Epic Win: Geoboards
Submitted by Dimitri A, rubber band rectangle.
Geoboards, invented in the 1950s, are square, plastic boards studded with evenly-spaced pegs in a 5×5 configuration. The pegs are meant to hold rubber bands so that students, and other bored people, can create geometric shapes. I most definitely remember using these, but for some reason I don’t recall using them in a scholastic context. I remember using many rubber bands on one board, layering them to make more interesting (and maybe, occasionally, inappropriate) shapes. Not only educational, but kind of fun. Until a rubber band snapped on your finger, anyway.
FIRST
There. No more FAIL.
these are the best.
This is mine
I HATED these damned things! I can’t tell you how many times between first and second grade I painfully rubber-band snapped my finger nail up against one of those metal nail-peg things. ::shudders:: Memorably painful.
These were great! Our second grade teacher had us make our own geoboards. My dad took me to a hardware store to buy double-headed nails and I thought they were really cool. I don’t remember anyone being hurt by the rubber bands, though. Back then, kids were used to playing with Creepy Crawlers, Click-Clacks, and other dangerous toys, so we learned how to be very careful.
Man, I forgot these things existed. I can still hear the boing of the rubber bands <3
I hated those things. Boring (what idiot can’t make a square, even in the second grade?) and so very painful when the rubber bands snapped you.
I think I only ever used these for academic purposes once, maybe twice. The rest of the time they were used for making pretty pictures and shooting rubber bands at your friends. The worst part was when I took a class on math for teachers in college where we had to form groups and design and teach a math lesson aimed at 1st-5th graders to the rest of the class. One group of girls decided to “make” these boards out of cardboard and push pins. The pins were not very secure and kept coming loose and pricking my fingers. I can’t even remember what lesson they were trying to teach with those things, it was so poorly explained.
I remember using them in school. Area and perimeter was I think the idea. The ones I used most were molded plastic.
I loved these. Back in elementry school, they wouldn’t let you have a Game Boy in the classroom at all. If you forgot to bring a book the day you had a math test, these were pretty much your only option for anything close to fun.
Not so nostalgic! I have a pile of these sitting in my classroom right now, and they’re not old.
Omigosh, I remember these things! The teachers kept trying to tell us to make shapes, but I was always trying to make Mickey Mouse. =3
Oh God…I remember these things. My elementary school had a bunch of them and forced us to practice our shapes on them. Sadly, ours weren’t made out of kind plastic. Ours were made by the janitor out of a slab of wood and some nails.
I always ended up getting the one with the one missing peg so I could never make anything I wanted. Probably because some asshole was shooting people with rubber bands with it. Fun stuff.
My mom, being a kindergarten teacher, had a couple of these at home for me to play with when I was younger. I had the kind made of wood and nails, although they weren’t handmade. I never really got hurt by the rubber bands; I only got hurt when I accidentally stepped on the nails!! Owwe.
They’re lots of fun, and my mom still uses them in her classroom!
O_O I had completely forgotten about these until now. I remember, back in first or second grade… We were told to make shapes. A lot of kids made patterns. Someone wanted somebody else’s rubber bands. I don’t recall playing with it for very long, though… maybe the lesson was short.
These were SO fun in second grade! And first. But I moved to a school of jerks in third grade… Sarah, I MISS you! :’(
To this day, I still remember being in the 2nd grade (early 90’s) and my class using these. The teacher asked us to clear the boards and because I didn’t do it fast enough (to avoid getting snapped), I had to pull a card. First time ever. What a bitch teacher. I will never forget Mrs. Hansen, I will never forget.