Ideas for Kindergarten manipulatives

[Anonymous]

I have a rising kindergartener - I'm prepping some things in the house to get ready for DL. Are there manipulatives that K teachers would recommend for me to get in advance that we could use when he's not on Zoom classes? Thanks...

[Anonymous]

Our PTA had us purchase math manipulative as part of the school supply kit. They are something like this. https://www.bookshark.com/level-a/math/kindergarten-saxon-math-package

But it was a LOT cheaper. They bought in bulk. I am sure you can find something cheaper online somewhere.

[Anonymous]

Target has tons of flash cards, workbooks, manipulatives

[Anonymous]

Unifix cubes were big in K and first for my kids.

[Anonymous]

Unifix cubes, geoboards, counters (can even be mini erasers,) pattern blocks, money (real or plastic,) a telling time learning clock. I've seen a lot of these on Amazon and Target dollar spot.

[Anonymous]

I cut up colored paper for math. We also use toy dinosaurs and beads.

[Anonymous]

My retired teacher relative sent a bunch of her old classroom stuff here last spring for my kindergartner to use. She sent snap cubes, unifix cubes, dominos, wooden pattern blocks, dice, a spinner, little plastic dinos, play money, and sentence strips that she made (Google it if you want to make your own -- it's easy). She sent instructions/ideas for how to use each of them. My son liked "mommy school" (activities using the stuff she sent) better than what his school had him doing (lots of Google Classroom worksheets and online programs). I wish I had more time to do this stuff with him. It is old school (literally) and I think it's better than a lot of what he was getting at his school even before COVID. We already had a plastic learning clock. A dry erase board with lines for writing was used heavily, as was the large paper that has space for a picture with lines for writing beneath it.

[Anonymous]

magnatiles are the best

[Anonymous]

If you can share with friends or siblings, the website at Lakeshore is a valuable resource and worth the investment. Don't go for cutesy, look for interesting.

[Anonymous]

Thank you all - these are all such helpful ideas!

[Anonymous]

NP also with a rising kindergartner. Thank you so much, PP above. Lots of great ideas here.

[Anonymous]

I made a 10 frame from an egg carton and used our existing legos.

[Anonymous]

You can do everything you need for kindergarten math with play money, tangram pieces, base 10 blocks (skip the magnets, some kids can visualize with them, most kids do better being able to hold and move the cubes), a ruler, and a learning clock. Spinners (if you need them) are easy to make with one brad, an index card or small piece of tag board (lego and cereal boxes work wonderfully) and a piece of paper or box (box is better). Some people like to use dice too, but they’re not necessary. For some kids (especially perfectionists who are afraid of mistakes at first!), I use number and symbol magnets, gradually weaning away.

Count to 100 (Rote, hundred chart)
Count to 120 (100, 101 and 110, 111 are hard for some kindergarteners; base 10 and rote)
Count from given number (rote, hundred chart)
Add/subtract within 10 (Base 10, money, tangrams, ruler, hundred chart)
Pattern (repeating and growing; base 10, money, tangram)
Classify and compose 2d shapes (tangram)
Classify 3D shapes (Objects around the house)
Counting 1-1 (Base 10, tangram, money)
Write numbers for group of 0-20 objects in standard array (square, Rectangle, circle, line; base 10, tangram, money)
Write numbers for groups of 0-10 objects in random array (Base 10, tangram, money)
Beginning measurements (Base 10, tangram, money for measuring with reference to another object; ruler for standard and metric measurement)
Beginning graphs (Base 10, tangram and money for beginning pictographs and data sets, clock and ruler for data set)
Comparing numbers (Ruler, base 10, hundred chart)
Comparing groups (Base 10, tangram, money)
Comparing size (Cans, boxes, produce)
Comparing length (cans, boxes, produce)
Ordering numbers (Ruler, hundred chart)
Ordinal numbers (tangram, money)
Fill in middle number (ruler, hundred chart)
Counting by 5 and 10 (hundred chart)
Identify money (Money)
Identify ½, 1/3, ¼ (draw pictures)
Identify equal parts (Draw pictures)
Beginning place value (Up to 20, 100 if catching on easily; hundred chart, base 10, ten frame on paper)
Beginning time (hour, maybe half hour; clock)

For kindergarten science, I use a clock, measuring cups, measuring spoons, a ruler, objects around the house (balloon and/or ball pump when doing states of matter), thermometer, mason jars, etc. We get one packet of seeds to do life cycle of a plant and learn the parts of plants (dirt from the yard is free, and using the aforementioned mason jars to see the roots). Although we go “chase” butterflies while doing the butterfly lifecycle, we do NOT hatch and release butterflies, nor do we use nets and pins on wild ones. A basic wall calendar is our record of weather for the day (symbol drawn by a child of sun, cloud, snowflake, rain drop or curved wind lines) and temperature (circle colored red for hot, white for mid temps, blue for cold). We use stuffed animals (that look somewhat real) and pictures of plants when classifying plant vs animal. We use everyday objects when discussing pushes and pulls as forces. There’s a number of other things we do, most of which aren’t required per state standards, and we use household items, pictures or discussion. We get ingredients as needed for science experiments, but most are already available (food coloring and celery, marker and coffee filter, etc).

Social studies for kindergarten uses pictures, coloring pages and discussion.

I use letter magnets constantly for spelling, phonics, sight words and vocabulary. I use punctuation magnets for beginning grammar (capitalize, space the words, punctuate the end). Reading sometimes involves an index card or ruler to keep their eyes on the right line.

Every single thing I listed above can be used for YEARS (except the seeds and some things for science experiments).

We use magnetic white boards (lap size) and dry erase crayons and colored pencils constantly (dry erase markers less frequently, due to odor). Pencils, paper, crayons and colored pencils are frequent, markers much less so (we save them for art and craft time on their time). Each child has a clipboard for loose papers, a folder for the day’s completed work, and a binder for the full week’s loose assignments. Each child has at least two index card boxes: one for vocabulary and mnemonics for social studies, science, math, music, and art; the other one is for vocabulary and spelling (beginning readers also have phonics blends and sight words). Each child has a shelf in the bookcase with their weekly folder, index card boxes, a binder for each subject’s completed work for the year (loose papers), all textbooks (if there are any), any books currently assigned from the home library (no library books, they stay on the library shelf), their notebooks (subjects vary by grade and learning style), and their workbooks (handwriting, writing and journal). My shelf has a binder with my ideas for months later and lists of things I need to buy or find, another binder has the next 1-3 weeks of loose papers for each child, and the third binder has attendance records, pe records, grade book (duplicate on my computer), home ec records, social/emotional growth notes, notes on oral/verbal work (duplicated as appropriate in each child’s subject binder) and keyboarding progress. There’s a fourth binder with a list of state standards for each subject, with my notes on additional things to include, and I date them as each child meets or exceeds the standard. On my computer, in folders for the school year and separated for each child and subject, I keep samples of: music recordings, pictures of art, pe videos, videos of oral tests and oral projects, videos of science experiments, pictures of home ec projects/first time completing tasks on their own to sufficient standards, etc.

I know it seems simplistic in some ways (very few manipulatives) and overkill in others (record keeping). As long as they show progress in a subject, I don’t care if each standard takes a day or a month (never has, but it might), and I document how long they take for each. I can put my hands on everything they’ve done, in chronological order for the year, and my attendance, grade book and notes are all together.

[Anonymous]

We picked up some packs of mini erasers from the Target dollar spot to use as counters for 10 frames or other math activities that need counters.

Last year we also used playing cards quite often. You could also make your own out of paper but it was nice to have a set of playing cards available.

Dice are also good to have on hand.

[Anonymous]

Spielgaben is super pricey, but looks amazingly cool: https://spielgaben.com/

There are some ways to replicate it on the cheap. Never tried it out, unfortunately. I am disorganized and have multiple children, and know the pieces would just explode everywhere.