How to Create Math Toolkits Your Students Will Use Every Day

When I first started my position as a math coach, I went all in on math manipulatives. I knew if I could help our school build math toolkits, we would see such positive impacts on our students’ understanding.

Being very zealous in my new position, I worked to fill those math toolkits with everything our students could possibly need: base-ten blocks, counters, linking cubes, rulers, fraction bars, dice…you name it, our kits had it.

But over the years, I learned (as is the case with everything) less is more.

My goal has always been for our students to use math manipulatives daily. Manipulatives are easily one of the best ways to support productive struggle for all learners. They provide an entry point for students who may be unsure of concepts…and a way for all students to show different models and ways of thinking.

But with math toolkits filled with SO many choices, were our students really utilizing these key tools each day? I wasn’t so sure and knew I wanted to make a change.

So I began to build kits that were more simplified and easy to use. It was a game changer! My students began using their kits routinely during each lesson, which was exactly what I had hoped for.

I’ve learned a lot along the way and wanted to share what has worked so well for us in recent years when it comes to creating math toolkits students will truly use, every day of the school year.

Think Multipurpose Manipulatives

One of the easiest ways to streamline math toolkits is to think multipurpose manipulatives.

These are manipulatives that work for many concepts (and can be kept in the toolkits for a large portion of the school year).

I believe three manipulatives in particular do exactly this:

Base Ten Blocks: I know base ten blocks sound super obvious but they can be used for everything including addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and decimals. And they are always a staple in our math toolkits during those major units.

Place Value Disks: Base ten blocks are key, but place value disks? These are a math manipulative I LOVE and use even more often! I usually move my students from base ten blocks to place value disks for the remainder of the school year.

We use place value disks for all operations, as well as number line work (we build on these interactive math mats a LOT):

As well as rounding concepts, such as rounding to the nearest ten and rounding to the nearest hundred:

Color Tiles: Color tiles are another incredible math tool that can support everything from addition, multiplication, area and perimeter, prime and composite numbers, fractions on a number line, and so much more:

I have a whole article filled with ideas on using color tiles here: How to Use Color Tiles in Math: 20 Photo Ideas.

Knowing these manipulatives can be used for lots of concepts makes it easier to build simplified math toolkits.

In the upper grades, I often start the year with place value disks, such as fifth grade with all the values:

And fourth grade with whole number place value disks:

For younger students in first, second, and third grade I like to start out with base ten blocks, then add in place value disks:

Include Other Daily Tools

I also like to consider the other tools students need each each day. This includes dry erase markers to work on our math mats:

I cannot say enough how awesome these dry erase markers are!

They have a fine tip point which is so helpful for writing out those models and algorithms (I have the link to the markers in the Toolkit List for you at the end of the article)

I also like to include references students will use daily, such as these color-coded hundreds charts for younger students:

And of course our most-used reference, multiples charts:

(in complete honesty, this multiple chart does not fit in the math toolkit shown above, but we have stored them in larger kits before)

You can read more about our multiples charts here: How Multiples Charts Help More Than Multiplication Tables

There’s also a primary version of multiples charts (which DO fit in those small math toolkits!)

I also like to include flashcards in our math toolkits at certain times of the year (more on this in the next section).

We use these triangular flashcards that are self-checking and help students memorize those inverse operations:

I have an addition and subtraction set, as well as a multiplication and division set.

Adding these daily tools brings our kits to a new level of use, as students can take them to their math rotations to work on assignments, activities, and games.

Plan for Longevity

The main goal of a good math toolkit is to create something students will use every day.

But let’s be honest.

We also need to make this work for you…because you have enough going on in your teaching life without the need to rebuild toolkits constantly.

For this reason, I take a close look at major units throughout our year and plan toolkits that will last for months at a time.

For example, our third grade classes work on multiplication and division concepts for many, many weeks (as I’m sure is the case for you if you are a third grade teacher!).

Knowing this will be a multiplication and division long haul, I set up kits featuring color tiles for all the arrays and models, flashcards, a dry erase marker, and counters and dice for center activities and games.

In another example, our fourth graders spend the first trimester learning:

• multi-digit addition and subtraction
• multi-step word problems
• multiplication and division
• area and perimeter

This is a huge chunk of their year! And color tiles and place value disks can help with ALL of these concepts, in a super simple math toolkit students can use with ease:

Consider Individual Versus Community

It can be hard to streamline those math toolkits! Especially if you have a lot of different manipulatives on hand.

Another strategy that can be helpful is to consider which manipulatives are needed as individual tools for students, versus those that can just be stored for the whole class to access.

Which manipulatives do you NOT want to count out each time they are used? Or have to hand out every single day of a given unit? These will be the manipulatives to include in the student math toolkits.

And which materials are used only sometimes? Or are easy for students just grab a handful? These are the kind that can be stored as community tools.

Which leads to streamlined math kits for your kids and easier management of everything for you!

And speaking of management…

Create Management Systems

You’ve gone through all the work of planning out math toolkits your students will use every day! They are a sight to behold and will make such an impact.

But one more thing.

Consider how to make these toolkits easy for the students to manage, not something else you have to clean up or count out constantly.

This can be as concrete as providing toolkit checklists for the students to keep track of everything:

(I have a math toolkit resource to help with this if you think it would work well for your students).

Or it can be as simple as creating a procedure.

For example, in my own fourth and fifth grade classes we always used color tiles.

I like to provide 48 tiles for each student because it’s an ideal number for students to build models for working with factor pairs and prime and composite numbers. And it provides enough tiles for students to build all kinds of models for area and perimeter.

But no checklist was needed!

I used these 4″ x 6″ photo cases (more about these in the Toolkit List at the end!). My students knew to fill their kit with two layers of color tiles…and that the two layers of 24 ensured they had all 48 tiles:

It was a no-count way to keep track of materials on their own!

I never had to fix a single kit, all year long.

A Toolkit List for You

I know how much work it can take to get these kits set up, so I’ve put together a Math Toolkit List to share with you.

It’s a visual catalog with links to supplies and manipulatives for math kits, along with recommendations for quantities:

I even did a lot of price shopping to find you the best deals!

Would you like access to the list? Please grab your free copy below (along with other math freebies!):

I truly hope this helps if you are working to set up your math toolkits!

Do you have any must-have manipulatives you always keep in your kits? Or are you hoping to try set up math toolkits for the first time this year? I would love to hear what you think below!