Grading: Knobless Cylinders
When my decade-experienced math teacher husband saw these, he just gushed over them. “Oooo, that’s really going to help their spatial reasoning!” Grading by height and diameter is an important foundational skill for mathematics and two of my kids are really resistant to anything that smacks of math. Grading the size or thickness of triangles on paper wasn’t going to happen. So finding something that looked attractive and fun in this department was a must.
That “spatial reasoning” hubby was talking about is what helps a kid see something like a top down drawing of a cube and understand what he’s seeing and what will fit into it. Very important for math!
The knobless cylinders are four boxes of wooden cylinders that vary in diameter and height. The yellow cylinders increase in height with diameter. The green decrease in height as diameter increases. The red only change diameter and the blue only change in height. Below is one of the traditional ways to stack them.
Since this is a foundational skill for math, it’s no surprise that my math-is-easy Big Kid took to these like a duck to water. However, it’s Middle and Little that really need the work out. Since math is a hard language for them, I’ll likely have to “assign” this work to them from time to time to develop their skill. Montessori schools encourage free choice, but I’ve found with my kids that they often avoid activities that are related to subjects they need work in. So, don’t think you can just lay these out and the kids will go wild. That may be only true for your math-heads.
Like most Montessori Materials, these little guys don’t look like much, but they have DEPTH to them. They aren’t one-hit wonders. There’s no way to be FINISHED with them, really, but
this video will get you kid started.
These were initially designed for young children, but I’ve found that they work for all ages, especially if appropriately challenging activity cards are supplied. I found the ones at
abcteach.com to be the most age appropriate for my kids. My kids are older and need a challenge. For younger children,
these are just fine. I also found lots of pictures online and printed those out too.
I got my cylinders from
IFIT. They were on sale for $38, which is crazy. IFIT delivered the materials extremely quickly. I have already noticed some chipping, but their prices fit my budget best. That, and if I really care too much about chipping, I’ll truck them over to Depot and get a little paint jar color-matched to them. 
There are certainly less expensive ways to work on a child’s grading and spatial reasoning, to support growing math skills, but since I have a ten year age range (so far) with my kids, I prefer evergreen activities that will last for decades. That, and Little and Middle are both VERY tactile learners. Traditional grading by size on paper and whatnot doesn’t work as well. Catering to tactile learners can make homeschooling EXPENSIVE, but when I have room in the budget, I’d rather spend the money on some quality natural materials that the kids are naturally drawn to, rather than plastic throwaway material.
Definite keeper! This center will be on our rotation for years to come.
Deanna
There are certainly less expensive ways to work on a child’s grading and spatial reasoning, to support growing math skills, but since I have a ten year age range (so far) with my kids, I prefer evergreen activities that will last for decades. That, and Little and Middle are both VERY tactile learners. Traditional grading by size on paper and whatnot doesn’t work as well. Catering to tactile learners can make homeschooling EXPENSIVE, but when I have room in the budget, I’d rather spend the money on some quality natural materials that the kids are naturally drawn to, rather than plastic throwaway material.