Silly Putty Turned Serious Learning!

It's raining here and we're stuck inside.  No problem -- time for some indoor fun (and learning).

Today, my 2 year old and I were exploring the magic of Silly Putty, and I saw a perfect opportunity to practice our shapes, numbers and letters, while (you guessed it) having fun!   We took turns the rolling the Silly Putty into "sticks", that we then shaped into different letters, numbers and geometric shapes.  The best part was "sticking" them to the front of our cabinet doors in the kitchen.  I have to admit that it wasn't just my 2 year old who was loving this.

We even got the 6 month old involved when we made a Silly Putty "stick figure" and started introducing Stickman's ears, nose, mouth, etc to her.

If you don't have Silly Putty, any sort of play dough (homemade or store bought) or clay should produce the same effect!

If you have older kids, have them sound out new words that you make out of the Silly Putty, or have them practice their latest math concepts.  This tactile form of learning is a great way to make old (dare I say "boring") concepts seem fun and exciting!

Going on a road trip? Let them bring a hardback book as their "desk" and roll out the Silly Putty right in their laps!

Silly Putty turned serious learning!

Bringing Math into March Madness

Never mind the complicated algorithms needed to get team seeds and brackets, here's a great way to sneak in a little math with your kids while rooting for your favorite teams.  Give your kids a possible score (let's say 14) and ask them to figure out different ways the team could have reached a total of 14 points (i.e. 2 points + 2 points + 2 points + 2 points + 2 points + 2 points + 2 points). Then follow up with, "Hey, that's 7 groups of 2 point shots, [7 x 2]..."  What a beautiful way to bring multiplication in!  Next, ask if there is another way the team could have gotten to 14?" (i.e. 3 points + 3 points + 3 points + 3 points + 2 points)

Simplify it a bit by saying that your team has, say, 6 points.  Then ask how many more points the team needs to get to reach 10 points.  Or, compare your teams score (let's say 10) with the opponent's score (let's say 15).  How many MORE points does your team need to score to beat the opponent?

Complicate it a bit by asking questions like, how many groups of 2 point shots did our team get if it has a score of 42?  How many 3 point shots did we get if the team has a score of 42?

Let the Madness be an inspiration for more Math!

Spring has Sprung -- Make it Meaningful and Measureful

If Spring has sprung in your neck of the woods, turn the glorious outside weather into an authentic learning universe! One ever-so-helpful activity that you can encourage your kids to do is measuring different plants and flower growth.  Measurement is notoriously tough for kids of all ages, so the more practice they can get, the better off they'll be.
It's sometimes tough to measure flora with a regular ruler, so let your kids pick a favorite ribbon or piece of string as their nonstandard measuring tool.  [This is also handy because they can measure the circumference of trees (the length around the tree) using the ribbon or string.]

Let your child pick what he wants to measure.  Is it the new dandelion emerging from the ground or a blade of grassing poking up through the crack in the sidewalk, or is it a bunch of different plants around the yard? Again, let your child choose!  Once your kiddo has picked what he wants to measure help him hold the string along the plant (or around the plant) and keep fingers on the two ends.  Lay the string or ribbon down next to a standard ruler, again keeping tabs on the two endpoints and help your child read the length of your specimen.  Depending on the age of your child, you may need to round to the nearest inch, 1/2 inch, 1/4 inch, etc.  This is also a great time to talk about the metric side of the ruler and how the lengths are the same, but the systems are just different.
Don't forget to record your child's findings (or let him do it!) and revisit the plant once a week/month to chart its growth!
Happy Measuring!! ;)

Pucker Up, We're Counting Kisses

Pucker up, Buttercup!  Valentine's Day may have come and gone (I think many of us may be a little thrilled by that), but 'tis always the season for kisses! A simple, fun and loving way to practice counting with your little ones is with kisses.  I tell Katie that she is going to 5 kisses and then we count each one as I give them to her.  Other times, she gets 10 kisses.  She loves getting the kisses and tries to "top" the number that I gave her by giving me one ore kiss.  So simple, and yet so effective!
For older kids, try counting your kisses by 2s, 3s, 5s, or ask your child to figure out how many kisses he will get by solving the expression you give him (I'm going to give you 4 kisses plus 2 kisses...how many kisses is that?)

Sing (and Type) the ABCs

If you're reading this blog, chances are you've got a computer.  Great!  Have you thought about using it to help your child learn her ABCs?  I'm not talking about video games or YouTube videos (though there are some really great, albeit additive, ones out there), I'm suggesting a more interactive "game" between you and your child (and your keyboard.

Simply open up a blank Word doc, enlarge the font and start asking your child to type the different letters.  Katie, my 2-year-old, absolutely LOVES this "game".  She sees me typing away and this gives her the feeling that she's doing the same thing.  I have her sit on my lap with my laptop on a lap board on top and ask her to type "B, for baby" or "C, for Charlie".  She really gets a kick out of seeing the letters she's typed appear on the screen and again, she's having so much fun that she has no idea that she's learning.  We stick with "caps lock" on as she's just beginning to identify letters, but soon enough I'll have her type in lowercase letters as well.

We play this splendid game with numbers, too.  Again, there's no reason you couldn't extend this activity to include spelling practice (type in the word, "bat") rhyming words (type in a word that rhymes with "bat", sums (type in the sum of 3 and 9) and differences (type in the answer to 10 minus 8), and so on.

Keep kids laughing and enjoying themselves, and you'll keep them open to learning endless amounts of things!

Math? Hop to It!

This "winter" has been incredibly warm of late so my 2-year-old and I were outside yesterday playing with sidewalk chalk.  After we had drawn our umpteenth star, flower and family portrait, I decided to make things a little more educational.  So, I took a second to write various letters and numbers all over the sidewalk in no particular order or spacing.  Then, her job was to run and jump on whatever letter or number I called out.  Simple as it may sound, she absolutely loved this "game".  She couldn't get enough of scouting out the 3 or the K or the M.  I made sure to only write the letters and numbers that she is familiar with, so it wasn't overwhelming, but rather good practice.
I got to thinking that this could easily be extended to kids of all ages.  The youngest kiddos, like mine, should just stick to basic identification.  Kids who need a bit more of a challenge, though, could be asked to find sums or differences, or products and quotients.  For instance, if you wrote a 6, 10, 12, 16, 18, and 20, you could ask your child to find and jump on:
- the sum of 4 and 2
- the difference between 12 and 2
- the product of 3 times 4
- the quotient of 40 divided by 2, and so on.

You can cater this to kids of all ages and abilities.  Again, the possibilities are endless, and kids have a blast because they think it's a game more than anything else.  The physical part of running and jumping on the letters and numbers make it more fun than seeing the numbers written on paper and chalkboards.  What do you think?

Homemade Number Cards

I was at Target earlier this morning and was so close to buying a pack of "Number Cards" for my 2 year old, since she is really getting into number identification and counting.  Luckily, before I checked out, I realized that I could save myself a few bucks and make math so much more meaningful just by making my own.  Do I really think she is going to know/care about the difference between factory-made and mom-made? I think not.  Rather than spend the $4.99 on the pre-made cards, I got a pack of blank 3 x 5" index cards.  All I need now is a Sharpie.  The nice thing about making these homemade cards is that I can:

1. go up to whatever value I want (we're at 30 right now),
2. decide if I want to write only numerals, or words and numerals, or even add pictures (see #3)
3. draw pictures of things that I know she will love! (right now she's in love with Max and Ruby, so I can draw 10 bunnies or 15 carrots or whatever)  The fact that the pictures will relate to something she loves will make the cards a positive thing that she really enjoys, as opposed to an isolated math threat.

The possibilities of these cards are truly endless.  We'll start with identifying and ordering from least to greatest, but from there, we could do so many different FUN (and educational) things with these cards -- all for the cost of a pack of index cards!

Remember, kids need to make connections to really make learning meaningful.  What does your child love? Find out and use that as the base for any learning opportunity!

Happy Educating!