Here’s what I remember about my 8th grade geometry class: I hated it.
Here’s what I don’t remember: pretty much everything I was taught.
I had such an aversion to math growing up, and it is something I want to work very hard not to pass on to my daughters. I want math concepts to be part of their learning process early on. I’ve also learned from Montessori education that the more hands-on opportunities we can give our children to interact with math, the better suited they will be to tackle the harder concepts down the line. This is particularly true for geometry and understanding shapes in a 3 dimensional way, instead of simply in the abstract or on paper.
That’s why I was really excited to see Learning Resources offer the Real World Folding Geometric Shapes.
The set includes 3 dimensional versions of 8 common shapes:
- cube
- cylinder
- hexagonal prism
- rectangular prism
- triangular prism
- square pyramid
- triangular pyramid
It also comes with 24 cut out designs that can fit inside the shapes to help children identify where these shapes can be found in everyday life. You can also cut out your own designs to put inside the shapes. Being able to see and touch a shape in this way is extremely important to muscle memory, and when that is instilled in your child at a young age, it will help tremendously by the time geometry class comes up in middle school. To be able to break a 3 dimensional shape down into something flat also helps a lot with understanding symmetry.
The kit also comes with great activity suggestions (far more than I would have come up with on my own!). I think this is a marvelous learning aid and I highly recommend it, especially if you think you might have some trouble bringing the world of math to life on your own like I do. The kit is available for $36.99.
Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win the Real World Folding Geometric Shapes set from Learning Resources.
Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my page.
I received a complimentary product for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.
