Math Games and Manipulatives from Our Readers

We are always happy to receive the neat submissions you send to us here at ABC & 123.  We typically wait to feature them until we have several that fit a specific theme or unit of study, but we do visit all of the links you send and look forward to spreading the word about your fun work! Here are a few neat math ideas we have been holding on to for awhile!

Makie Do headed outside to find materials for a hands on introduction to simple fractions.  

Roots and Wings Co.  has the most adorable bushel of apples manipulatives to use for patterning, counting, and more.  Do you think we could convince "Mom" to make more crochet apples for all of us? (smiles!)

A Mommy's Adventure reminds us that Roll N' Color pages are an entertaining way to practice many math concepts: counting, number recognition, one to one correspondence, fact memorization, and more.

chicken babies puts packing material to good use by making a snappy game out of learning simple computation.

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Summer Treasures Repurposed: Stones

As I mentioned before, our family loves to collect treasures from nature all summer long.  This time of year this momma is anxious to make use of these treasures or make them disappear.  Here are some examples of things we found to do using the kids' colorful stone and pebble collections:

Choose 52 of the stones to use in starting a family traditions.  At the end of each week discuss your favorite moments of the week as a family.  Write a key word or two on the stone to sum up the conversation.  Add the week's stone to a mason jar that you display in your home - "standing stone" collection of all the everyday memories of the year. 

One Pretty Thing put together a sweet heart of beach glass, but it could also be done with stones.

Create pet rocks.  Use the pet rocks as characters in your own creative stories.

Sort the stones by size or color.  Create graphs using the stones as place markers.

Replace the store bought unnaturally neon colored pebbles with lovely fresh water stones.

Using tile grout, a bowling ball, and a beautiful stone collection create a garden art gazing globe.

Cover a wooden bird house with a thin layer of cement decorated gingerbread style with favorite stones.

Paint a pile of stones to use as math manipulatives throughout the school year.

{Frog Math with painted pebbles}

Doodle on your plain stones with a Sharpie marker, like The Art of Being Creative, to make a simple reminder of beach days past.

Put together a holiday gift of Message Stones, like these from MomReady.

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Play to Learn: B. Toys {Pop Arty}

Our youngest son participates in weekly physical therapy lessons in our home.  His therapist and I are always on the look out for new materials to give him many options for being engaged, for using different muscle groups, and for stimulating new learning.  It takes a special toy to draw him in and keep him actively involved while the physical work gets tricky.  Several of our family favorites happen to be B. Toys: Meowsic,  Bazillion Buckets, Whacky Ball, and more! 

B. Toys are often recognized for their unexpected colors, their Earth conscious (and pre-gift wrapped) packaging, and their commitment to inspiring individuality in children.

 The Disney 2010 Family Fun Toy of the Year (T.O.Y.) Award Winner, Pop Arty, is intended for children ages 4-10 but quickly draws the attention of all six in our family!  Since we have enjoyed it so much I thought it would B. Fun to share with you a few of the ways we sneak learning into our Pop Arty play sessions!

 B. Precise

Use the beads to put together chains of several different lengths.  Organize them by size.  Measure them with a ruler or a non-standard measurement tool to master the concept of measurement.

 B.Observant

Sort the large pile of Pop Arty beads into all kinds of groups. Record observations.  Practice bar graphing to show how many beads are in each group.

 B. Inventive

Our children love to use their imaginations to create with Pop Arty.  In the picture above our daughter has put together a Pop Arty family.  Use your own imagination, and a few beads, to create an incentive for your child.  Perhaps add a bead to the bracelet for each random act of kindness shown by your child during a day, for every center activity they complete, for each chore completed with a positive attitude, etc.

 B. Perceptive

 B. Serious

Popping these together is pretty effective practice for these pretty little fingers.

 B. Creative

Design and assemble jewelry of all types, colors, and sizes.  After my daughter makes a pile of unique jewelry designs we play store and she sells them to me for her set prices and we talk about paying and making change.

The Play to Learn opportunities with this toy are seemingly endless, 

as they are with many of the other toys from B. Toys. 

Disclosure:  Thank you to B.Toys for sending Pop Arty, at our request, for the purpose of putting together this post to share our families authentic experiences with their quality toys.  Please note that the age appropriate level for this particular toy as stated by B. Toys is ages 4-10. I wanted to make this clear as some of the activities I have mentioned here may seem to suggest they are appropriate for younger children.

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