Using Manipulatives in Early Childhood Classrooms

Young children learn through hands-on experiences.  Providing children with a variety of  objects to actively learn is integral to development.  When setting up a classroom, teachers should consider the variety of early childhood educational supplies available.  Setting up different themed areas in the classroom, or “centers”, is an approach many schools have found successful - having tactile objects, or manipulatives, at each center.  Manipulatives are particularly useful when teaching new concepts, especially in math.  While they are more commonly used for younger children, students of every age benefit from manipulatives. 

•  When introducing a new concept such as counting, a teacher might hand a student a bag of colored buttons. The child can count all of the buttons or sort and count them by color.  Peg board manipulatives allow children to start graphing and patterning. This hands-on learning will enhance the child’s understanding of the concept.

•  Other early childhood educational supplies important for learning are building objects.  These manipulatives come in all sorts of colors and connectors.  When building with blocks, a child quickly learns about balance, weight, gravity and stability -basic concepts in science.  Math skills are taught through block measurement, volume, symmetry and shape placement. Learning to cooperate is key when children are building together, this helps in social development, self-esteem and life skills.

•  Combining creativity and learning in the classroom is essential and fun for both students and teachers. There are many art manipulatives for early childhood development.  Lacing cards, boards and shapes work on fine motor skills while white boards, magnetic shapes and letters facilitate writing, designing, shape sorting and letter recognition.

Using manipulatives enhances learning in many ways whether it’s learning to read or count to 50. Integrating manipulatives into the classroom with other early childhood educational supplies will offer children a wonderful hands-on learning experience.