Acropeople
I don’t know what these manipulatives are actually called so I am calling them “Acropeople.” I saw these while visiting a student at her center, and the children were so excited to play with them, I thought they were worth exploring.
The Acropeople come in 3 sizes – small, medium and large. They come in 4 colors – green, blue, red, and yellow. Their hands and feet are designed to snap together so children can create long links, but they are also designed to move backward and forward (like a hinge) so children can also build shapes out of them.
I have written about enough manipulatives over the past year that provide the same opportunities for sorting, counting, patterning, measuring, etc., that I don’t need to explain all of those qualities here – but the added attribute of flexibility is a real benefit to this set. They are playful as well.