Some of my favorite manipulatives are offered by Scholastic! If you make online orders through Scholastic these babies are only about $7-$9 per set (which includes everything you need). Scholastic offers math Add ‘Em Up packages that are wonderful for independent math play.
Scholastic offers these kits at an affordable cost and the counters come in multiple colors, usually 5 or 6 of each color. The counting cards include a patterning side and an addition side. I currently own 10 of these kits and I rotate them out. . .one for each month of the school year! Some of the Scholastic counters include: apples, bears, cats, cupcakes, dogs (pictured below), hippos (pictured above), and pumpkins.
You can use math manipulatives in every area of your classroom. In art, you can count pom-poms, jumbo buttons, and jumbo beads. In math, you can use magnetic counters on boards, unifix cubes on a ten frames sheet, or even pegs on a peg board. In science, you can even count plastic bugs! Be sure to include math manipulatives that are different sizes, shapes, and colors to reinforce color recognition, shapes, and distinction between small, medium, and large.
One helpful tip when setting up your math manipulative shelf is to LABEL, LABEL, LABEL! Make sure each set of counters has its own bin (these are from the Dollar Tree and are by far one of my favorite bins for small counters) with a clear label for children to see. It’s easier clean up time, if you label the bin and put the same label on the shelf where the manipulative will go. Remember, every item needs a home so avoid mixing counters and small math toys.
Math counters are wonderful tools to enhance the understanding of patterning, color sorting, size sorting, and shapes.
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