A Secret Weapon in Mastering Maths
What do you do with Mathlink Cubes?
We have lots of conversations about Mathlink Cubes in our shops. When parents see them, they often remember them from their own childhood but forget exactly what they were used for.
Mathlinks Cubes are used for a wide range of maths activities; counting, 3D shapes, times tables, fractions, graphing. They are one of the most flexible maths tools and are used to help children understand many basic concepts. You can break them into single units to use them as counters, snap them into sets or thread them onto a lace to create patterns. They also have a great tactile appeal so the memory of handling the cubes lasts longer than specifics of the lesson.
We love the way Mathlink cubes can be used to make maths visual and concrete, if you have a child who needs more confidence with numbers, this is a must-have hands-on resource. There are hundreds of activities and work sheets available on line to give you ideas of how you can use them at home but we’ll start you off with some of our favourites:
Race To The Top
Skills: Counting/Addition
Required: Mathlink Cubes & Dice
Players race against each other to be the first to complete a tower of 20 Mathlink Cubes. Players take turns rolling the die and adding that number of cubes to their tower. The first player with 20 cubes is the winner.
Snap To It
Skills: Subtraction
Required: Mathlink Cubes
Each player makes a stick of 10 Mathlink Cubes. On the signal “Snap” the children put the sticks behind their backs and break them into two parts. Players take turns to display one of the sticks while keeping the second piece out of sight. The first player to shout out the correct number of cubes missing from the stick wins.
Skip Counting
Skills: Times Tables
Required: Mathlink Cubes
Have the players race to see who can make up the most sticks of 5 cubes in a minute. When the minute is up, put the sets together and count in groups of 5 . Do the same with 2, 3 and 10’s to practice those tables.
Measure Up
Skills: Measuring & Estimating
Required: Mathlink Cubes, Household Articles, Pencil & Paper
Put an everyday object like a book, toothbrush or shoe on the table. Have the players guesstimate the length of the object in Mathlink Cubes and write down their number. Line up the cubes to find the actual number and the player closest.
There’s plenty more resources for Math Link Cubes out there, but if you’re short on time, then check out this box set with everything you needed to get started with these chunky cubes. The Math Link Cubes Activity Set is a great introduction to early maths concepts.
