4 Steps to Organize Math Manipulatives for a New School Year

Ready to organize math manipulatives for a new year of learning?

It can feel really overwhelming if you are just starting out as a math interventionist, a math coach, or a classroom teacher who has to organize manipulatives for many students!

And while there really is no “best way to organize math manipulatives”, I’ve learned some systems that have truly helped over the years.

Today I’m sharing how to organize all the math manipulatives (and other tools!) in four easy steps.

We will make a plan so everything will be right at your students’ fingertips, all school year long!

Step One: Start with Bulk Supplies

When it comes to organizing math manipulatives, I find it helpful to think big picture first.

Consider the following questions:

This may include manipulatives such as:

• two-color counters
• transparent counters
• base-ten blocks
• place value disks
• color tiles
• unifix cubes
• dice

It will be helpful to store these bulk materials…well, in bulk!

You can use anything from bins to baggies.

And while there are SO many colorful storage bins out there, I like to use clear containers.

It makes it easy for my students and I to find what we need right away:

And eliminates the need to make labels!

Step Two: Store Manipulatives for Specific Standards

Now that we’ve identified your bulk supplies, let’s take a closer look at the math manipulatives that aren’t used as often.

These are important tools, but items that only come out once a year during certain standards. This may include:

• coins
• clocks
• rulers
• protractors
• centimeter cubes
• fraction bars
• fraction circles

(generally the manipulatives your students will use during geometry, measurement, and fraction standards)

I sort these manipulatives in larger clear bins as well, so we can access them when the time arrives.

Step Three: Organize Math Manipulatives That Are Used Daily

Now let’s think about the manipulatives and materials your students will use every day.

This may include writing tools, dry erase boards, and those must-have math manipulatives we always want on hand.

I like to store our pencils, highlighters, dry erase markers, and erasers in jars for my math groups to grab when needed:

I use pencil boxes to store the math manipulatives we use daily, such as place value disks:

This makes it easy to grab a handful of disks when we are working on a concept.

Once our daily manipulatives and tools are ready to access with ease, we are ready for the last step!

Step Four: Set Up Individual Math Manipulatives

For this final step we’ll focus on individual math manipulatives.

These are the materials I like to have counted out ahead of time, in separate kits for each student:

Individual kits are key when you need a specific amount of math manipulatives, such as place value disks and base ten blocks:

Or a set amount of color tiles for working with factor pairs and prime and composite numbers:

The best part about organizing math manipulatives for each student? It saves so much time (rather than counting out materials frantically before a lesson!)

I hope these four steps to organize math manipulatives will be of help for you! And that’s not all…

Take on Toolkits with a Free Resource

I have a lot more to share about setting up individual math toolkits (plus a free planning list to start building your own toolkits quickly).

Check it out here: