[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

Manipulatives is just a fancy word for things used to count with, or shapes used for teaching geometry.....that sort of thing.......

For some kids, the "cube" manipulatives can be very enlightening...... showing how all those tiny cubes fit together to form a larger cube...... you can buy single items like that at any teacher store though..... I never bought a full set.....just smaller things that I found to be more helpful..........

[latina4dubya]

thanks--in that case, i won't spend the extra 50 something bucks, as i have tons of manipulatives--cuisinare rods, cubes that connect, colored chips galore, colored tiles, multi-shaped colored tiles, etcetera, etcetera... my closets look like a teacher's store... i wonder what their (SAXON's) manipulatives can consist of that they cost so much--$53 or so...