Bring fractions to life in a creative and hands on way with our Fraction Cupcake Craft. This colourful activity combines maths, art, and literacy as students design and decorate their own cupcake while exploring fractions of collections. By linking sprinkles to fractions, learners can clearly see how numerators and denominators represent equal groups and parts of a whole.

Check out this video below to see this resource in action.

Using the provided templates, students construct and decorate a cupcake with 8 sprinkles. They can choose to use the gumball style template or add real craft materials such as coloured dot stickers, pom poms, sequins, tissue paper, or buttons for extra fun and sensory appeal. Once complete, students write a description of their cupcake’s sprinkles, focusing on fractions like halves, quarters, and eighths.

This activity goes beyond maths practice by building important fine motor and creative skills. Learners will cut, paste, design, and write as they bring their fraction cupcakes to life. With a display banner included, the finished cupcakes make a bright and engaging classroom display that celebrates both creativity and mathematical thinking.

Key Learning Outcomes:

• ✅ Recognise and represent fractions of a collection using sprinkles
• ✅ Describe halves, quarters, and eighths with correct notation
• ✅ Connect visual models to written fraction statements
• ✅ Develop fine motor skills through cutting, pasting, and designing
• ✅ Use descriptive writing to explain mathematical ideas

What’s Included:

• Printable cupcake craft templates
• Sprinkle guides for collections of 8
• Writing strip templates for recording fraction descriptions
• Display banner for showcasing finished crafts
• Teacher notes with differentiation suggestions

Materials Needed:

• Printed templates on paper or cardstock
• Scissors, glue sticks, and pencils
• Coloured pencils, crayons, or markers for decoration
• Optional craft materials: dot stickers, pom poms, sequins, tissue paper, buttons
• Plastic sleeves for reusable writing strips if desired

How to Use:

1. Model fractions of 8 using real objects or the template before beginning.
2. Students cut and assemble their cupcake base.
3. Decorate the cupcake with 8 sprinkles using colouring or craft materials.
4. Write a description of the sprinkles, for example 4/8 are red, 2/8 are blue, 2/8 are green.
5. Challenge students to identify and record equivalent fractions, such as 4/8 = 1/2.
6. Display finished work under the included banner for a bright maths showcase.

Ideas for Classroom Use:

• 💡 Use as part of a fractions unit to reinforce halves, quarters, and eighths
• 💡 Incorporate into maths rotations as a creative independent task
• 💡 Pair with literacy by asking students to write a descriptive sentence about their cupcake
• 💡 Display completed cupcakes as a colourful classroom fraction wall
• 💡 Extend learning by having students design a new cupcake with their own fraction challenge

Top Teacher Tips:

• 💛 Print on coloured cardstock for durability and to add brightness
• 💛 Offer a choice of craft materials to boost engagement and creativity
• 💛 Encourage students to verbalise reasoning using sentence stems like I coloured 2 out of 8, so that is 2/8
• 💛 Differentiate by focusing on halves for beginners and extending to equivalence for advanced learners
• 💛 Laminate templates so they can be reused with whiteboard markers or Velcro sprinkles

Fraction Cupcake Craft is a practical and creative way to reinforce fractions of collections. With its bright theme, flexible design, and opportunity for writing and display, it’s sure to engage and delight learners while deepening their mathematical understanding.