Do you want your students to be more motivated and engaged during math time? Do you want time to work with small groups? Are your manipulatives and stations all over the place and difficult for your students to clean up? This might be the answer – the Rainbow Math Cart – the key to your math time’s success (I actually got that phrase from AIchat, not bad, but a bit corny). In this post, I will provide details on how the Math Cart (two versions: one for K-2 and the other for 3-5) provides fun and individual learning experiences, complements your math curriculum, and is easy to cleanup. But best of all there are no worksheets for you to keep track of and correct!
Provides fun and individual learning experiences
The Rainbow Math Cart has six different color coded math stations that your students can choose from. Each station is hands-on, easy to differentiate, and self-correcting. In the 3-5 math cart, the stations are organized by manipulative: Dominoes, Measuring Tools, Inch Squares, Number Tiles, Cuisenaire Rods, and Pattern Blocks, the K-2 math cart is similar, with Dominoes, Ten Frames, Unifix Cubes, Number Tiles, Counters, and Pattern Blocks. And each station has different math skills that you can switch to match your classroom topic or to a student’s learning goal. For example, the Grade 3-5 Cuisenaire Station (Blue), has play mats that progress from adding and subtracting facts all the way to multiplying and dividing fractions! The K-2 Dominoes Station (Red) has play mats that progress from subitizing, counting, to adding and subtracting.
How to Use
After you complete your whole class lesson, you can choose your small group, others can be on technology, work on their whole class followup assignment, or choose one of six stations from the math cart. Each station can accommodate 2-6 students.
- Choose the station they want to work on.
- Set up at a table. Each station can accommodate 2-6 students.
- Get out their individual tracking sheet, which lets them know what play mat they finished and which one is next. You can customize their tracking sheet, by simply writing down which play mat they want to do. Or they don’t have to have a tracking sheet, especially in the younger grades, as they are encouraged to explore.
- They work on the play mat. The play mats progress in difficulty, so having a growth mindset is important.
- Once they complete a play mat, they can check their answers with the provided Answer Key. Or, you can have a “Station Monitor” who can check their answers, or partners can check each other.
- And they or the “Station Monitor” signs them off and they choose the next play mat. No worksheets!
- Once math time is over, all the play mats are color coded, so it’s simple for students to put everything away.
Imagine your students’ exploring fractions through colorful manipulatives as well as working together to solve math puzzles. These interactive experiences not only make math more enjoyable but also help students grasp abstract concepts more easily. Using the tracker helps students see their progress.
“I love it when my teacher says ‘Time for math stations!’ because I get to pick what I want to do.” – Christian (3rd grade student)
Complements your math curriculum
The Rainbow Math Cart also complements your current math curriculum because it focuses on the essential skills of each grade, like subitizing, building numbers, adding and subtracting, comparing, arrays, multiplying and dividing, fractions, measuring lengths and figuring out area/perimeter, while also exploring foundational concepts such as number sense, problem solving, and perseverance.
In addition, I designed the play mats to build on students’ prior knowledge and gradually introduce more complex concepts. This scaffolding approach allows students to develop a strong foundation in math and gradually tackle more challenging problems. By building confidence through small successes, the Math Cart empowers students to take on more difficult math problems and encourages a growth mindset.
How to get it and set it up
Are you convinced to invest in a math cart? You don’t actually need to buy the whole thing of course.
The Actual Physical Math Cart
The math cart (Honey-Do Cart) provides a quick and convenient way (it has wheels!) to organize your manipulatives as well as the play mats. I put the folders and stations on the top rack. The cart comes with 3 smaller bins which I use for other manipulatives, like fake money, fractions kits, clocks, tangrams, protractors, etc. The bottom three bins I use for Base-Ten Blocks, 3D Blocks, and magnet tiles (which I swap for legos quarterly). The side pockets are convenient for cards, dice, calculators, etc.
But if you don’t need the whole cart, you can use a color-coded drawer to contain the play mats as well as the manipulatives needed for each station. It’s important that you have at least six drawers, one for each color. The Bonus file (if you purchase from TPT) has a page of color labels you can print and put on the drawers.
The Play Mats
You can just purchase the play mats (each set is sold separately as well as bundled together), the math cart provides a quick and convenient way to organize your manipulatives as well as the play mats.
Each set of play mats has at least 30 to choose from. So you can start with about 10 in each station, put the rest in a binder, and then add more (increase the difficulty) throughout the year.
I have the play mats in a pronged folder with the play mats in the pockets (in sheet protectors) and the answer key also in sheet protectors in the prongs.
The Manipulatives
You might already have all the manipulatives you need.
For the 3-5 cart, you will need (Amazon list):
- Red – Dominoes (up to 9 dots)
- Orange – Measuring tools: rulers, centimeter cubes (like from Base 10 blocks), paper clips, and 1 inch squares or inch cubes
- Yellow – 1 inch squares
- Green – Number Tiles (0-9) (I just use the 1 inch squares and write on them with a permanent marker.)
- Blue – Cuisenaire rods
- Purple – Pattern Blocks
- Plus a binder, binder dividers (can you believe I couldn’t find a rainbow set of tabbed dividers?), folders and bins/book boxes
For the K-2 cart, you will need (Amazon list):
- Red – Dominoes (up to 9 dots)
- Orange – Ten Frames (I couldn’t find these on Amazon, but you can also just print ten frames, or cut egg cartons)
- Yellow – Unifix Cubes
- Green – Number Tiles (0-9) (I just use the 1 inch squares and write on them with a permanent marker.)
- Blue – Counters (buttons, chips, little bears, etc.)
- Purple – Pattern Blocks
- Plus a binder, binder dividers, folders, and bins/book boxes
I think that is it! I truly believe this cart will do wonders for you math time! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email me!