Plastic Number CardsSmall, 1-⁠3000

Plastic Number Cards: Small, 1-⁠3000 carry units, tens, hundreds and thousands, each place value on its own card. Laid one over another the cards compose any number up to 3000 and pull apart again, so the child sees that 1362 is only 1000, 300, 60 and 2 standing together. Building a number means fetching one card from each place and stacking them until only the leading figures still show, which is a lesson in place value carried out with the hands. Taking the stack apart afterwards is the check, since parts that do not read back as the number asked for reveal the slip on their own. The small set is the child's own working copy for decimal system work, from three years.