Early Math Counts

As I sit here and write this, I can only hope that when you saw the title of this post you did NOT think about stickers as rewards.  I can’t stand when children are rewarded with stickers or other small items for doing what they are supposed to in school.  Remember, we don’t praise expected behavior, we EXPECT expected behavior.  If children learn early that there is an external reward system, some may only perform if they are rewarded. Internal satisfaction is what we strive to for as children develop autonomy.

So, why write about stickers?  Stickers are a wonderful and inexpensive way for children to participate in activities, as a viable option to drawing or writing.

If you were at the dollar store and came across a rack of stickers, I would buy them up, especially if they were thematically organized.  Imagine having a wonderful set of insect stickers such as these.

Your children can graph their favorites, play a matching game, (create this game using 3 X 5 notecards and 2 sets of the stickers), describe their attributes, identify their parts, look for patterns, etc.  The list goes on and on and can be replicated with any good set of stickers.

Using stickers to enhance your study of Bugs is a cheap and cheerful child favorite.