What the heck is a “manipulative?” These fun, little items help your children learn to count, add, subtract and a host of other math functions.
What You Need to Know
Math relies on abstract thinking, and many kindergarteners need concrete examples to practice the concepts. A manipulative is any small item that helps your child experiment, count, and sort. Your home is full of them.
How You Can Help
Use toys that your kids use to build fun, math activities without being too didactic.
- Lego Math. Break out the Legos and build stuff without even mentioning math. Casually ask if your child can hand you “three green” blocks. Revise your question, “Sorry, I don’t need one of those.” Your child will hand you 2, having subtracted 1 from 3.
- Zoob Math. Grab Zoobs and create the longest string possible from your set, asking your child to attach them in “groups of ten”. Every time your child attaches the latest set, return to the beginning and recite, “Ten, twenty, thirty,” and so on.
- Magnetix Math. Teach your child to build a simple pyramid by starting with a square base. Add triangles on all four sides that join at the top point. Review the design verbally, identifying the individual shapes that added up to the whole.
For more information, please see the full article at:
http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Kindergarten_math/
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