Geoboards

We love our geo boards! This is a free choice activity for the children from the age of 3.

For older students, geoboards are used to work more advanced geometric concepts such as translation, rotation, reflection, coordinates, scaling, congruence, etc. 

For the preschool crowd, I just let them explore. 
For them, geoboards work:

• geometry [of course]
• concepts such as horizontal, vertical, diagonal 
• counting
• unit measure
• area & perimeter
• angles & sides
• line manipulation to form letters, shapes, numbers
• concepts such as greater/lesser, more/fewer, bigger/smaller
• spatial awareness
• force and elasticity concepts
• propulsion and trajectory, sometimes
• fine motor

I just purchased new rubber bands from Harbor Freight, and I wanted to get it out there that these things are WONDERFUL! They are colored by size and the sizes are perfect for the geoboards. They are about 3 TIMES thicker than the ones I had previously purchased from an office supply store. They are much easier for the younger children to manipulate. Unfortunately, they are only available in the store, not on-line.

 item #60651 for $1.59

They have enough elasticity that they hold even when on smaller units, but easily stretch out farther, unlike other brands I've tried that either were extremely loose if not on the proper unit measure, snapped when over stretched, or were difficult to manipulate for the 3s.

I got a dozen geoboards on a clearance deal. If I hadn't, then I'd definitely be making my own like the ones over at Mama Jenn: Making Your Own Geo Boards. I also like her idea of using girls hair elastics in place of the rubber bands. 

If you don't want to use push pins, then bolts and nuts can be used on pegboard like the one made by mom.run.craft: DIY Geo Board.

If it weren't for having to keep the rubber bands away from the under 3s, then I would definitely be creating an outdoor geoboard. Just use grid paper to mark it out and pound nails into an upright log.  

There is also a FREE geoboard app that I am downloading for my students.

Tags: math, early, mathematics, concepts, geo, board, geoboard, rubber, band, rubber bands, counting, geometry, lines, angles, shapes, numbers, fine motor,