How can we create and integrate virtual (digital) manipulatives into our teaching?

Even though when we hear the word "manipulatives", we may think of elementary school or math class, virtual manipulatives can play a role in just about any grade level and in a variety of content areas. Be sure to explore the examples to get an idea for how exactly these work in Google Drawings and how they can work in Google Slides.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page for more examples in other content areas!

SAMR / 4 C's

Augmentation Level on SAMR

Critical Thinking / Communication / Collaboration*

Examples

Making Change - For this one below, be SURE to make a copy and open it! Then go to View and zoom OUT. The manipulatives are located off the actual canvas.

This must be a student-completed artifact!!

50 XP

TO EARN THIS BADGE

1. Students complete the digital manipulative activity.

2. EITHER get a shared link to the presentation (Anyone in the .ORG can view) OR you can submit the artifact directly from Google Drive.

3. Submit the link or upload the creation here or click the Request A Badge link in the menu.

4. Don't forget to tell how this aligns to the content you teach!

Creating Google Draw Activities for Younger Students

Resources

Adding Integers with Google Drawing

Creating Manipulatives for Kindergarten

Creating a Drag and Drop Assignment in Google Drawing

More Examples

Remember, open these in Google Drawing, don't just preview. Be SURE to zoom OUT when you open these to view the manipulatives that are often not on the canvas, but located off to the side.

Build a Snowman ver2

This take a bit of a different angle, using Google slides where students create a snowman using a variety of supplied images. Then students write about their creation.

Learn more about this here on Control Alt Achieve.

Collaborative Magnetic Poetry

Open in Google Drawing to view ruler and directions.

This is a full-fledged lesson, but this gives you an idea about how Google Slides can work with manipulatives.

First Grade Tens and Ones Hyperdoc

Kindergarten Fiction / Non-Fiction Book Sort

This is NOT a template, only a screenshot.

This activity integrates a Google Drawing INTO a Google Document. It's also a manipulative, but this one works a bit differently. When distributed to students as each student gets their own copy, they can each edit their own drawing and then complete the writing activity.

Build a Sundae