Finding the right math manipulatives for back to school can make all the difference when you’re setting up your classroom for the new year.
The first few weeks of school are all about building routines, and hands-on tools help students settle into math time with confidence right from day one.
Whether you’re stocking a classroom or looking for K-2 math tools to use at home, these are the math manipulatives for back to school that I reached for again and again.
Best Math Manipulatives for Back to School
Here are my top 3 must have math manipulatives that I used to help my students excel in math.
My school purchased many of these for our students, but I ended up purchasing extra sets so I’d have enough for all of my students to use hands-on, every day.
I loved using place value dice to help students understand the concept of place value.
Students could easily visualize the numbers when learning numbers, especially expanded form.
Rolling the dice made building numbers feel like a game instead of a worksheet, which was perfect for those first few weeks when I was still working on getting students excited about math.
These dice were helpful when building numbers and reading numbers aloud.
I found they worked well during whole group instruction and in small group centers, so they earned their spot as one of the first tools I pulled out each year.
Place value dice go well with fun games and activities.
Having a great set of counters will be helpful during the entire school year.
These are great for teaching many different standards, and I found new uses for them well beyond September.
Some students might need to use counters to visualize the numbers when identifying odd or even.
While using this mystery word task card activity, students might need to line up the counters to see if each counter has a partner.
I also loved using two-sided counters for partner games.
Two-sided counters were especially handy for early back to school games since students could quickly see the difference between the two colors without much explanation needed.
Students can pick which color they’d like and you don’t have to go through a huge pile to pick just that one color.
Base ten blocks are essential for teaching place value, addition, and subtraction.
Having student sets are helpful so your students can visualize numbers and understand the value of each digit in a number.
I loved using magnetic base ten blocks for demonstration purposes.
The magnetic base ten blocks I’ve used are larger than the student sets so students can see from far away, which made them a natural fit for whole group lessons at the start of the year when I was still modeling expectations for how to use manipulatives carefully.
Letting students come to the board to move the base ten blocks around is very motivating, and it gave my more hesitant students an easy, low pressure way to get involved early on.
By using these top 3 math manipulatives in your classroom, you’ll be providing your students with hands-on experiences that will help them build a solid foundation for math success right from the start of the year.
Want to Read More About Math Tools?
Pin to Pinterest for Later
