the pink tower

[mamamelia]

so has anyone purchased the pink tower for home use? was it a worthwhile purchase?

what can you tell me of the quality of michael olaf materials? i am thinking of buying the wooden counting peg box for dd.

[Cassiopeia]

We don't have a pink tower. We do have a set of Melissa & Doug "farm" blocks that are graduated in size and stack like the pink tower. They've gotten lots of use. I think a "real" pink tower would be fun to have around.

I haven't purchase many M. materials. I've made some stuff though and that's been successful.

I guess for stuff to buy, I would still go with things that are multi use. So personally, I might not go for the counter (unless $ isn't a problem, in which case go for it!)

[mamamelia]

thanks for the input!
dollars are not really a problem (i have been saving money), although i don't want to waste money either.
the reason i was thinking about the pink tower was because i read somewhere that it can be used for teaching volume in mathematics later on. i was just wondering if anyone used it for this purpose and if it was successful.

dh likes the peg counting box as opposed to the montessori numbers with counters. my dd (25 months) is really interested in counting things but she is also very easily stimulated and distracted. and once she is over stimulated, all is lost. everything needs to be fail-proof with her. i wanted something really simple to keep her focus and keep her interested enough. i think i might get the peg box after all. it's a one time use, but if it really helps her to recognise the connection between the numerals and how many corresponding objects there are, then it's good enough.

what have you made? do you have any pictures you can share?

[Cassiopeia]

My guy is older so I've mostly made math stuff - bead material, number rods, teen board, and tens board.

For peg board or spindle box sort of thing, you could use popsicle sticks in one of those thingies meant for silverware. Of if she doesn't put things in her mouth, you can label the compartments in an egg carton with numbers and then put the corresponding number of buttons or beads or something like that.

http://montessorimaterials.org/

Is a great site. But again, I would totally buy materials if could!

[Drummer's Wife]

I don't have the pink tower but have purchased several things from michael olaf and the quality is very high. I haven't been disapointed at all.

I don't know if I would spend the money on the pink tower if my kids were in M school and used one there. When my dd was in a 3-6 classroom she probably worked with it a few times if that, she must have taken what she needed from it and moved on to other work. It's pretty pricey and unless I knew it would get a lot of use I would put the money towards something else. Likely some practical life work that I know would get tons of use in this home.

[smeep]

I love the pink tower! I don't know about home use, but all the schools I went to had it.

[Flor]

We have the tot tower. Maybe cheaper but has help up well and ds uses it for a lot of things. Now he is using pink tower in school so he is stacking with it, but last week they were gargages for monster trucks.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/se...=amd-google-20

[fireflies~for~me]

the pink tower is my child's favorite work

[squimp]

We have the "Tallest tree stacking blocks" from forsmallhands.com. It resembles the pink tower, but it's covered with a redwood tree, poems, animals and even an expanding aerial view of the redwood region. I LOVE this toy, and for our family it's a good variation on the pink tower.

http://tinyurl.com/yana22