Cookie Shapes

by Early Math Counts

Goodie Games JarThis one is from the Goodie Games series.  In the next month or so, I am going to explore some early learning games that promote math skills on Manipulative Mondays, but for today, I thought we could take a look at this as a simple tool for sorting, classifying, and making patterns.

There are several directions you could go with this set.  I would start by introducing it on a table (rather than in the Housekeeping Area) so that children can explore the shapes in whatever way they choose.  The children themselves may come up with some very interesting ways of playing with these cookies.  Observe carefully.  You may find that the children naturally begin sorting them into categories without any prompting from the adults. I imagine that some of the categories children will come up with, may be hard to see or recognize.  They may sort the cookies into piles of “Cookies I Like” and “Cookies I don’t Like”.  That is what I would do.

Later, you can ask that they sort the cookies in specific ways by observable attributes (color, size, shape).  They can count them, distribute them, make patterns out of them and eventually play all of the games that come with the set.

The thing I like best about this set, is that these cookies look like the cookies I grew up with.  Do you remember the “Pinwheel” cookie, or am I aging myself?

 

12 Replies to “Cookie Shapes”

  1. This set is great because not only can you use it in your Math center but also in your Dramatic Play center. There are several ways the children can sort the cookies: cookies they like, cookies they don\’t like, by shape, by color, by size, and so much more! Great idea!

  2. I know. These cookies make me happy and I have never seen them just sitting around a center. They seem to always be a choice when the children are playing.

  3. I like this game not only because it can be used to short or match but that the cookies give the shapes a little more depth. It makes children think out the box as far as the set just being used in the dramatic play area, but actually identifying the shapes in which the cookies are.

  4. Using patterns with cookies are a great way because it shows which cookie comes before or after.

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