Fun Exponent Rules Activities

Are you getting ready to teach the laws of exponents and are looking for a few fun exponent rules activities? In this post I want to share the way I have taught patterns of exponents to arrive at 1, 0, negative and fraction exponents, as well as a few printable and digital exponent rules activities.

I like to start with a pattern that students will recognize to address common misconceptions about 1 and 0 exponents. Here, we're dividing by 3 each time. What number will we arrive at for 3 to the first power?

From there, we can continue dividing to find 3 to the zero power.

Students tend to believe that negative exponents will create negatives, so continuing the pattern to 3 to the -1 power helps them arrive at 1/3.

Once students are comfortable with negative exponents creating fractions, they can continue the pattern. What will 3 to the -2 be? For more on negative exponents, there is a video here showing negative exponents visually.

Fractional exponents, or rational exponents, are tricky to conceptualize. I wrote a blog post here on fraction exponents.

If you are teaching exponent rules soon, here are a few fun activities:

Exponent Rules Activities

This new exponent rules "2 truths and a lie" error analysis activity  tests students' understanding of exponent rules. Students identify incorrect statements when presented with expressions with exponents and their simplified forms. Students are then asked to fix each error on their answer sheets. 

Next is an exponent rules digital math escape room activity. Students must unlock 5 locks through simplifying 20 expressions with the product rule, the quotient rule, the power rule, the power of a fraction rule, the zero exponent rule and the negative exponent rule. Questions are grouped 4 per puzzle, resulting in five 4-letter codes that will unlock all 5 locks.

"This is a great activity for students to practice their knowledge of exponents. It is self checking and able to be done independently or in groups. Students were very engaged." — Elizabeth E.

For a similar activity to the one above, just with evaluating, this exponent rules digital math escape room {with evaluating} asks students for their knowledge of exponent rules and then with evaluating their expressions. 

"This activity was engaging and helpful for students to gain understanding with properties of exponents". — Chelsie S.

For a fun activity that doubles as classroom décor, this exponent rules math pennant activity asks students to simply expressions using the laws of exponents. Students can color their final pennants to make a colorful classroom display.

"My students loved this resource as a way to display their understanding! It was also a beautiful way to display student work within the classroom! Win win!" — Haley G. 

Browse all exponent rules activities