Get the most out of Cuisenaire rods with printable centimeter graph paper, rulers, templates, patterns, and puzzles. Cuisenaire rods are a math manipulative in the form of cuboid wooden or plastic colored rods of varying lengths.
Each rod by size and color represents a number correlating to its length in centimeters from one to ten. Rods can be used for addition and subtraction, multiplication and division, fractions, measurement, pattern recognition, spatial and relational observations, picture making, and more.
Free Printable Cuisenaire Activity Workbook
The free printable Sophie's Cuisenaire Activity and Exploration Book by Miranda Hughes, includes a printable booklet of activities and cards. Hughes created the booklet and cards when her young daughter wanted some math work of her own to do along side her older brother. Cuisenaire rods and other math manipulatives (i.e., Abacus Math and Moebius Noodles) can work especially well for homeschooling multiple ages.
Centimeter Grid Paper and Cuisenaire Angle Ruler
Use centimeter grid paper (pdf) to make your own multiplication tables, fraction strips, patterns, rulers, rod size templates, and game boards. Sophie's Cuisenaire Activity and Exploration Book linked to above provides several game ideas with game board patterns using centimeter graph paper.
Cut out and assemble this printable Cuisenaire angle ruler (pdf), a multipurpose measurement tool to help children draw and measure angles.
Cuisenaire rods can be used for basic math and fractions to more advanced operations such as volumes of figures, square roots, simple linear and quadratic equations, and systems of equations.
Cuisenaire Rod Names and Letter Designations
Some worksheets or activities may refer to individual rods by color name or letter designation.
- 1-cm, white, w
- 2-cm, red, r
- 3-cm, green, g
- 4-cm, purple, p
- 5-cm, yellow, y
- 6-cm, dark green, d
- 7-cm, black, k
- 8-cm, brown, n
- 9-cm, blue, e
- 10-cm, orange, o
With these designations, for example, an addition problem might be presented as r + g = y. The r, g, and y rods would be placed end to end in a "train" to show the operation. Then the child could find other rod combinations that also result in the same length.
"Tracks" are special rulers for assembling Cuisenaire rod trains. Centimeter grid paper can also be used for this purpose.
Cuisenaire rods and printable grids, rulers, patterns, and templates can be used for mathematical exploration and calculation in a variety of ways. Through interactive and parallel play, children of all ages can enjoy Cuisenaire rods and printables.
Sara McGrath - Sara is a veteran homeschool mom of three, Usborne consultant, and the author of Unschooling: A Lifestyle of Learning.
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