Manipulatives in the primary classroom
Take some ... cubes
Chairs and tables
Make a chair and table out of interlocking cubes, making sure that the chair fits under the table!
Even and odd
This activity is best done with a whole class or in a large group. Can you match the cards? What happens when you add pairs of the numbers together?
Three block towers
Take three differently coloured blocks - maybe red, yellow and blue. Make a tower using one of each colour. How many different towers can you make?
Making sticks
Kimie and Sebastian were making sticks from interlocking cubes and lining them up. Can they make their lines the same length? Can they make any other lines?
Numbers as shapes
Building with cubes
Up and down staircases
One block is needed to make an up-and-down staircase, with one step up and one step down. How many blocks would be needed to build an up-and-down staircase with 5 steps up and 5 steps down?
Brush loads
How can you arrange the 5 cubes so that you need the smallest number of Brush Loads of paint to cover them? Try with other numbers of cubes as well.
Cubes here and there
Picture a pyramid
Imagine a pyramid which is built in square layers of small cubes. If we number the cubes from the top, starting with 1, can you picture which cubes are directly below this first cube?