# Number Sense

Canonical: https://manipulatives.org/topics/number-sense/

Explore quantities, compare numbers, and find useful relationships between them.

Number sense begins with asking what a quantity means and how it relates to other quantities. Seven can be five and two, one less than eight, or three less than ten. A material gives those descriptions something visible to refer to.

Start with [ten frames](https://manipulatives.org/manipulatives/ten-frames/) or [rekenreks](https://manipulatives.org/manipulatives/rekenreks/) when you want to organize a quantity around five and ten. Use a [number line](https://manipulatives.org/manipulatives/number-lines/) to shift the conversation toward order and distance.

Keep asking how a learner saw a number, not only what answer they gave. Two people may recognize the same total using different groups; comparing those explanations is a useful activity in its own right.

## Tools

- [Base-Ten Blocks](https://manipulatives.org/manipulatives/base-ten-blocks/)

- [Cuisenaire Rods](https://manipulatives.org/manipulatives/cuisenaire-rods/)

- [Hundred Charts](https://manipulatives.org/manipulatives/hundred-charts/)

- [Math Bars](https://manipulatives.org/manipulatives/math-bars/)

- [Number Lines](https://manipulatives.org/manipulatives/number-lines/)

- [Play Money](https://manipulatives.org/manipulatives/play-money/)

- [Rekenreks](https://manipulatives.org/manipulatives/rekenreks/)

- [Teaching Clocks](https://manipulatives.org/manipulatives/teaching-clocks/)

- [Ten Frames](https://manipulatives.org/manipulatives/ten-frames/)

- [Thermometers](https://manipulatives.org/manipulatives/thermometers/)

- [Two-Color Counters](https://manipulatives.org/manipulatives/two-color-counters/)

## Articles

- [Choosing your first manipulatives](https://manipulatives.org/blog/choosing-first-manipulatives/)