Yesterday I shared how I was letting my hair down this year in our homeschool year with the math manipulative activities. I was telling you how much I loved teaching math with concrete objects.
Picking out which set of math manipulatives is FUN for the children. I love to use items from the dollar store or seasonal candy, too.
If you are just starting out homeschooling, it would be kinda crazy to spend all your homeschool budget on math manipulatives. Yes, they are so very pretty, but you can build up your collection in time.
Have you thought about making your own math manipulatives for your children?
My children adore making their own math manipulatives and we store them in baggies. We put all the math manipulatives in our white bin.
A List of FREE manipulatives to teach math
- MathCats – has many FUN ideas
- Skip Counting Charts
- Math Manipulative for Upper Elementary – geoboard, tangram, base tens and more
- Printable Fraction Manipulatives
- Manipulatives – clock, money, fraction strips and more FUN stuff
A Big List of Math Manipulatives around your Home
- Hot wheels
- Legos
- Erasers (buy at dollar store)
- buttons
- candy
- marshmallows
- Shells
- Old clock from a yard sale
- Marbles
- Beans – I like lima beans because they are bigger
- Measuring Cups – we got them at the dollar store and they are just used for FUN
- Real money
- cotton balls
- pretzels
- toothpicks
- paper plates to teach fractions
- crayons
The list could go on forever, so be creative. Your children will truly understand why 1+1=2 with concrete objects. It might take a bit longer to teach with concrete objects, but it will be so worth in the long run, especially in upper level maths.
Need to know where to find FREE math worksheets?
Also, be sure to check out how to make your own math sheets with the list of math generators.
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