soft blocks – Early Math Counts https://earlymathcounts.org Laying the foundation for a lifetime of achievement Tue, 11 Jul 2017 15:47:22 +0000 en-US hourly 1 183791774 More Awesome Soft Building Things for Your Programs https://earlymathcounts.org/more-awesome-soft-building-things-for-your-programs/ https://earlymathcounts.org/more-awesome-soft-building-things-for-your-programs/#respond Wed, 18 May 2016 11:43:17 +0000 http://www.mathathome.org/blog1/?p=3676 By now, everyone knows I love dominoes.  I have blogged about them here and here and they have come up in several other posts about classroom manipulatives.  Last week, one of our readers, Ivan (Thank you Ivan) was perusing the blog and landed on my post about the Really BIG Dominoes from the Chicago Children’s Museum. He connected me with the website where we can order the big, soft dominoes and loads of other really cool, big and soft materials designed for young children.

You can find them here. http://www.safespaceconcepts.com/

Take a look at the page called “Tools for Discovery” and explore the wonderful materials they have that support early math learning.  I love the huge Tic-Tac-Toe board

TicTacToe

and the cooperative arch building set.

KeystoneArch6

Tic-Tac-Toe is a game that even very young children can begin playing.  They practice taking turns, recognizing the symbols X and O, and exploring spatial relations.  Unlike older children, Tic-Tac-Toe often ends with a winner, rather than a cat’s game, but that is OK.  In order to really master Tic-Tac-Toe children have to be able to see more than one aspect of the game at once, which is nearly impossible for young children to do. It is actually much more fun to play it with young children and observe how committed they are to completing a row of Xs or Os.

The arch building set requires a certain amount of cooperation between children, which in and of itself, is difficult.  This kind of arch is especially tricky because it demands an understanding of the “keystone concept.”  I bet you know a lot of adults who don’t understand this concept.  Anyway, I think this set will provide a lot of satisfying play in a classroom.  The  blocks are numbered which provides extra clues to how to assemble the arch.  You may find that the children can build it successfully horizontally before they figure out how to get it together vertically.

Take a minute to check out these cool products and so much more.  I am afraid to look at the prices so I am recommending these products even though I don’t know how much they cost.  I didn’t want the cost to get in the way of my delight with the products.

]]>
https://earlymathcounts.org/more-awesome-soft-building-things-for-your-programs/feed/ 0 3676
The Best Baby Manipulatives- Soft Blocks https://earlymathcounts.org/the-best-baby-manipulatives-soft-blocks/ https://earlymathcounts.org/the-best-baby-manipulatives-soft-blocks/#respond Mon, 10 Mar 2014 11:00:35 +0000 http://www.mathathome.org/blog1/?p=1016 I really like soft blocks for infants and toddlers.  Often, these are designed so they fit directly into the small hands of the youngest children.  They can get them into their palms and then directly into their mouths for easy exploration.  The ones below are also made in a safe plastic, so they can be easily washed either by hand or in the dishwasher.

These can be piled up, lined up, knocked over, and thrown about.  They are created so that providers and parents can label them and encourage language, especially mathematical language.  Using words like “blocks” and “squares” encourages spatial thinking language.  Using color words encourages categorizing.  Using words like “more” and “less” and “1, 2, and 3” encourages number and quantity.  These blocks are a great infant manipulative.

]]>
https://earlymathcounts.org/the-best-baby-manipulatives-soft-blocks/feed/ 0 1016