When I first saw the Mathlink Cubes, so many things came to mind right away.
What a great teaching tool for our special needs children. I say it that way because
they are already noted as learning tools in an educational setting. But I saw them in a different capacity.
These Mathlink cubes come in ten different colors.
There are ten of each color making 100 total cubes!
The Mathlink Cubes, also, have different shapes based on the color helping to promote shape and color identification.
They are little cubes that can be linked on any side, meaning that you can make a tower of them or a long line of them or link them in groups.
They look extremely fun to play with for children of all ages!
Right away I thought of their use as a therapy tool strengthening fine motor skills. Getting Elizabeth to use her fingers to engage Lego pieces or stack small wooden cubes was our way of working her fingers. But these cubes would have been perfect for the task…and fun because of the colors and shapes.
Then I thought of how easy they would make counting by two’s, five’s and ten’s, because of both the ease of linking them and the colors. For the Dyspraxic child, sometimes the visual of different colors helps them work better…so these are really a good fit for that need.
While we are on that topic, visual learners and sensory seekers will LOVE these because they are able to see the counting taking place, the groupings or the patterns.
I know that for Elizabeth we worked on getting her to cross midline. I used to use different items to have her work on this task, but what came to mind for me was to use the blocks to help with this. Making piles of colors and having the child cross over midline to reach them and then use fine motor skills to link them.
I was showing these blocks to Michael and his first response was “Hey can I play with those?” I told him what they were for and he said he did not care, he just wanted to play with them. So that made me see how they can just be seen as fun….and that is a good thing.
I told Michael that as he was learning about “Base 10” in school, that this kind of item would bring the concept to life and help those who struggled with it. He agreed.
So as I review these fun little blocks and think of so many ideas for them, I think that others would have their own ideas for them.
So please take a look at them on our site and decide if you think they would be a good addition (pun intended) to your therapy/teaching supplies. After all, school (sorry to mention) will start soon and having a new, fun tool might not be a bad thing.
I wish you all a good, peaceful week.
Michele