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Home » Blog » Math » Setup & Routines » Best Math Manipulatives and Tools for the Elementary Classroom

Best Math Manipulatives and Tools for the Elementary Classroom

Math, Setup & Routines

Written by: Katie Palmer
 
This list of time saving and student engaging math manipulatives and tools was put together to make your math teaching life easier!

Teachers love making things easier for each other! This list of time saving and student engaging math manipulatives and tools was put together to make your math teaching life easier!

This post contains affiliate links. If you click and purchase, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

1. Large Dice

large dice to use during math lessons in elementary school

Using large dice in the classroom catches students' attention and are the perfect size for demonstration.  Any time you can bring something unique to the classroom, students are captivated.  That's what it's all about, right?  You can grab these large dice by clicking the image below!

2. Variety of Dice

multiple types of dice for math instruction in the elementary classroom

Dice are such a GREAT instructional tool.  They are easy to store, don't take up much space, affordable, and come in a variety of different sizes and materials! 

The biggest hero of math stations: foam dice! They are quiet and don't bounce all over the place.  Some other top teacher favorite dice types are place value, dot, digit, multi-sided, and blank dice.  Dice are great for making up a game on the go as well as an easy way to differentiate an activity with very little prep. 

Click on the images below to shop on Amazon.

Foam Dice

Place Value Dice

Dot Dice

Digit Dice

Multi-Sided Dice

Blank Dice

Bonus tip: Use small, affordable, plastic containers for your students' dice.  Why?  This helps with keeping the dice from rolling all over the floor or across the room. Even better – use FREE reusable containers like the one pictured below for all those easy-to-scatter manipulatives!

free reusable containers for getting math manipulatives organized in the elementary classroom

These lunch containers are durable and free and easy to wash out to use over and over! They can be used for paint, tissue paper squares, coins, pattern blocks, counters, and more! 

I've even found them to be useful for interactive notebook activities!  Place your students' glue sticks, scissors, and pencils in each container.  The student carries their dish to their working spot.  Then they place their scrap paper in the dish while they are cutting out their pieces.  When they are finished, they dump their dish of scraps into the garbage.  Voila!  No more classroom floor peppered with paper scraps!

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3. Magnet Spinners

magnet spinners to use for math instruction in elementary

Even if you have a strong collection of math manipulatives, here's one idea you may want to add to the toolbox! Do you use spinners in your classroom?  These magnetic spinners work great to capture your students' attention and can be used for a variety of reasons!  Simply draw a pie shaped display on a marker board, set the spinner in the middle, and spin away!  Example concepts to use these with:numbers, fractions, coins, math problems, shapes, names, and the list goes on and on! 

4. Lucky Little Toolkit

The Lucky Little Toolkit includes ALL the tools students will need for math! AND they are printable! (So no shopping needed!)

Imagine students having every math manipulative they need at their fingertips!

Read more about the toolkit here: Lucky Little Toolkit, Lifesaver!

I hope these ideas for math manipulatives and tools help your math blog run smoothly! Happy Teaching!

best math tools for the elementary classroom

2 Comments

  1. C Hath

    This scope was AMAZING!! So many great ideas again friend! Thank you for sharing your brilliant ideas with us!!

    Mrs. 3rd Grade 

    Reply

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