Mathematics manipulatives – like library books – need to be treated with care. Remember the first rule of Kindy – “Clean up your own mess!”

I visited one school storeroom and saw a bunch of measuring tapes in a lonely, dusty box. They were tangled, in all different lengths (1m and 1.5 m) – some even were in imperial units!

To help teachers sort out their maths gear and choose the right manipulatives in the first place I have created an online Encyclopedia of mathematics manipulatives.

I would like to acknowledge the support of Edx Education (http://www.edxeducation.com/) who supplied us with hundreds of photographs (they also manufacture the ever loved cards and many of the manipulatives we have on the site).

Competition time!

I would love to see photos of your storeroom!

Best Storeroom Award

• Show us your shiny, clean, organised and envy-inducing store room (Make sure to hold up a piece of paper in the picture with your name so we know its your photo!)
• Email your picture to [email protected] with the subject “storeroom competition entry”
• Prize: Your choice of any 5 of the books in the Manipulative Manual series

Best Transformation

• Show us your old ugly-duckling-turned-beautiful-swan of a storeroom (if your storeroom needs a cleanup now’s the time for that spring clean!)
• Prize: Your choice of any 5 of the books in the Manipulative Manual series

How Many Tapes?

• Guess the number! Prize: A book

Competition runs until September 30 with Prizes chosen thereafter.