RED RODS

Presentation:

1. Spread a mat on the floor.
2. bring the rods to the mat, one at a time. They should be held by spreading the arms across the length of the rod and holding it at both ends.
3. Place each rod on the mat. Use the space at the lower end but more towards the right side of the mat. The rods should not be placed in order of size. Mix them so that the child would have to look at them to decide which to choose.
4. Take the longest rod by holding it with both hands on either side, and place it at the top left hand corner of the mat.
5. Take the next longest rod and place it in fornt of the first rod. The rods should be placed so that all edges are even on the left side.
6. Continue in this way until all the rods are in a stair formation. give the child a chance to observe the information.
7. Undo the information by removing one rod at a time and placing them to the right of the mat.
8. Continue in this manner until all the rods have been removed.
9. At this point, the child may ask you, or you may ask the child to try the exercise.
10. At the end of the exercise let the child help you to take the rods one by one, back to their place on the shelf.
11. Let the child help to roll the mat and put it away. 

Variations:

Place the rods in the same formation as before. Take the shortest rod and place it next to the second rod. Do this in succession for the space next to each rod. This helps the child to observe the difference in dimension that exits between each rod. The difference between any two rods in succession is always the shortest rod.