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For younger learners

  • Early Years Foundation Stage

Cuisenaire Spirals

Age 7 to 11
Challenge Level Yellow star
  • Problem
  • Getting Started
  • Student Solutions
  • Teachers' Resources

Here are two open spirals made from cuisenaire rods.

  
 
I used only the even numbered rods.
You can experiment making spirals using the rods on our Cuisenaire interactive environment.
There may be some sets of real Cuisenaire rods in your school. 


When you've done a lot of exploring you might like to try the something similar with numbers.
If you do, have a look at Number Spirals here.

You may also like

Cuisenaire Squares

These squares have been made from Cuisenaire rods. Can you describe the pattern? What would the next square look like?

Rod Fractions

Pick two rods of different colours. Given an unlimited supply of rods of each of the two colours, how can we work out what fraction the shorter rod is of the longer one?

Cuisenaire Environment

An environment which simulates working with Cuisenaire rods.

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The NRICH Project aims to enrich the mathematical experiences of all learners. To support this aim, members of the NRICH team work in a wide range of capacities, including providing professional development for teachers wishing to embed rich mathematical tasks into everyday classroom practice.

NRICH is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.

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