A home for their hearts Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 What things do you use for math manipulatives for your preschooler? I was looking at some today at our teacher supply store and was wondering if I would be able to buy them cheaper online. I saw teddy bear counters, and pattern blocks. What else do you use and where did you buy them? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MUJLBE Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 I think pattern blocks are a great manipulative for preschoolers and up. I buy most homeschool supplies at Rainbow Resource http://www.rainbowresource.com but Amazon has all of these things too. If I could go back I would probably get some kind of abacus too-ideally one where the rows of ten beads are divided into 2 colors-5 of each. Susan ds (8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy in TN Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 I like the preschool package at MFW- http://mfwbooks.com/preschool.htm My ds liked the Lauri materials. I bought the magnetic pattern blocks, board, and cards from Rainbow. Also, wedgits are a big hit here. Your basic, no frills wooden Cuisenaire rods. Dice, dominoes, and playing cards. And, of course, never overlook the math value of a bucket of duplos! HTH- Mandy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usetoschool Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 We have bought a lot of stuff from Learning Resources over the years. Typical prices are kind of high but they have frequent clearance sales like this: http://www.learningresources.com/category/parents/clearance/now+70-+off.do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnnetteB Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Besides bears, counting cubes, coins and pattern blocks we enjoy counting and sorting buttons, seashells and crayons. I have taught the children how to band the crayons into groups of 10 and we can "bust a bundle" to borrow for subtraction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonia Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 My daughters favorite things - RightStart abacus, bucket balance, frog counters, judy clock, tangrams, and cuisenaire rods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellyndria Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Wooden beads. I bought a small bucket of them at the teacher supply store (they were with the teddy bear counters and such) when DS was 2. I originally got them for the stringing practice, but since there's six colors and three different shapes, they've provided plenty of sorting and pattern opportunities too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spy Car Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Cuisenaire Rods were a god-send in our home. I can't over-state just how useful and fun filled they have been for teaching my son math and number relationships. Miquon and the Miquon teachers materials inspired me to use these manipulates creatively and set me off making up games and lessons of my own design. My son is just 4.5 and his comprehension of math concepts boggles my mind. The Cuisenaire Rods were (are) an essential component of his math discovery. It still takes work (play), and I'll admit I debated getting these thinking they might languish in a drawer, instead they turned out to be one of the most valuable things I've ever purchased. I'm sure children (and parents) vary in their learning (teaching) styles, but for us, an incredibly valuable tool!!! We also picked up some Base-10 100-value blocks today, as we on on to 3-digit numbers. My 2 cents. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fractalgal Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 What things do you use for math manipulatives for your preschooler? I was looking at some today at our teacher supply store and was wondering if I would be able to buy them cheaper online. I saw teddy bear counters, and pattern blocks. What else do you use and where did you buy them? Thanks! Pattern blocks, geoboards and geobands are a big hit around here. :D I'm not too fond of linking cubes. Ours are difficult to stick together, and we have had more luck using Legos. Mine all came with my Saxon manipulatives. Overall, I have been happy with them. I also like the Rightstart Abacus, which came with the RS Games Kit. A hundred number chart, pattern blocks, geoboard and geobands, clock, balance, ruler, teddy bear counters, and color tiles are things I have used a lot. I think it would be worth it to check around and see if a manipulative kit would be less expensive. At the preschool age its nice to let them play with the manipulatives and let them feel comfortable with them. Soon they'll be asking how and why do we use this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macrina Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 eta homeschool has a gazillion to buy! Patter blocks, a student balance, solid shapes are the biggest. I tta with a pp about linking cubes. my 7yo can snap them, but my 4yo can't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A home for their hearts Posted January 25, 2009 Author Share Posted January 25, 2009 Thanks for the link! They have a lot of great stuff on clearance, now all I need is our income tax check! lol We have bought a lot of stuff from Learning Resources over the years. Typical prices are kind of high but they have frequent clearance sales like this: http://www.learningresources.com/category/parents/clearance/now+70-+off.do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aloha2U Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 (edited) I too already have the Saxon Math K-3 Manipulatives Kit on hand that I purchased on sale from CBD, but I'm adding a few more recommended for Singapore Math which I recently purchased from Rainbow Resource. Saxon Math K-3 Manipulatives K-3 Manipulatives Kit Singapore Math Manipulatives... Interlocking Base Ten Starter Set - Blue Abacus, Side-to-side, Blue and Yellow Place Value Cards Baby Bears Balance Set (I already have a balance and teddy bears from Saxon's kit, but I discovered this on Singapore's site, found it cheaper on RR and prefer it.) Rainbow Decimal Tiles (This particular item is not recommended by Singapore as their site showed something different, but I liked it anyways.) Misc Other... Overhead Hundred Number Boards Melissa & Doug Magnetic Wooden Numbers I'm sure I'll find something else to add to our inventory in the future. LOL! Yes, I can admit it, I'm a junkie already... though I think I prefer it this way instead of trying to find stuff from around the house, IYKWIM. There are many out there who are creative enough to improvise with household items and I commend them, but I need all the help I can get. ;) It helps that I have an only child. Edited January 25, 2009 by CMama Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Plastic bears are cute and fun, but a little limited. Buttons, on the other hand (real buttons) come in so many sizes, shapes, colors! You can do all the same sorting, seriating, counting, etc, but with much more variety, much more can be done. We have a jar of buttons that someone's family collected over the years, and boy, have we gotten a lot of use out of them! We actually found them at a garage sale--for a dollar. Look around! I also go to the dollar store for my preschoolers and pick up jars of erasers there. For a buck or two, we have erasers that can be used in tons of ways. Children's toys that they probably already have can be turned into math manipulatives, too. Add a spinner or a die (or both) to a box of blocks and you've got a game. Legos can be sorted, used for non-standard measurement (so can just about anything), weighted, compared, seriated by size, put into patterns--endless. My point is that you really, truly don't need special math manipulatives. Look around your house, and you will probably already have things you can use--spoons, marshmallows, cereal bits, coins, shoes, pasta shapes, nuts--the list is endless, and so much more interesting than a set of plastic bears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momsquared Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Pattern blocks, geoboards and geobands are a big hit around here. :D I'm not too fond of linking cubes. Ours are difficult to stick together, and we have had more luck using Legos. Mine all came with my Saxon manipulatives. Overall, I have been happy with them. I also like the Rightstart Abacus, which came with the RS Games Kit. A hundred number chart, pattern blocks, geoboard and geobands, clock, balance, ruler, teddy bear counters, and color tiles are things I have used a lot. I think it would be worth it to check around and see if a manipulative kit would be less expensive. At the preschool age its nice to let them play with the manipulatives and let them feel comfortable with them. Soon they'll be asking how and why do we use this. I agree about the linking cubes. My DD struggles with fine motor and the linking cubes are hard for her....they stick for anyone really. She likes the teddy bear counter, we have dinosaur counters, pattern blocks and Legos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KAM Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Mine loves frog counters and the logs that go with them, the bucket balance, bug shaped counters, abacus ( I got an extra for him, we use RightStart for the olders), and our geoboard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FO4UR Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Cuisenairre rods, base ten blocks, pattern blocks, dice, dominoes, geoboards. My dc go through phases of loving one thing, disinterested in another. I bought the Saxon Kit way back when I thought I would use Saxon k. If I could go back, I would just use junk around the house (like buttons) and only buy things like cuisenairre rods and geoboards that can't be duplicated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acbuy Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 I love going to the craft stores and purchasing seasonal clearance nicknacks to buy as "counters". I bought some miniature box of realistic looking apples (came 60 to a box), about 1/2 inch each. They were from their fall/Thanksgiving clearance. I thought he may be bored with it after a few weeks, ,but til now, he still plays with them. My ds loves coins (we have a Melissa and doug set) and big glass beads (also found at craft stores for floral arranging) also. Don't underestimate those unit blocks also :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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