Fraction Action & Fraction Cups {Guidecraft Mom Review}

  

One of the things that we’ve been focusing on a bit more lately has been fractions. The focus hasn’t just been for the younger two, but also as a reminder for the older girls as well {amazing how things can just ‘slip’ our minds!}. The Guidecraft Fraction Action and Fraction Cups have been a great ‘hands-on’ math toy for just that purpose.

About the Fraction Sets

Both the Fraction Action and Fraction Cups are made from an eco-friendly rubberwood and then stained with low VOC aniline dyes, so they are safe for even super little ones to chew and drool on.

The Fraction Action Board is 9.5” square and not quite 1/2” tall and for ages 2 and up. The set has 18 stained wood pieces that fit into the nine shaped spots on the self-storing board: circles, squares and hexagons. Each shape has fraction puzzles of varying difficult ~ whole, halves and thirds.

The Fraction Cups are four great little portable puzzles containing 10 pieces that explore the fractions of halves, thirds and quarters. Both sets come with a simple activity booklet for use with your child.

Zachary was the one who took the most interest with these during the times that we pulled them out. His favorite thing to do was to dump all of the fraction pieces out onto the ground and then piece them back together. In the above pictures he was convinced he had the fractions right and trying to make them fit…and obviously having a little trouble. :) For him, the hands-on feature is great to keep his mind engaged in what we are talking about. Once the fraction fun was done, he and Kaleb had a blast to see how high they could stack all of the pieces {a wonderful lesson in balance!}.

Kaleb liked the bright colors and fitting the pieces together like puzzles. For the girls it gives them a colorful visual reminder for how they can divide things up and still have a whole. The puzzles will definitely be used as a hands-on reinforcement through our school year for all of the kids.

The Fraction Action Board and Fraction Cups are obviously wonderful for teaching and reminding children about fractions, but with the variety of colors and sizes, they can also be used to sort by shape, color, height, and more.

Find Out More

Fraction Action and Fraction Cups can be purchased directly from the Guidecraft website, via their NEW Facebook page, or from Amazon. If you’d like to win a set for your kids, Jenn from Mama Jenn is hosting a giveaway for a set of them {open to US residents until 6/26/2011}.