Tried & Tested: The Original Three Bear Family® Basic Four Colour Counter Set
- Learning Resources Posted On Aug 19, 2022 | Product Reviews
Product rating: 5/5
About the Tester: This review was submitted by a complex needs teacher who used it in her class of eight children in Years 4-6.
About the resource
The Original Three Bear Family® also popularly known as the Compare Bears® are the famous colourful bear place value counters are great for maths teaching to help young children act out and understand abstract maths concepts including counting, sorting, size-grading, and mass comparison.
In this review, a complex needs teacher describes the benefits of this versatile maths teaching resource in her classroom.
Key features:
- Multifunctional
- Robust
- Hard-wearing
What did you think of the concept?
This simple set of coloured bears is a must have for any classroom. I used them for fractions and sharing however I use them regularly for different activities with our pre-formal learners. These activities including counting, colour matching and at present we are using them to show sharing and data collection. I love this product as it is versatile and hard wearing, I can use it in the classroom and in our outdoor area.
How did you use it?
This week we have been looking at fractions and sharing this is a tricky concept for our pre-formal learners therefore having these colourful bears to split it to groups is ideal.
How has it helped your teaching?
This product gave the children a very clear visual for learning about sharing. They are suitable for the children to use themselves when they are set independent learning tasks and can help me produce quick and clear assessments for evidence of learning. I found the bears a good size and shape for our learners who require help with motor skills.
The tub of bears is an easy go-to for most maths lessons from counting, ordering in size, colour matching and positional language activity we have also used them for data analysis. The learners engage well the colourful bears which are easy to handle and are unbreakable.
The versatility of this product is what sets it apart for me, I can use this easy grab tub almost every day. I can use it in adult-led activities and in independent learning activities. The learners are able to handle the bears which are a good size for learners with reduced motor skills. They engage well with them and seem to like their bright colours.
What are the best features?
The children engage in this product due to the bright colours and design of the bears which makes them much more inviting than plain counters. We have one learner who is very keen on using the bears. They like to name the bears and make them into families, and this gives us opportunity to use them for PHSE as well and Maths and English.
Female learner aged 9 was able to meet her learning goal by counting 20 bears in a line. She enjoyed lining them up and counting them. Her engagement was longer than we had seen for some other counting activities.
Working in complex needs we continually have to think outside the box to engage our learners, the bears can be used in many activities which gives the learners a chance to become familiar with them and we can extend activities as the learner meets their individual learning goals. This means the tub of bears is great value for money as they can be used in a wide range of activities with learners.
I personally think this is great value for money, it is super multifunctional and hardwearing, easy to clean, and the learners have engaged very well with the bright coloured bears.
How would you rate the long-term appeal?
This will be a regularly used item in my classroom, it is very good value for money and for me is a real must have. It is simple in design but has many uses. They are suitable for our learners who are working below pre Key Stage 1, for activities such as investigation and colour naming/ matching. They are easy to wash if we have them hidden in sand etc. They can be used for during the concreate stage of counting and then we can move them on to use them for number bonds, estimating and an endless range of maths activities.
Can it be used to support SEND pupils?
Working with complex needs learners does mean we have to think outside the box to help engage learners. I have found the colour and easy to hold bears have engaged our learners for longer than tradition counters.
Learners become familiar with them, and we can extend activities to meet their individual learning goals.
Explore more of our Original Three Bear Family (Compare Bears) maths teaching resources.
