Homemade Manipulatives

Here are some household items you can use to make manipulatives. I bought most of them from Daiso for 7 Qatari Riyals each (around $2).

Non-skid mats. They're long so I cut them into three. These are good working mats for manipulatives with marbles or plastic counters so they won't roll or bounce off the table.

I found this 'fruits and nuts' tray at Al-Rawnaq in Doha for 12 Qatari Riyals. I had extra craft foam from my Constructive Triangles
so I cut them into shapes in the primary (red, blue, yellow) and secondary (green, purple, orange) colors.

The children can sort by color....

or by shape.

Now I got these cute plastic hearts from Daiso for 7 Riyals a pack. The long transparent tray also for 7 riyals at Daiso and the plastic squares (I think they're custard or gelatin cups, they come in different sizes and shapes) are from Al-Rawnaq at 20 pieces for 5 Riyals.

This manipulative is great for teaching addition to Kindergarteners but you can always use them as counters or for sorting.

These pompoms (aren't they so bright and colorful?) I also got from Daiso for, you guessed it, 7 Riyals each. I placed them in microwavable plastic containers and painted the bottom with the matching color.

The plastic tray and tongs, I also got from Daiso. This manipulative will target fine motor, cognitive and thinking skills.

I also found colorful marbles at Daiso. I took a bag and placed them in my shopping cart thinking that I will also find a container for them in this big store. And so I found this ice tray. It has a box to keep your ice cubes (or marbles for that matter). I used markers to color the sticker dots so the children will have some sort of a guide.

Scooping and color matching. (the scoop is part of a plastic measuring spoon set)

And only one marble can fit into the scoop, so the children will have to scoop them one by one.

I enjoyed shopping for these items as much as I enjoyed putting them together. Special thanks to Handsome Hubby for helping me carry those big shopping bags.