This little exercise came about one day when I asked my legomaniac son to work on his math drills. Here’s how the conversation went:

Me: You need to go write your 1, 2 & 3 addition families.

Him: Mom, I really wanted to play legos.

Me: No, you need to practice your math.

Him: Mom, What if I use my legos to practice my math?

Me: What do you have in mind?  Show me.

This is what he came up with……

That’s the 2 family, notice that he used singles for the one & doubles for 2 rather than 2 actual pieces.

I know there are math manipulatives aplenty that use this same idea, but I was very please that he used his creative thinking skills to come up with this on his own.

Mom Approved!

Photo Credit