Early Math Counts

I am married to a snow guy.  He loves the snow.  He loves the cold.  He loves the short grey days and the anticipation of a huge winter storm.  I am the exact opposite.  I find the winter very hard and unpleasant.  The cold enters my bones somewhere around the new year and doesn’t exit until sometime in June.

I did find more enjoyment in winter days when my kids were small.  There was something delightful about their sheer joy in playing in a newly fallen snow, tobogganing on a local hill, and having a gigantic snowball fight.  I love when little children are tightly wrapped in their snowsuits and they appear as wide as they are tall.  They look like Teletubbies!

The winter is a great source of curriculum in the early childhood world.  This month, we are going to look at the winter and all of its joys.  Try and think of each snowfall as a new and exciting opportunity to explore mathematical concepts with children.

Next time the snow comes, and it will, bring in a few bucketfuls and put it into the water table.  Using the sand table equipment (shovels and buckets), allow the children to explore the snow.  You can talk about how the snow is “heavy” but each snowflake is “light.” You can even incorporate the bucket balance into the play, so the children can weigh the snow.  Make sure that they wear mittens while they play and remember to put them on the heater when they are finished so they can dry out.