Counting Blocks - Tens and Units

mitcho_uk

I wonder if anybody can help me. I am trying to teach my little lad how to count etc. When i was at school i remember using counting blocks known as tens and units. This set consisted of little plastic blocks (units) a stick of ten of these little blocks (tens) and a block of ten sticks (Hundreds).

However i can not find them anywhere in the shops. Does anybody have a set i can buy off them or let me know where to get some. I have looked in both toys r us and the early learning centre but cant find what i am looking for.

I have tried teaching him with coins but he gets confused as to which ones are which, and invariably tries to half inch them off the table to put in his piggy bank. When questioned as to why he does it he generally quotes me and says "well look after the pennies..............."

Thanks

Counting_Pennies_2

You could always do a search on ebay

FairyElephant_2

Well done him! - at least you know he is learning good MSE lessons from an early age!

I have not looked, but can only think of Early Learning Centre as a possible source (Step-kids were past that stage when I got them - shame as I think I missed out on the most fun bits and am getting the moody teenage stuff now!!!!!)

pavlovs_dog

crumbs, this stirs up memories!

a lot of online stationary retailers have a section on educational supplies, perhaps you could try there

i remember the ones we used to use were made of wood - the tens were little sticks, 1cm wide, 1cm deep, 10cm long, with each unit marked by a small groove indented into the wood.

if you are even remotely skilled at woodwork you could make some dirt cheap (just remember to sand them down before giving them to your little one).


failing that, how about lego bricks?

you can buy it cheap enough these days - perhaps superglue 10 bricks of the same colour. that said, perhaps it might be better left as single bricks, making it easier for your child to see how units become tens

also dont forget the most basic tens and units - fingers and toes! and all those silly songs - 10 green bottles, 1,2,3,4,5 (once i caught a fish a live), 10 in a bed, one man went to mow, that help to reinforce it in their memories. you can get tapes of songs like that at elc

hope that helps, and happy counting!

skipton

The blocks you may have used were called quesenaire? rods I think. They were coloured and varied in length from 1cm to 10cm. They were a sod to tidy up as we always had some missing from our box.Usally pinched by someone with misssing blocks .As some one said buy some square section at B&Q and mark it off in 1cm blocks. Single units 1cm long.

How old is he? These may be too small for a very young child

pavlovs_dog

skipton wrote:

The blocks you may have used were called quesenaire? rods I think. They were coloured and varied in length from 1cm to 10cm. They were a sod to tidy up as we always had some missing from our box.Usally pinched by someone with misssing blocks .As some one said buy some square section at B&Q and mark it off in 1cm blocks. Single units 1cm long.

How old is he? These may be too small for a very young child

i just googled - the correct spelling is Cuisenaire Rods.

the ones we used in school were just plain old wood colour, though im sure colour must help some kids grasp it quicker

bylromarha

Cuisenaire is different to HTU.

Cuisenaire are blocks that represent each of the numbers from 1 to 10, each number a diffferent colour.

HTU are lots of 1cm cubes to represent 1's, sticks with notches every 1cm to represent 10's and squares (made up of 10 x 10 1cm squares) to represent 100s.

First off,are you sure your lad is ready for this? If you are just teaching him counting, he doesn't need these. These blocks are for kids from the age of 6 upwards, as they start to learn the value of digits, then how to seperate numbers ready for adding and taking away. If your son doesn't have much concept of number beyond 20, then he doesn't need them.

However, if he does, why not ask the school to lend you some. Most classes are overflowing with the things.

Alternatively, this company should stock them
http://www.economatics-education.co.uk/default.asp?ChapterID=2

or

http://www.galteducation.co.uk/html/index.html

They'll be in the section marked place value.

And these are the only 2 I can remember after years of being a primary school maths co-ordinator! My memory is fading slowly...!

bylromarha

Or use this sample online to save the money...!

http://www.echalk.co.uk/Maths/units/units.html

prettypennies

Have a look at https://www.bakerross.co.uk. They have lots of super school stuff and definitely have the tens and units blocks

hilstep2000

Cuisenaire rods were what I used at school. I used them for my daughter, but we now use Multilink, which are basically square plastic cubes that link together. I don't know if they are available commercially, and rods are really expensive. Have you any other children at school? Go and ask if you can borrow a set, that's what I did!"

elona

I used sweets or beads. Not very fancy but fun.