Manipulative play is great for young children eager to learn how the environment around them works.

As children play with manipulatives, they grow an understanding of spacial recognition, concepts of size, shape, and weight, hand-eye coordination, and fine motor skills.

We use manipulatives to teach a variety of different things in our classroom.

For this activity, we used plastic and paper hearts to create the letter H.

Writing can be especially frustrating for the young child, as they are still strengthening the small muscles in their hands.

Manipulatives allow them to create letters without the frustration.