Math Center Materials

Rebecca Gober
Waffle Blocks
 Little Tikes Waffle Blocks 100 pc bag
◦ Target – $19.99
 Used in Measurement center
◦ Measured heights
 The children already
love building with them so they had fun
measuring with them
◦ Asked to measure more items
 Reinforced measurement skills and
counting skills
Waffle Blocks
 Center Notes
◦ I asked children what things around the room we could measure the carpet with
◦ Children decided to line chairs up first to measure the carpet
◦ children counted the chairs and said “the carpet is __ chairs long”
◦ Children were playing in groups of four
◦ I asked them to find other things around the classroom that we could measure with
◦ Children decided to use blocks to measure the length of the carpet
◦ Children counted the blocks and said “the carpet is __ blocks long”
◦ blocks were not all the same size so the measurement was not accurate
◦ I asked children what other things we could measure in the classroom
◦ Children wanted to measure the height of other children
◦ children decided to use waffle blocks to measure height of children because they connect
◦ I asked children how we could go about measuring height
◦ Children said we could stand the waffle blocks up behind the child
◦ Children tried that but waffle blocks fell apart easily
◦ Children decided to have the person being measured to lay on the floor
◦ children lined waffle blocks from head to foot
◦ children counted waffle blocks and said “_____is __ waffle blocks tall”
Pegs and Hammer
 Lakeshore Beginners Hammering Kit
◦ Amazon – $29.99
 Used in Early Algebra center
◦ Hammering pegs in pumpkin
◦ Counting pegs
 The children enjoyed hammering
◦ Asked to make patterns with pegs
 Reinforced counting skills and pattern
skills
Pegs and Hammer
 Class Notes
◦ On the topic of pumpkins
◦ Cut open the top of a pumpkin and gutted it
◦ Children hammered pegs into pumpkin to make holes to see candle flicker inside
◦ I asked children to try to make patterns in the pumpkins using the different colored
pegs
◦ Some of the children did not understand what a pattern was
◦ I had to help them to try to understand
◦ I asked children to count the pegs that they used
◦ Most children were able to count all of the pegs (under the number 10)
◦ I asked children to count number of holes they poked in the pumpkins
◦ Used fingers to point to holes while counting
◦ Most children got confused when counting past 20 (skipped numbers, wrong order)
◦ I asked children to try to make shapes in the pumpkin using the pegs
◦ Most children made “abstract” shapes
Connector Cubes
 School Specialty Interlocking Centimeter
Cubes – 1000 pc
◦ Walmart – $16.07
 Used in Data Analysis center
◦ Cubes were used to “vote”
on favorite toys
◦ Made “graphs” by connecting cubes
 The children enjoyed voting on favorites
◦ Asked other students about opinions
 Reinforced counting skills
Connector Cubes
 Class Notes
◦ playing in groups of 6 children
◦ Children played with connector cubes, my little ponies, dinosaurs, and dress up clothes
◦ Children were first just playing with connector cubes
◦ children were connecting the cubes and making towers with them
◦ I asked the children to sort the cubes by color and tell me which color is their favorite
◦ I added ponies and dinosaurs to the math center
◦ children were playing with ponies and dinosaurs as make believe
◦ I asked the children which they each preferred (ponies or dinosaurs)
◦ the girls chose ponies and the boys chose dinosaurs
◦ I set up one pony and one dinosaur
◦ I asked each child to place one connector cube in front of which toy he or she liked better
◦ children piled cubes in front of each toy
◦ I asked them to create a line in front of each toy so we could see the difference in votes
◦ children were excited to find out which toy had the most votes
◦ I added dress up to the center after ponies and dinosaurs
◦ children started dressing up and playing make believe
◦ I asked the children which job they wanted to have when they grew up
◦ I set aside 4 “job hats”
◦ I asked the children to vote the same way as the previous toys using the connector blocks
◦ the children picked their job based off of the color of the hat
◦ children were excited to see which hat would win with the most votes
Number Puzzle
 Match It! Counting Puzzle Game
◦ Michael’s – $5.00
 Used in Number Sense
center
◦ I gave child a number piece and she had to
find the picture piece
 The children struggled identifying
numbers but easily counted pictures
◦ Asked to count different things in classroom
 Reinforced number sense and counting
Number Puzzle
 Class Notes
◦ Children had the choice between number pegs, number puzzles, or number bean bags
◦ the only material shown in the picture is the number puzzles
◦ kids did not show interest in number pegs or number bean bags
◦ Small groups of 3
◦ one child picks a puzzle piece with pictures on it then counts the pictures
◦ had to find matching number to the amount of pictures that kids counted
◦ kids playing with number pegs and bean bags but not in a way to improve number
sense
◦ kids built towers with number pegs and knocked towers down with bean bags
◦ seemed to benefit more from number puzzle
◦ actually matching the thought of a number to what the number actually looks like
◦ had some trouble identifying number
◦ did not have trouble counting the pictures
Floam
 Monkey Foam – 5 Giant Blocks
◦ Walmart – $17.99
 Used in Geometry Center
◦ Created shapes
 The children don’t play with floam usually,
so they loved it
◦ Asked to make animals and other objects
 Reinforced geometry skills
Floam
 Class Notes
◦ Children had the choice between foam and colored tangrams
◦ Children were playing in small groups of two so they were able to take turns with the
foam
◦ I allowed the children to play with the materials freely at first
◦ Children tried to roll foam into balls and into little ropes
◦ children tried to create bigger shapes with the tangrams
◦ I asked the child playing with foam what she was making and she said a ball
◦ After children played freely I tried to get them to use them in order to enhance
geometry sense
◦ asked child playing with foam to make a circle and a square
◦ she made a ball when I asked her to make a circle
◦ she had trouble making a square and asked me to help
◦ both children played with tangrams
◦ after children played freely I asked them to sort the shapes based on color and similar
shape
◦ after sorting I asked the children the names of the shapes
◦ they knew diamond, square, and triangle
◦ tangrams shapes are more advanced (most preK do not know advanced shapes yet)