Early Math Counts

Grandma Great always had a flower garden no matter where she lived. I remember, as a young child, helping to plant, tend, and then harvest the garden foods that we would later eat. At her house there were two sections set aside for flowers, one in the front and one on the side where there was more shade. Over the summer and fall we would clip and placed the flowers in a vase with a frog at the bottom. If you are wondering about what type of frog would be in a vase, this frog is a special object made to support the flowers in the vase. Look closely at picture of the flowers and the vase and you can see the “frog” in the bottom of the vase.  Grandma Great had a few different sizes that had different amounts of holes

This was a great exploration activity for me regarding early counting skills. We would count the number of holes. Then go out to the flower beds to find that number of different types of flowers to cut and bring inside. As I placed the flower stems into the holes I  my understanding of numbers and one-to-one correspondence developed in a positive way. There were not red marks on a paper if I had the wrong amount, simply extra flowers that would need a different vase. Sometime there would be too few and together we would figure out how many more were needed. This type of self correction made it easy for me to understand the one-to-one relationships between the number of holes and the number of flowers

I spent many hours arranging and then re-arranging flowers in the frog. The number of flowers always remained the same when I filled up all of the holes.  As a young child this surprised me because young children are starting to learn that the number of items remain the same even when you rearrange item in several different ways.

From the time I opened my child care until it closed, there were at least 2 flower pots with flower plants in the outside play area. This allowed for a wide variety of exploration and discussion. Some of the favorite activities that the children completed were:

• Counting seeds, creating a hole in the dirt, placing a seed, then covering it up.
• Measuring out the water that would be given to the plant in a plastic measuring cup.
• Marking on the calendar the days that we watered the flowers and the days where the soil was moist so we did not need to.
• Placing a ruler next to the plant and noticing how much it grew over the days.
• Counting the number of flowers and buds.
• Comparing the number of petals or size of the different flowers.

Another benefit for this type of learning about math is that flower pots helps children to connect with nature in a meaningful way. They begin to understand the cycle of living things and what plants need in order to thrive. Children have the ability to explore in an environment that supports their growing minds. Plus there is the added benefit of being able to bring some beautiful colors and smells into the home.

Flower gardens are easy to grow in almost any climate. I live in what is call a High Desert where there is limited rain, an average of 300 days of sunshine, surrounded by mountains, with temperatures that can fluctuate over 20 degrees from the hottest to coldest part of the day, and the town sits at 4,500 feet above sea level. The key to success is to talk with your local Extension Office or Garden Center to see what grows best in your area. Note: It is important to consider the spread of the plant as some can quickly spread when planted in the ground. I had mint one year that spread into the lawn and roses…… but oh it smelled amazing.