Cuisenaire® Rods
There are few manipulatives out there that are as interesting and beautiful as a wooden set of Cuisenaire® Rods. Developed 75 years ago by Belgian teacher Georges Cuisenaire these “rods” come in beautiful colors in varying lengths.
The units are color-coded which provides additional visual cues for children. If you look carefully at the above photo, you can see that the units of 1 are white and the units of 2 are red, units 3 are green and so on. When using them with children, you can refer to the lengths by their unit number as well as their color.
Unlike Unifix cubes, traditional Cuisenaire ® Rods do not attach to one another (although there are sets that do attach). This provides a different set of possibilities for children as their uses may be less obvious and may require a bit more ingenuity.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the “trading game” that is played with the family bear counters. Well, a more developed “trading game” can be played with the rods since each of the rods has a specific value. White is worth 1 and red is worth 2 and green is worth 3. In order to get a green rod, children must trade 3 whites, or 1 white and 1 red. Give this a try and tell us what you think.
Hi, I have used Cuisenaire rods to introduce math concepts with children for years. Recently I developed a Cuisenaire Rod app that is freely available from my site if anyone is interested.
Hi Phil,
Will you post the name and where readers can get it? Thanks,
Jen
Sorry Jen. The app is available on http://www.helpyourchildsucceed.com You don\’t need to purchase the program as its a stand alone resource that I use to help create most of the video tutorials.
Thank you for the app link! I would like to find more ways to use cuisinaire rods. The trading game is a simple idea, too!
No problem Jessica I hope you find it useful. I have created a program for Cuisenaire Rods. It covers Kindergarten to Grade 2/3 It is also useful as a \’catch up program for teachers and adults. It\’s called Child\’s Play Maths and Part one is now supported by 29 tutorial videos.
If you like I can send you a pdf copy of the program. All I ask is that if you find it a helpful resource you spread the word.
Thanks,
I would love the program too – thank you very much in advance.