Year 1 Equal Groups Activities for Building Number Sense

Understanding Year 1 equal groups is an important step in developing early multiplication and division skills. Before students can work confidently with multiplication facts, they need opportunities to recognise, create and compare groups containing the same number of objects.

This interactive resource supports students as they practise grouping objects into equal sets and identifying when groups are fair and equal. Through engaging digital activities, students develop their understanding of equal groups while strengthening counting and reasoning skills.

The activities focus on foundational concepts that support future multiplication and division learning, helping students recognise patterns, identify equal amounts and explain their mathematical thinking.

Once students complete these activities, they will have greater confidence working with equal groups and be better prepared for more advanced multiplication and division concepts.

Making Equal Groups Year 1 Activities for the Classroom

This resource can be used throughout your maths block to introduce, reinforce and extend students’ understanding of equal groups.

• Fair Share Challenge – Present students with classroom objects or counters and ask them to predict whether they can be shared fairly before checking their answers with the interactive activity.
• Maths Talk Warm-Up – Display an activity slide and encourage students to explain how they know the groups are equal. This helps develop mathematical vocabulary and reasoning skills.
• Real-World Grouping Hunt – Challenge students to find examples of equal groups around the classroom, playground or school environment and connect their discoveries to the activity.

These flexible activities help students develop confidence with making equal groups Year 1 while encouraging hands-on exploration and discussion.

Equal Sharing and Early Division Interactive Activity Download

This resource includes an interactive Google Slides version and a PowerPoint (PPTX) version, giving you flexibility to choose the format that best suits your classroom needs. An answer key PDF is also included to support quick and easy checking.

Use the Download button above to access the files and start teaching concepts related to equal sharing and early division straight away. Please note that you will be prompted to make your own copy of the Google Slides file before accessing it.

Please note: To enable the interactive features, the resource must be used in Edit mode rather than Presentation mode. 

This resource was created by Lindsey Phillips, a TeachStarter collaborator.

More Year 1 Equal Groups Resources

Check out more activities for teaching equal sharing below.

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Year 1 Equal Grouping and Equal Sharing Teaching Slides

Explore equal sharing and equal grouping with interactive teaching slides that introduce early division concepts through visual models and hands-on discussion.

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How Many Legs on the Spiders? Equal Sharing Activity

Use this equal sharing craft to help Year 1 students explore equal groups.

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Sharing Equally — Year 1 Worksheet Pack

Explore this Year 1 sharing equally worksheet pack that builds early division skills through hands-on activities.