Bare bones manipulatives

[Koerarmoca]

If you had limited budget and space what manipulatives would you purchase for Kindy?

 

What maniplutives have you made with say printing/laminating, dollar tree & household items?

 

[thegirlwhopaintedtrees]

My kids have loved using rocks and acorns they have collected as counters. I have found fun mini erasers at both Dollar Tree and Target which we also use for counters or making patterns. Our cuisenaire rods are indispensable and if you can only buy one thing that's what I would buy.

[Koerarmoca]

I never thought of rocks lol. I'm sure she would like that, erasers are a good idea too! Thanks

[debi21]

I'm interested in what manipulatives other people buy, because I buy all sorts of stuff :( I'm new at this so I don't consider my choices particularly wise or anything, and again not bare bones.

 

But I bought c-rods, an abacus, and a set of counters that can be sorted 2 ways (color and animal type) and also used for patterning. I also have plastic tweezers, some beads and some cards for lacing, and pattern block shapes for playing with. One thing, that I don't necessarily think was worth the money, yet really taught my son something fast, was a small set of geometric solids. Spent about $15 and now he understands and knows his cube, pyramid, cone, triangular prism, cylinder, and sphere. What I'm considering right now are letter stamps and a globe.

 

I would love to try using stuff from the dollar store, but my projects never get done, so for me, I'm just better off spending the money.

 

Looking forward to seeing other people's responses.

[mathnerd]

Buy a set of C Rods - my DS likes the plastic linking ones and I like the wooden ones. Also on Rainbow Resource, they sell compatible plastic 10 rods and flats and 1000 cube for a good price - so I bought a set of those. Beyond that, everything else are household items. We use a tub full of dominoes as manipulatives. For a change, we use paper plates with m&ms on them - for grouping, subtraction, patterns etc - we don't eat them at home, so the same set of m&ms last for a long time! We also used different dry beans (garbanzo, kidney beans, white beans etc). Then there is a big ziploc bag of pom-poms (? - those wooly things for crafts) that never got used, so we use them for counters. I made a set of coins manipulatives by printing, laminating and cutting the coin pictures. That is pretty much all of it!

[linguistmama]

For purchase I would buy cuisenaire rods. They are so useful for so long! We have used all kinds of things for counting that we had around the house, utensils, toys, fingers etc.

[Ameena]

The one thing I'd buy is a good dry erase board and dry erase markers in assorted colors. Get a board that is lined like learning to write paper on one side, and blank on the other.

 

 

We also used pop bottle lids for counters - they are free :)

[BarbecueMom]

Besides c-rods, we use a lot of Popsicle sticks. Counting, constructing tens, place value, measurements, shapes, patterns.

 

Ditto on the dry erase board and bottle caps. I use bottle caps with stickers on them to make math and phonics bingo games.

 

Food for counters. DS4 learned to recognize numbers to 100 with a chart and a box of Cheerios.

[reign]

C-rods for sure and a 100 chart have been by far the most helpful math purchases. I also have a abacus and some foam cube counters. Anything will work for counters though paper clips, candy, or beads. Popsicle sticks did help my oldest figure out place value. Could also use straws.

[KarenNC]

We used real coins for coin recognition, pennies/legos/cheerios/m&ms/etc for counting, an abacus for counting (the bits don't get lost in the couch ;) ), toothpicks for bundles of 10, etc. Hold onto the geometric solids----they come in handy in middle school when figuring surface area (it helped my daughter to be able to stick a post it on each side to see how many faces a shape had, for instance).

[LaCEmom]

C-rods, 100 chart (which you can print free online), Legos (as linking cubes), some kind of counters. (We have a set of poker chips, that I don't even know where they came from, but they've worked well for us as counters and even came with their own rack.) I also like having a geared clock.

[Um_2_4]

Oh, Dollar tree is one of my faves. Erasers from there are good for patterns/counting/sorting. Best place to get pom poms, pony beads (I got heart ones the other day) and foam sheets (small and large size).

Are we talking only math or all manipulatives?

 

For math: some sort of small thing for counting/sorting (could use pom poms or erasers, what ever you find), geoboards and rubber bands, cuinsaire rods (I just bought a lot of 564 wooden ones on ebay for ~$30), a good simple ruler, rest of things I could print/laminate (hundreds chart/coins/bills/even size sorting manipulatives).

 

For fine motor: playdough, toddler scissors, stickers and scrap paper ($ tree again), pom poms, ice cube trays (can be used for counting/sorting also), tongs, beads, pipe cleaners (most of those I get at $ tree, except the play dough), foam sheets (large and small), yarn and large wooden beads.

Also pattern blocks if you can find a set of wooden ones (love them). Also popsicle sticks and clothespins (again $ tree, they even sometimes have colored popsicle sticks). I think that is it as far as buying things, everything else I could print or make with these or get from recycling things around the house (PB jars or empty juice single size bottles are great for cleaning and reusing).

 

Pipe cleaners and pony beads can be used to make shapes and letters. Use foam to make your own letters ala HWOT. Pattern blocks are also good for sorting besides all the free printables out there for them.

[PentecostalMom]

Target's dollar section has a lot of good stuff as well. It gets more educational as ps school time approaches.

[Holly]

We used pennies and dimes in place of base 10 blocks...I think they actually preferred working with the money! Counters can be made of almost any small object like buttons, cereal, blocks, etc. Legos are basically the same as Unifix cubes. I made some attribute blocks out of construction paper, and I've also seen printable pattern blocks.

[MrsBasil]

There's a used homeschool curriculum/supply store in a town near me. I've bought things there for about half of retail. We have Cuisenaire Rods, tangrams, a hundreds chart, a balance scale, some math games, and pattern blocks BUT honestly, the biggest hits have been themed erasers from Dollar Tree for counting, sorting, and making patterns, dried beans for counting/playing with the hundreds chart, and real money.

 

I think you could also use Duplos or Lego for patterns, counting, and sorting. We've done a few very simple graphs with a peg board. :)

[Farrar]

Everyone mentioned math manipulatives (seconding the C-rods as a much needed thing!) but we also used various types of letter tiles and so forth all the time at that age. You could get something like a double set of fridge magnets or you could buy Bananagrams for the tiles (and later for the game). Or you could print letters to magnet paper and cut them out - that would allow you to make them different colors for vowels and you could include blends as well, sort of like AAS/AAR tiles. We used to use them for playing making word games in Pre-K and K all the time.

[Spy Car]

Do not use "counters."

 

No beans, no pennies, no counting bears, no rocks, no fingers.

 

Nothing that can't be see as a "set" without counting in. So if a child can see three rocks and know it is 3, fine. But no counting.

 

What instead? Cuisenaire Rods.

 

What else?

 

Homemade cards with two rows (of five) red dots to show 10. A row of 5 and 4 to show 9. A row of 5 and 3 to show 8 etc. No counting.

 

Homemade cards with one row of 5 yellow dots and 5 blue dots to show 10. 5 yellow dots and 4 blue dot to make 9....RightStart AL Abacus style.

 

Homemade cards with Tally marks, two sets of crossed tallies to show Ten, etc

 

You can use the cards in a "flap book" to play "peek-a-book" to do addition and subtraction.

 

A flap book is piece of cardboard that is big enough to hold two go the homemade cards (I use index cards) side by side (on either side of a centerline). I use photo-edge holders (like one used in scrapbooks) to hold the cards. Then you add two doors with a hinge made of tape (fabric tape is best) so when you open one door you see one card. Open the other door see the other card.

 

If one side of the flap board has a 3 the child says, "Three" (High Praise!) Close it. Open the other side, with say a 2 card, child says, "Two" (High Praise!). Leave "2" open and ask "what is 2+3" while opening first door to revel "3" card, child says "Five!" (Fantastic!) "5 minus two is?" (while shutting second door) "Three."

 

You can use all sorts of cards, including the two rows of red dots, the bi-colored single row of yellow and blue dots, tally marks, or plan old numerals in the flap box. With the photo corners one can change the cards quickly.

 

Another idea is to cut down (to 10) egg cartons to serve as "frames" and plastic eggs or balls that fit to make make 1-10 by filling in rows. No "counting" just see one complet row of 5 plus a row of 3 makes Eight altogether.

 

No counting objects.

 

Bill (who is highly opinionated on this point, and happens to be correct :D)

[Alice]

Do not use "counters."

 

 

Ok, Bill, I’ll bite. Why are the counters so terrible?

[Spy Car]

 

 

Ok, Bill, I’ll bite. Why are the counters so terrible?

 

 

Short answer, because they encourage "counting."

 

Longer answer, two reasons:

 

One, it is a terrible habit to start, and a terrible habit to break. Counting 1,2,3,4,5 when you only have Five is bad enough, but Eighteen is worse, and Eighteen-Hundered or Eighteen-Thousand? Forget it.

 

Do you really want to head down a road of life-time "finger-counting" under the desk? If so, get the kids hooked on counting. If not, don't.

 

I could go on on this point a long time, but I'm exhausted tonight (you are in luck :D)

 

Second, if they are counting to do sums and differences they are not learning what they ought to be learning and practicing. And that is all the combinations of "parts" that can make up any whole number (so they can see 1+4, 2+3, 3+2, and 4+1 are all ways to make Five). They also need to work on learning re-grouping skills, so they can see 8+7 is the same as 8+2+5, which is the same as 10+5, which is 15. Rather than counting.

 

Using C Rods or using the homemade manipulatives I described can get a child off on the right foot, developing the vital skills they will need to excell at arithematic and won't cause bad habits to develop.

 

Don't teach what you hope will be "unlearned." Too risky. Instead teach things in ways you want to be enduring lessons.

 

Bill

[momtoamiracle]

two things we used the most - one inch colored blocks and squares cut out of different colored foam.

 

used for pattern making, adding, subtracting, multiplication, graphs, sorting, odd and even, grouping, etc.

[ErinE]

What Bill said.... The second I catch a child counting, we pull out the c-rods. The relationship is far easier to see visually with the c-rods and it doesn't let the child use counting as a crutch.

 

A 100 cube set. It usually comes with ones and tens, but I wish I could buy the cubes as a standalone.

 

Real coins for money.

 

Egg carton with two holders cut off. Helps the child see how to "make ten."

 

Functioning manual clock. Ask the child every day, at different times of day, to tell the time,

[thegirlwhopaintedtrees]

Bill,

What about learning one-to-one correspondence via counting? Both my kids learned to count with counters to at least 20 and when they could count without their words being faster than their fingers (does that even make sense?) then I moved them to C-rods. I found that both naturally learned to subitize while using the counters. My son still has to count (the c-rod stair) to remember the color-number association of the c-rods beyond 5 or 6. So isn't some counting beneficial?

 

Sorry that this post isn't really related to the OP's original question, but I am sure I am not the only one wondering.

[Spy Car]

Bill,

What about learning one-to-one correspondence via counting?

 

I think it is a vastly over-rated skill. I'd rather teach values by length (as with C Rods) or by using sets where it is easy to see "fives" and "tens" (as in a bi-colored single row of ten, two rows of 5 red dots, tally marks, or other such schemes).

 

Both my kids learned to count with counters to at least 20 and when they could count without their words being faster than their fingers (does that even make sense?) then I moved them to C-rods. I found that both naturally learned to subitize while using the counters. My son still has to count (the c-rod stair) to remember the color-number association of the c-rods beyond 5 or 6. So isn't some counting beneficial?

 

I think it is risky. I'd rather use the methods above to accomplish the same objective. Then you are planting a mental image of (for example) Nine being one less than 10. Or Seven being two more than 5. Counters when you get to 20 or 19 are meaningless as a "readable" set, because no one can distinguish between a pile of 19 vs 20. Not unless they are grouped by 5s. Then a child (or adult) can "see" the sets, otherwise no.

 

Bill

[momtoamiracle]

 

 

I think it is a vastly over-rated skill. I'd rather teach values by length (as with C Rods) or by using sets where it is easy to see "fives" and "tens" (as in a bi-colored single row of ten, two rows of 5 red dots, tally marks, or other such schemes).

 

 

 

I think it is risky. I'd rather use the methods above to accomplish the same objective. Then you are planting a mental image of (for example) Nine being one less than 10. Or Seven being two more than 5. Counters when you get to 20 or 19 are meaningless as a "readable" set, because no one can distinguish between a pile of 19 vs 20. Not unless they are grouped by 5s. Then a child (or adult) can "see" the sets, otherwise no.

 

Bill

 

 

For numbers above 15 I like to use the cuisenaire rods and ten rods. Those are invaluable to me.

[Um_2_4]

And I have seen many tactile learners (yes, I taught Kg) that will not "get" 10 frames until they make them themselves with "counters" I know my DD6 would not have gotten them, unless she could make them herself. Those little butterfly eraser counters were perfect for that. A 10 frame can be drawn on a 4x6 card then "build" 5 and ask student to now make 8. Or call out numbers and ask them to build it on the 10 frames with counters. Counters can be great for teaching skip counting. Empty egg cartons are good for this too, put 3 in each "cup" and count. And, just for the record, most of my Kg classes left adding without counting on their fingers... :laugh:

 

So each child will have different needs. I do believe this was put on the top of the curriculum forums board "remember that no single program can possibly meet the needs of every home schooler; let's benefit from the variety available."

[4KookieKids]

One, it is a terrible habit to start, and a terrible habit to break. Counting 1,2,3,4,5 when you only have Five is bad enough, but Eighteen is worse, and Eighteen-Hundered or Eighteen-Thousand? Forget it.

 

Do you really want to head down a road of life-time "finger-counting" under the desk? If so, get the kids hooked on counting. If not, don't.

 

....

 

Don't teach what you hope will be "unlearned." Too risky. Instead teach things in ways you want to be enduring lessons.

 

 

I think I agree with what you said, regarding counting being a terrible *habit* to start, but I don't think I agree that beans and other items like this are manipulatives to be avoided, because I think they really can help communicate the concept of addition, subtraction, etc.

 

I see a lot of value in what you said about lengths, and understanding the relationship between different numbers based on that (like 9 is less than 10), and I think that's a great benefit to the suggestions you gave! But I've known plenty of brilliant math people (or at least, I think they're brilliant :D) who started off by counting. They didn't have to break a bad habit, because it never actually became *habit*; but it was a good way to help them understand what was going on in the very early stages.

 

Yes, counting to 18,000 would be rough, but so would laying out that many rods, dots, or tick-marks... :D)

[Coco_Clark]

Cuisinare rods, pattern blocks, a clock and calendar, real money, and a moveable alphabet. :)

[twoxcell]

C-rods, and counters. For 1st-2nd I would add base ten blocks, dice, and a deck of cards.

[Walking-Iris]

If you had limited budget and space what manipulatives would you purchase for Kindy?

 

What maniplutives have you made with say printing/laminating, dollar tree & household items?

 

I love hands-on stuff. But if I had to limit them to the bare bones for K, I would use c-rods. One could then use regular household and toy items for other maths activities.

 

Hands-on for lang arts I would have to say the HWT wooden letters and a set of letter tiles.

 

http://www.montessoriforeveryone.com/Free-Downloads_ep_35-1.html

 

Here's a link to a few things to print and laminate.

 

As far as DIY manipulatives with household items, now you're talking my language. I tend to be a big fan of Montessori style materials, so everything i have made myself leans that way.

 

Math: You can make number rods with strong poster board and painted squares. You can also make the numerals from poster board. You can make a spindle box out of a shoe box or if you can sew, something like this and use popsicle sticks or colored counting (oh the evil!!!) sticks. Bead bars take some time to make, but can be done inexpensively with wire and a tub of pony beads. Make as many as you want to add/subt/ multiply and so on. I've also made homemade fraction circles from poster board. And I'm now in the process of working on geometry set from craft foam.

 

There's not much I've made for lang arts except sandpaper letters and I've used paint samples to create phonics activities.

 

But yes, even with a limited budget, a little creativity and you can make nearly anything.