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Teaching Place Value with Hands-On Manipulatives

We've used Base Ten Blocks to teach our children about place value.  The basic unit is a 1x1x1cm block and is called a Unit.  It represents a "one" in the ones column.  A "ten" is represented by a rod which is a strip of 10 units.  The "hundred" is called a flat and looks like a square with 100 units.  Finally, there's the cube which represents the "thousand."

If you wanted to show a child that 342 is actually three hundreds, four tens, and two ones, you would display 3 flats, 4 strips, and 2 units.  Or you can ask the child to set it up for you with the Base Ten Blocks.

They are very helpful when you are teaching regrouping.  You can visually represent the problem and ask the child to physically regroup the blocks.  It helps them to "see" the concept. The Base Ten Blocks are available in either an interlocking starter set or a plastic starter set.

Another, more compact, way to teach place value is with the Place Value Rods Activity Set.  This set of hands-on manipulatives is made of brightly colored plastic "rods" that snap together horizontally or vertically.

Place Value Rods

Place Value Rods Activity Set

The Place Value Rods Activity Set has 70 brightly color-coded rods that teach numeric, written and expanded form of numbers from 1 to 9,999,999.  There are 10 rods for each place value: ones, ten, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, hundred thousands, and millions.

Each place value rod is labeled with its number and the spelled form of the number.  Interestingly, they are capable of connecting from both the top and the side.

An Activity Guide is included in the set.  A 9" by 12" double-sided, write-on/wipe-off Activity Card helps the child to visualize place value by putting the rods in the correct place value column.

Grades K to 5

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Base Ten Blocks

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