FamilyEducation.com
Print this pageE-Mail this pageSign-up for Newsletters
 
What Works - Ideas From Parents
search detailed ]
Help
Skill Building Tips 

Strengthening Academic Skills at Home
ADVERTISEMENT
Using Manipulatives in Early Math
Contribute Add a Review

Read Reviews Read the 1 Review

The description below was contributed by: A visitor, on Feb 18, 2000 11:52:32AM

4 Star Idea Rating

Appropriate age group(s) or grade(s):
Pre-K to 2nd grade.

Estimated time to complete activity (if applicable):
15-30 minutes a day.

Materials needed (if applicable):
blocks
legos
pencils
bottle caps
coins
buttons
dried beans

Instructions or description of technique:
1. Everyday objects around your house can become the manipulatives needed to help your child with addition, subtraction and multiplication.

2. Gather blocks, legos, pencils, bottle caps, coins, buttons, dried beans, etc. for your tools.

3. Allow your child to move and arrange the manipulatives, have them physically connect to the categorizing of numbers.

4. Using these manipulatives, ask your child to arrange them in groupings of fives and tens.

5. Create problems for your child to solve: how many groups of fives do you have (e.g., with their hands let them touch 1 group + 3 groups = 4 groups).

6. In subtraction, have them take groups away (e.g., 7 groups ? 2 groups = 5 groups).

7. In multiplication, take each group of manipulatives times the number of groups to figure out how many pieces they have (e.g., 3 groups x 5 manipulatives per group = 15 manipulatives).

8. Using fives and tens is an easy cognitive way to learn addition and multiplication of difficult numbers. Introduce the concept of ?unding up?early on; (e.g., when adding 9 + 6 it is easier to round it up to 10 + 5 to arrive at 15; when multiplying 12 x 5, it is easier to take 10 x 5 + 2 x 5 to arrive at 60, your child will memorize the 10? and 2? times tables quicker than the 12? times table).

9. In the grocery store or restaurant, round up the prices to the nearest ten (or dollar) to guess how much the bill will be.

10. Ask your child to set the table for 4 people, each person needing a dish, fork, knife and spoon; how many items will they need (they can count or multiply)?

11. Send them to get you things; ?please get the milk, 2 bowls, cereal and 2 spoons?, how many items is it? With coins, they can learn to multiply the coin amount with the number of coins they have (e.g., one quarter is $.25, how many quarters do you need to make $1.00?).

Email  Email this Description Print  Print this Description


Read Read the 1 review of "Using Manipulatives in Early Math"

 

math in daily living
Article
When Parents Lose a Job: Talking to Kids About Layoffs
Expert Advice
Father's foul language
All Related Links
Send us feedback!
Newsletter sign-up

Editors Choice Award Winners New Addition