Kid:  No

Me:  Tattoos?

Kid:  No

Me:  Paperclips?

Kid:  No!

And so it went for about 50 more suggestions until we finally came up with a winner!

And in the process, we also came up with quite a list of possibilities in case you’re having trouble thinking of small items for your 100th Day of School celebration or fun things to put in an estimation jar! I’ve tried to make life a little easier for you by including affiliate links to items we’ve used, those that may not be well-known or might be hard to find.

If you’re looking for a wearable item, check out the 100th Day of School t-shirt ideas (with printable svg files) – you can quickly make one of these at home and the shirt will have 100 items to count.

Now if my youngest had HER way, she would bring 100 books to school to celebrate (and read them all too 🙂

Can you imagine stacking 100 of your favorite stories??!  That would actually be pretty cool to do.

Here are a few books that would be perfect for this math day celebration:

The Night Before the 100th Day of School — the students are all thinking hard about what to bring the next day!

100th Day Worries – Jessica want’s to bring something AMAZING to school for the 100th day but has a hard time deciding just what that should be.

Rocket’s 100th Day of School (Step Into Reading, Step 1) – perfect for beginning readers.

Emily’s First 100 Days of School – my daughter and I just LOVED this book!  It’s a huge learning resource covering numbers, letters and so many of the things that kids learn during those first few months of school.  A must read (and a longer book that can be shared over a number of story time sessions).

Counting to 100 & Estimation Jar Ideas

One popular idea is to introduce a 100’s Jar.  Similar to an estimation jar in many classrooms, a 100’s Jar holds one-hundred pieces of the same item.

If you use plastic bottles or jars, you can introduce a number of math concepts such as volume, size and weight.  So the first part of our list includes lots of items that can be counted, sorted, categorized and compared.

I had some extra mason jars that we used to do some counting and comparison.  Just make sure that the jar or bottle you use is transparent so the kids can see & explore the items inside it.

100 Items to Count for the 100th Day of School Celebrations

Since items in this group are so similar, they are great to use for counting by 2’s, 5’s and 10’s when they are sorted.

1.  Paperclips

2.  Pencils

3.  Ping pong balls

4.  Cap Erasers (great to revive old pencils)

5.  Pennies (use with other coins to learn how to count money)

6.  Nickels

7.  Dimes

8.  Quarters

9.  Plastic spoons

10.  Binder Clips (good for finger dexterity)

11.  Puzzle pieces (then put together the puzzle) – some of our favorites are the Mudpuppy 100 Piece Puzzles

12.  Game tokens

13.  Rubber bands

For more ideas, have your kids browse these Marvelous Math Books that Inspire Kids to Count !

Items to Categorize by Color While You Count to 100

14.  Guitar picks

15.  Golf balls (they come in white, pink, yellow and orange)

16.  Crayons

17.  Playing cards (sort by color or suit) + 20 creative things to do with cards

18.  Marbles (sort by shade/color)

19.  Plastic eggs (sort by color or size)

20.  Wooden Beads (can also be used for threading – great for fine motor skills!)

21.  Assorted Pom Poms

22.  Match box cars

23.  Spools of Thread (these are gorgeous all gathered together in a jar!)

24.  Barbie shoes

25.  Glow Sticks (these are great to wear as bracelets too)

26.  Mini erasers

27.  Socks (just have each child bring in 4 mismatched socks)

28.  Rubber bracelets or rings

You’ll also enjoy these  9 Colorful Ways to Learn Math

Fun Things to Sort & Measure for Height/Length

Grab a ruler and have kids take measurements while they sort these items.  You can also have kids arrange each item from shortest to longest once they are measured.

29.  Barrettes (sort by color or length)

30.  Bookmarks

31.  Old keys

32.  Golf tees

For more hands-on measurement activities: 10 Math Tools for Learning Measurement

100th Day of School Activity: Sorting Items by Type

There will be a variety of ways to sort the following items.

• Sort animals by habitat, continent, etc.
• Batteries can be sorted by type of size,
• Stickers can be sorted by person/place/thing or have the kids come up with their own groupings.

33.  Backpack clip toys or mini animals like these collection of 100 Assorted Animal Figures

34.  Happy Meal toys

35.  Tattoos

36.  Small Maze Puzzles (by shape or color)

37.  Mini Dinosaur figurines (by animal, size or time period of when they lived)

38.  Stickers

39.  Postage stamps (by picture, face value, etc)

40.  Cookie cutters

41.  Trading cards

42.  Shrinky dinks or charms

43.  Batteries

44.  Pieces from board games

Some of our nature items (listed below) would also fit in this category such as rocks, seashells, pine cones and flowers.

Such a fun idea – compare 100 kernels of popcorn both un-popped & popped!  Learn more about Popcorn Math & Science with this fun activity

Advanced Math:  Teaching Volume/Area with 100 Items

I love this type of item — things that change the space they take up depending on how they are presented to the kids.

These are perfect for a math/science discussion!

45.  Paper or Plastic Cups (stacked one inside the other and stacked as a pyramid)

46.  100 milliliters of a liquid (look at it in a measuring cup and then pour it out on a cookie sheet or pie plate to discuss area)

47.  Balloons (both blown up and flat)

48.  Popcorn kernels (un-popped and popped)

Things to Craft with after you Count to 100

Making a shirt for your 100th Day celebration?  Or looking for a craft idea?  Count these things & then create with them!

49.  Buttons

50.  Mini play dough containers

51.  Pipe cleaners

52.  Paint Brushes

53.  Popsicle Sticks

54.  Mini Duct Tape or Washi Tape rolls

55.  Q-tips (then use them to paint)

56.  Markers

57.  Self-ink Stamps

58.  Plastic beads (make a necklace)

59.  Rainbow loom bands (make a bracelet)

60.  Little Notebooks (use for drawing, tracing or even graphing the 100 items)

61.  Glue sticks

62.  Cotton balls

If you use mini-marshmallows and toothpicks for your 100’s jar, you can then pair them to create constellations for science exploration!  Learn more about Marshmallow Constellations.

100th Day of School Science & Engineering Activities

Super items to use for counting and then experimenting!

63.  Mentos (count and then use them to make volcanoes or geysers)

64.  Toothpicks (combine with mini-marshmallows to make constellations)

65.  Sugar Cubes (yep, the still sell these at grocery stores and you can use them to build too!)

66.  Legos (then race to see who can stack them the quickest)

67.  Blocks (then see who can construct a bridge or the tallest building)

Another Related Activity:  Hands-on Math — Clothespin Geometry 

Have a stacking challenge with any of the next three items —

68.  Checkers

69.  Poker chips

70.  Dice

And you can use almost any of the items on this list for a Sink or Float science experiment too!

Snack Ideas for 100th Day of School

A very popular activity is creating a snack mix on the 100th Day so here’s a few things the kids might want to eat together —

71.  Pretzels

72.  Marshmallows or mini-marshmallows

73.  Fruit snack packets

74.  Cereal

75.  Dried pasta (this can also be used for a pasta necklace craft or cooked for lunch)

76.  Grains of rice (if you color them, kids will LOVE making a Rainbow in a Jar)

77.  Jelly beans

78.  Clementine oranges

79.  Mini boxes of raisins

80.  Hershey Kisses

81.  Candy hearts

82.  Grapes

83.  Tea bags

84.  Baby carrots

85.  Cheese sticks

86.  Goldfish crackers

87.  Oyster crackers

88.  Chocolate chips

89.  Cookies

90.  Tic-tacs

91.  Gumballs

92.  Sticks of gum

93.  Baby pickles

And don’t forget the popcorn in the photo above too!

Counting to 100 with Nature Items

We love using items from nature for crafts & learning throughout the year!

I would suggest having a kid-friendly Magnifying Glass handy with these items so the kids can explore them further.

94.  Acorns

95.  Pine cones

96.  Leaves

97.  Plant seeds

98.  Rocks (you can even use them for a rock testing experiment)

99.  Sea shells

100.  Flowers (real or plastic)

More Math Activities for Kids:

Plotting Points at the Park: A Math Game for Kids

Every Day Math Activities for Kids

Create Your Own Balance Scale: Measurement Challenge

You might also like:

Math Books Kids will LOVE

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