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I am so so excited! I will be hosting a give-away with Mother Goose Time! This give-away is for the manipulatives that come in the Mother Goose Time Curriculum every month. These small toys are very important in the use of the curriculum of the children. They help children with the abstract concepts that are introduced throughout the lessons of the month. The manipulatives are very often related to the theme of the month. The children love them and the way I have the classroom set up they have access to the new manipulatives all month. They take advantage of this to the fullest and are drawn to using them constantly. We use them for counting. Not just from 1-10 but counting backwards, and introducing counting by 5's. Or using them to teach how to tally. Another way we use them is learn to group them by shape, size and color. Last month we had pig manipulatives that were the same size and it was hard to tell the difference in the sizes of the pigs. But it actually worked out better than I thought. The children paid closer attention to the manipulatives in order to figure out which pigs were the mommy pigs and which were the baby pigs. They also used them in their pretend play. They would build farms and use them when they played vets. I also had someone play cooking and fry a pig. That was a bit weird...and scary. But it was imagination time! So, fried pigs was good I guess. :/ At least they know where ham comes from. This month we got lacing blocks for them to practice their fine motor skills and pattern building. There are three colors with the lacing blocks red, yellow and blue. I tied the end of the laces and the children added the blocks in whatever pattern they wanted to make. This allows them to put to use the different types of patterns we have been learning during the school year. It has been very fun watching them whisper "AABB" as they build their patterns on their laces. Manipulatives may seem like simple counting toys. But in the hands of a child they can become so much more and open so many doors in their brains. A single blog post is not enough to fully explain how awesome simple small toys can be in an early childhood classroom. So in order to help you use the manipulatives I am hosting a give-away thanks to Mother Goose Time! Click below to enter! The contest ends on the 20th of Feb! Good Luck! 
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