Talk to me about cuisenaire rods

[Neldavi]

My 4 1/2 y.o. has been really into counting lately and I was thinking about getting him a set of cuisenaire rods for Christmas. So ..

will he be able to do anything functional with them at his age .. think just starting simple arithmetic .

what kind of set should I get that he can use now but also will take him through childhood?

is this a totally lame Christmas gift for a 4 year old?

links to recommendations appreciated ..

thanks! Sarah

[saintmom]

I think thats a wonderful gift!
Cuisinaire rods are wonderful for: counting
matching
metric
modeling all four operations
making letters
just playing!

[Tassy]

I think they are a great gift! They don't even need to be used for simple arithmetic in the beginning...you will be amazed at the cool things he will just do with them..pattern wise and the concepts he will be on top of once you do start introducing math processes. There are wooden and plastic....I personally like the wooden ones better. The lip on the plastic ones makes the number seem closer to one more than it should be. Also the wooden ones can be used like building blocks more. There is also a rod track that my youngest liked using as a toy from a very young age....just one more way for them to interact with them!

Great idea!! Yet one more thing my younger children have over my oldest....exposure to rods from a younger age!!

Tassy
DS 7, DD 3, twin DDs 2

[jillc512]

We got some wooden ones for my DS last year (he was almost 4 then). He loved to stack them, organize them, line them up, etc. Definitely lots of fun.

[tanyalynn]

I think my brain just doesn't work the right way for cuisenaire rods, and either my daughter is too much like me, or I haven't presented them the right way. She's good with and enjoys numbers, as do I, but we never really used the cuisenaire rods the way they were intended. I know I have trouble with knowing 'how much' an individual rod is, because they don't have anything on them indicating their length--I guess I was expecting hash marks or something so I could pick up one rod and know that it's 7 units long. But I have found it fun to use them just to make patterns and things like that, and maybe someday we'll get our act together.

[sapphire_chan]

Originally Posted by TanyaLopez

I think my brain just doesn't work the right way for cuisenaire rods, and either my daughter is too much like me, or I haven't presented them the right way. She's good with and enjoys numbers, as do I, but we never really used the cuisenaire rods the way they were intended. I know I have trouble with knowing 'how much' an individual rod is, because they don't have anything on them indicating their length--I guess I was expecting hash marks or something so I could pick up one rod and know that it's 7 units long. But I have found it fun to use them just to make patterns and things like that, and maybe someday we'll get our act together.

I thought they did have lines? I'd draw some in, then.

[p31mom]

We have the plastic, interlocking rods, and they do have lines on one side of the rod. If I had to do it again, I'd probably get the regular rods or the wooden ones rather than the interlocking ones.

We also have the "Cuisenaire Rods Alphabet Book" which has a two-page spread devoted to each letter. I think it retail for around $8. It's a fun way to get some more ideas on what to do with the rods. My DS is 5 and he really enjoys them! Go for it!

[ankh]

We have the wooden ones and they build and count with them. Definitely worth it imo.

[MyLittleWonders]

I'll be the lone voice of dessent. We have them and do not use them. I used a metalic permanent marker to write the length of each one because it was quite annoying to my ds to not know how much each one was (we have the wooden ones), and even that didn't make them something he nor his younger brothers enjoy (except the 2 year old, who just likes to throw them around). So, I would say no, but that is just based on our experience.

[MamaMonica]

We have the wooden ones and I haven't figured out how to use them either : My 6 yo uses them to build stuff with. There are no lines on them.

[onlyzombiecat]

We had wood ones- no lines- and they didn't do much for dd.
I think she got more out of an abacus.

[KimProbable]

I picked up some wooden ones from a used curriculum sale last year and my kids think they're great. My 3-year-old will pull the box out and play with them. We have the workbooks to go with them but we haven't ventured into those yet. I'll pull them out next time and see what the kids make of them.

This thread reminds me of a picture that I just have to share. DS asked what the rods were for and I only said "For math" because I wanted him to explore them on his own. A few minutes later I looked over and saw this. He was sitting there stumped, trying to figure out how to make a 2 with straight lines.

[MamaMonica]

Originally Posted by KimProbable

This thread reminds me of a picture that I just have to share. DS asked what the rods were for and I only said "For math" because I wanted him to explore them on his own. A few minutes later I looked over and saw this. He was sitting there stumped, trying to figure out how to make a 2 with straight lines.

That is so cute

[MommyDOK]

I"m bumping this up bc I"m interested also. I am going to buy the wooden ones....does anyone have a preferred brand? ANd workbook???

[zeldamomma]

Ours were used mainly for playing the 3 little pigs (build houses and blow them down).

We liked the abacus a lot more.

ZM

[hotmamacita]

:

[MyLittleWonders]

Originally Posted by MyLittleWonders

I'll be the lone voice of dessent. We have them and do not use them. I used a metalic permanent marker to write the length of each one because it was quite annoying to my ds to not know how much each one was (we have the wooden ones), and even that didn't make them something he nor his younger brothers enjoy (except the 2 year old, who just likes to throw them around). So, I would say no, but that is just based on our experience.

Well, now I have to change what I wrote. We started using Miquon Math after the New Year, and have since been using cuisinaire rods quite a bit. So, I think in our experience, having something purposeful for them (for us, the Miquon) has made them a useful manipulative.

[tankgirl73]

I do like Cuisenaire rods and we used them a bit with DS and probably will with DD as well.

But I'm going to agree with the pp's who said that an abacus is even better for kids this age interested in numbers and counting.

[Whistler]

We have some and we love playing with them. Also Miranda (moominmama) wrote a wonderful little book of games and activites for a 4yo to use with them. Hopefully she'll see this and provide her link!

[moominmamma]

The e-booklet is here. It would probably be most suitable for kids at an early 1st grade level, though some of the simpler activities work earlier.

Just a comment about cuisenaires and lines/hatch marks mentioned in the old part of this thread. Some uses of cuisenaires assign other values to the rods besides the obvious values that match the centimetre length. For instance, there are places in Miquon where the exercise is along the lines of "Let the red [2 cm] rod be one. What is the white rod?" (answer: one half) "What is the purple rod?" (answer: two). If you've scored the red rod and marked it as "a two" and the purple as "a four" then those sorts of uses are difficult. I think the numerical value of the rods are intended to be a little more fluid than hatching or labelling will allow.

Miranda