My 3-year-old granddaughter has loved all the tea parties we’ve had focusing on manners. Yesterday, I decided to have a simple but fun party that we called our fraction party. We used Spielgaben wooden cubes and invited some of Zoey’s stuffed animal friends.
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Spielgaben. All opinions are honest and my own. This post also contains affiliate links (at no cost to you).
Spielgaben, Version 4
Cabinet for Spielgaben Version 4
In case you’re not familiar with Spielgaben toys, they are exceptionally high-quality educational toys designed for ages 3-12. You can see from the photo that the cabinet is very high quality and fits in well in a room with traditional Montessori materials. I love the new, easily removable drawers in version 4.
The Spielgaben complete set comes with over 700 pages of full-color printed learning materials. These printed materials help you as a parent or teacher easily use Spielgaben toys educationally with your child and/or students.
Note: The yarn balls in set 1 are fine for babies and toddlers. The other sets should only be used with ages 3 and older unless your toddler no longer mouths objects or you are constantly supervising your toddler during an activity using the materials.
Spielgaben Materials Used in This Post
For this post, I used the natural wooden cubes from Spielgaben Sets 3-6 and Spielgaben Math Guide 2, Part 1, Play 18.
Fraction Party for Toddlers and Preschoolers
This activity had its roots in one of Zoey’s favorite books at my house: The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear. At the end of the book, the mouse cuts the red, ripe strawberry in two and shares half. The last line says: “Now, that’s one red, ripe strawberry the big, hungry bear will never get!” Zoey’s had fun spontaneously re-enacting that scene with her snacks.
Then Zoey had lots of fun with her Melissa & Doug Cutting Fruit set when we talked about fractions.
First Page of Share a Cake with Friends Fraction Activity from Spielgaben
So, I looked in the Spielgaben math guide to see if there were any fun introductions to fractions. And I found the perfect activity!
We adapted it to add stuffed animals. I also made a 4-cube cake rather than an 8-cube cake to simplify the fractions.
This activity would be a fun introduction to fractions for preschoolers and even older toddlers.
Ready to Start the Fraction Party with a Whole “Cake.”
First, we invited Zoey’s friend, Pete the Cat. Then we made a “whole cake” with four Spielgaben wooden cubes.
Cutting the Cake into Halves
Zoey “cut” the “cake” into halves.
Sharing Half the Cake with Pete the Cat
Then Zoey shared half the cake with Pete the Cat.
Next, we focused on fourths. We invited two more stuffed friends – a snowman and a dog.
Cutting the Cake into Fourths
This time, Zoey cut the cake into fourths.
Sharing Fourths
Then Zoey shared the fourths with her friends.
Entertaining Guests at the Fun Fraction Party
Zoey was a great hostess and made sure she kept her guests entertained. Is this photo TOO CUTE or what???!!!
Zoey decided that it was everyone’s birthday, so we sang “Happy Birthday to us.”
A Happy Fraction Party
It was a very happy fraction party. Zoey understood the concept of fractions. And there were lots of great opportunities to practice manners, too. Zoey and her friends were careful to say “please,” “thank you,” and “you’re welcome.”
Even though we didn’t serve tea, we considered it one of our fun tea parties. Zoey even insisted on sharing with me, too. So we added a fifth cube and plate, and Zoey shared one-fifth with me. So much fun! 🙂
My Previous Spielgaben Posts:
Most of these include links to free printables! 
Version 4 of Spielgaben Educational Toys
I highly recommend Spielgaben as an amazing educational material for home or school. Even though the toys aren’t inexpensive, they’re definitely worth the price because of the high quality of materials and number of years your children or students can use them.
Spielgaben Version 4
Spielgaben has a special discount for my readers!
Learn more about my eBook Montessori at Home or School: How to. Teach Grace and Courtesy! I’m also one of the coauthors of the book Learn with Play – 150+ Activities for Year-round Fun & Learning!
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Fernando Camberos says
December 7, 2016 at 4:22 pmThis is definitely an incredibly rich resource that you have spent so much valuable time developing Debbie, I’ll recommend it to parents at our school as well as link to it in our Montessori Resources section so that our teachers can take a look. Thanks! I also used your site to decide which MOntessori materials to buy, so thanks thanks thanks!