While many manipulatives I write about have not been used before by most of my students, traditional pattern blocks are pretty ubiquitous in preschool and early elementary classrooms. However, many teachers don’t know about the pattern block variations and additions ...
This strategy card game from Gamewright is a favorite of my students just because of the fun illustrations on the cards. They love collecting doughnuts! It is quick to set up, easy to learn, and leads to a lot of ...
Square tiles are one of the most simple and versatile math manipulatives you can have in your classroom. They are one inch colored plastic squares. In the resources section below I will also link virtual versions for use on the ...
Picture from Amazon Pentominoes are a good math manipulative that students of any age can use with a wide range of application as they increase their understanding of math. Even preschoolers enjoy playing with the brightly colored plastic pieces and ...
If I were to choose only one manipulative to have in the elementary school classroom, I would choose Cuisenaire Rods (or integer blocks such as Mortensen or Math U See that are based on the same concept). And yet most ...
Looking for a great independent activity for gifted and talented students, early finishers, or kids who need to practice spatial reasoning activities? Q-Bitz visual spatial puzzles are a great choice with varying levels of difficulty to meet the needs of ...
Check the Fridge, by Melon Rind, is technically an addition game. The goal is to make sets of three vegetable cards that add to 25 while avoiding the three stinky cheese cards. However, kids figure out pretty quickly that any ...
Why should you use manipulatives for teaching math to all students, not just struggling ones? Studies show that elementary children develop meaningful understanding of mathematical concepts when manipulative materials are used. Jean Piaget, one of the first psychologists to study ...
Clumsy Thief and Clumsy Thief in the Candy Shop were the first Gamewright games I ever purchased. They have been a favorite of every child I have played with and are one of my most used games. Both games practice ...
The Suspend game is great for critical thinking and spatial reasoning (as well as hand eye coordination), but a 5th grade student had an idea where we could also practice addition and subtraction. This is a great example of how ...
I play A LOT of math games with kids, but my favorite math game: Prime Climb. If I had to choose only one numbers and operations game for grades 3 and up, this would be it. I have never met a child ...
Zeus on the Loose is another Gamewright game, my go to brand for card games that are both fun (to the point that the kids always want to play them) and educational. In this game, each player in turn plays ...
Sleeping Queens is one of the favorite card games of my students from kindergarten through middle school. One 2nd grader told me she asked her parents to buy it and played every night with her stuffed animals! The kids love ...
When the students in my small group saw that I had brought a double loop Hot Wheels race track, they were very excited! What child does not want to play with toy cars? Little did they know just how much ...
If I could only buy one toy this would be it! These are incredibly versatile building materials where 2D geometric shapes easily connect to make 3D shapes because of the high quality neodymium  magnets they contain within colorful plastic.  They ...