My Favorite Math Manipulatives
I have been teaching elementary for 20 years and my favorite subject to teach is math. Just as we wouldn’t expect newborns to understand written language before developing oral language and concrete experiences to connect the abstract language with the physical world we also can’t expect our kiddos to jump write into numbers on paper to solve new math concepts. Here are my favorite manipulatives that I can’t wait to bring home for Chloe’s homeschool education. They will make math hands on, build conceptual understanding, and fun!
Rekenreks
These are a counting frame with rows of 10 beads. Each row has 5 red and 5 white beads. They are a great visual as well as kinesthetic tool! They originated in Holland and are often confused with an abacus.
They are amazing for:
Building number sense and place value
Counting by ones, fives, tens, 20s
Subitizing- being able to recognize how many in a group instantly
Adding 5+_ more
Adding 10 +_ more
Composing and Decomposing Numbers
Seeing patterns in tens
Counting to a number then saying what do you notice about that number?
Adding up to 100
Subtracting within 100
Multiplying and Dividing
Building the vocab more and less than
Ten Frames With Magnetic Counters
A ten frame is 2 rows of 5 inside a drawn box. These can be on paper, cardstock, on a whiteboard paddle etc. There are many ways to purchase ten frames. They can be used with counters, I personally love magnetic ones that do not slide off when I post my ten frame on a magnetic surface. Ten frames can also be used as a double ten frame so two on the same page/ card. You can also start with just a five frame for young children. Feel free to draw these and use anything as a counter but I recommend purchasing ten frame cards as well as a durable double ten frame with magnetic counters.
Ten frames are amazing for:
Building number sense and place value
Counting
Adding within 10
Adding within 20
Subtracting within 10
Subtracting within 20
Subitizing
Adding 5+ _ more
Adding 10+_ more
100 Pocket Chart
This is a chart with 100 pockets each containing a number card 1-100. You can hang this up when using. The cards come out so they can be manipulated. The cards also come in different colors so you can change them out if you want to highlight even and odd, tens, etc.
These charts are great for:
Counting
All 4 operations: adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing
Finding patterns within 100
Even and Odd
Skip Counting
Making connections between numbers
Developing place value and number sense
Finding 10 more, 10 less
Discussing greater and less than
Fraction Bars/ Circles
These are an awesome visual representation of 1 whole being broken into various fractions. I personally like to have the bars (rectangles) and circles so children can see it two ways. I love having these in magnetic as well. Really, anything magnetic if you have a magnetic white board easel makes life so much easier. You can make these with strips of paper but of course, purchasing them will last much longer.
These are great for:
Identifying that a fraction is a number smaller than a whole
Determining greater or less than with fractions
Comparing fractions
Making equivalent fractions
Developing fraction vocabulary ex. Thirds
Learning what a numerator and denominator represent
Base 10 Blocks
These are blocks that come in the units ones, tens, hundreds and thousands. They are sold in plastic, foam or again magnetic foam (my favorite!). They are great for:
Counting
Building numbers
Subitizing
Making connections between 10+ a number
Counting by tens
Building place value & number sense
Adding and Subtracting
Regrouping
Judy Clock
A clock that kids can manipulate the time on a great way to work on telling time. Kids love to play with these and you can make games out of practice. These are great for:
Learning about clock hands
Developing understanding of units of time: secs, mins, hours, days
Telling time to the hour
Telling time to the half hour
Telling time to the minute
Discussing am/ pm
Developing a routine to your day
Relating time to fractions
Adding and subtracting minutes
Tangrams
These are 7 shapes that can be put together and taken apart to make various pictures. There is a story called Grandfather Tang that can be used to introduce them. You can buy or print Tangram outlined pictures that are great fun. You can make your own tangrams out of paper or buy plastic or magnetic ones.
Tangrams are great for:
Defining attributes of a shape (how many sides, angles etc.)
Composing and decomposing shapes (putting together/ taking apart)
Determining fractions of a whole (what fraction of your picture is triangles etc)
Developing spatial reasoning
Discussing size, shape and congruence
Finding area & perimeter
Pattern Blocks
Pattern blocks are similar to tangrams but they come in a variety of shapes. They are sold in plastic, foam or magnetic. You can again purchase pictures that can be composed out of pattern blocks. These are great for the same activities as tangrams but the pictures are typically outlined for each shape whereas tangram pictures often are not making them more of a challenge.
With pattern blocks you can also:
Determine attributes of shapes not included in tangrams
Construct patterns
Make beautiful designs and artwork
Math Balance
A math balance has a number line going across a balance. It comes with these clips that hang on the number line. If on one side of the balance a clip was placed on 7 and 3 and on the other side of the balance a clip was placed on 10 the balance would be equal. If however you placed a clip on 8 and the other side 10 the larger side would be down and the smaller side up like a seesaw. Math balances are great for:
Determining greater than and less than
Cardinality (counting)
Adding
Determining = sign does not mean answer but rather same
Showing you can have an addition sentence on both sides of an = sign
Developing fluency within 10
Other great math tools to have around are a scale, balance, dice, linking cubes, money, calendar, measuring tape and rulers! Math is so much fun when you make it hands on. Remember, children need concrete before pictorial and abstract is last! The worst way to teach math is to start with numbers on paper and give kids paper and pencil tasks. When a new math concept is introduced we begin with real items before we start drawing examples out and finally moving to just abstract numbers on a page. Make math come to life for your kiddos!