Manipulatives are very instructive because they give children something concrete to describe. Many items can be used as a manipulative: all types of blocks, construction or building toys, animal or vehicle counters, colored plastic jewels, toy animals, dolls, counting cubes or links, stones or pebbles, floor tiles, fabric scraps, keys, coins,...anything you can think of! All topics can be discussed using manipulatives. For example, counting and writing of numbers, place value, beginning addition, skip or count by 2's, 5's, and 10's, money and time, multiplication facts 1-10, inequalities, weight, geometric shapes,...the list goes on!
A couple of web sites with information for teachers on course formatting, as well as purchasing sites are available(I recommend the household varieties of manipulatives to start).
Good luck in your future teaching endeavors.
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