Updated August 26, 2026

The idea of acting out a word problem is probably not new to you. For years, I’ve heard people say “Act it out.” But no one ever told me how to actually do this well.. In this article, we’ll talk about how to use this strategy effectively and how to connect it to the use of models.

By the end of this post, you’ll know how to:

• Use “act it out” as a real classroom strategy, not a one-time production
• Move students from acting out a story to representing it with models
• Use this strategy to support MLLs and students who aren’t yet strong readers

Let’s start with the ‘why’

Acting out a math story is for more than just fun. (Side note: I think learning should be fun so this is definitely a perk.) There are lots of other benefits too. 

“Acting out the problem can bring the problem to life, helping students to conceptually understand what the task involves and aiding in comprehension and problem-solving. Additionally, this strategy may increase student motivation and add personal relevance to the problem-solving process.” (Acting Out a Problem | JHU CTE Boundless Learning)

It’s also a great strategy for students who are Multilingual Learners (MLL) or not yet proficient readers. They are able to conceptualize what is happening in a concrete way and can make sense of the language in the story.

Structures of Equality is designed to help students make sense of math stories, and acting it out is one way to help them do that.

We know why ‘acting it out’ is important. So how do you do it?

I once went into a teacher’s room and saw her students acting out a word problem. They were highly engaged and it was evident there was comprehension. It was a joy to watch. But at the end of math class, the teacher was exhausted and swore she would never do it again. She had interpreted ‘act it out’ to mean she needed to put on a whole production. The kids were in costume, they had props, there were bows and curtsies…

So while this was a wonderful experience, it certainly wasn’t sustainable. What she needed was a quick, easy way to give her students the same benefits, without wearing herself out.

We set out to define what it really meant to employ this strategy. And we came up with situations that were win-wins. Her kids were engaged, they had strong comprehension of the story problems, and she still had some energy left.

Here’s what she did (and what you can do too). She had students talk through the story by posing questions such as:

• Who are the characters in the story?
• What’s the action? What’s happening in the story?
• What’s the thing we’re counting?
• What’s the math main idea?

Then, she called students up to represent the things they were counting and had them act out the relationship in the story. The discussion centered around whether they were joining, separating, creating groups, or comparing. 

Sometimes she called one student up to act as the character and had realia (objects and materials from everyday life). For example, she would use a problem like: 

Maya has 8 stickers. Jordan has 3 fewer stickers than Maya. How many stickers does Jordan have? 

Then, she would invite two students up, one to be Maya and one to be Jordan. She’d give Maya 8 stickers, and the class would work together to figure out how many Jordan should have so the comparison in the story held true. 

And, finally, she moved from the physical acting out into a representation of it. She would use manipulatives such as cubes to model the story, then have students draw what the cubes showed, labeling each part so the relationship, not just the objects, was visible. 

If you want to see progressions like these in action, I walk through several examples with photos in my book.

Students learned how to solve a math story by acting it out:

• Physically
• With realia
• With manipulatives, then a drawn model

This is a strategy I love to use, especially with stories that lend themselves to the Compare structure. I could tell you about it here but I think you’ll like seeing it in action in this video: Compare Structure of Equality with Bulletin Board Paper. 📹

Conclusion

Acting it out and using models is an engaging and effective way to help your students understand what math stories are asking them to do. It’s a simple way to support all students in your classroom in a meaningful and relevant way. Have you tried this strategy before? I’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments.

If you’re interested in more question stems for math stories, you can find them in the free resources section on my website.