An early childhood science area is usually made up of tools used for exploring materials and collections of materials. Tools such as magnifying glasses, goggles, light tables, mirrors, magnets, specimen viewers,sorting trays, tweezers and thermometers (to name a few) should be made available to children at all times so they can investigate the “collections” you have in your room.  Ideally, the children themselves helped in developing the classroom collections.  For example, during walks around the neighborhood, the children can collect leaves that have fallen to the ground.  At this time of the year, your leaf collection can be pretty spectacular. Unfortunately, this collection needs to be replaced annually. as the leaves will dry out and fall apart.  That process, in and of itself, is a pretty interesting one for children to explore.

It is nice to have a collection of rocks and stones.  Again, these will range in type depending on where you live. Outside of small pebbles (choking hazard) I would encourage the children to collect all sorts of rocks. The wider the selection, the more attributes they will have. Since Chicago is right on Lake Michigan, we also have a never ending supply of shells.  This collection can take years to build, but shells are an awesome found material that can be explored in a variety of ways.

So what does all of this have to do with math?

It is pretty fascinating to observe young children investigate materials and collections in the science area. I like to consider ways that children might use a variety of materials in authentic ways, with enough time and space to allow for deep exploration. It is a natural instinct for them to separate the items, categorize them, look for common traits or characteristics, order them, sort them, and count them.  The more interesting the collection, the more the children will want to spend time with it. Imagine putting out the container of seashells you see above.  There are a lot of shells all crammed in there.  I am not so sure that this is the best way to encourage deep engagement. Try reducing the collection to a smaller variety and then place those on a tray with a magnifying glass.  What do the children do?  How do they approach the materials?  How can you support their explorations while encouraging their instincts to categorize and sort?In the example above, the teacher has put out 4 shells.  They all have a common shape however, the colors and sizes are different.  This seemingly simple set-up encourages logico-mathematical thinking.  Children are faced with a relationship conundrum.  The shells look the same but they are different. It is in their “differences” that the children are able to identify the relationships between them.  One shell is smaller.  One shell has stripes.  They have to think about “same and different.”  They also have to identify their attributes. It reminds me of the Sesame Street song, “One of These Things is Not like the Other” where three items in a collection are similar and one is dissimilar.  Here, three shells are white and one is not.  Three are big and one is not.  In order for children to figure this out, they have to make sense of the relationships between them.

The differences between these shells is much more subtle.  You can hardly see the color change in the fourth shell.  But, if you provide the science tools, like a magnifying glass, the children will see the differences much more clearly. You can lay shells out on the light table as many of them are opaque or partially opaque.  The light will come through the shells in places and allow the children to see details they might not otherwise notice,

When you put out your your leaf collection, help organize the leaves in some fashion so children can approach them with purpose.  Perhaps start with the green leaves.  These are less likely to fall apart as the children handle them, and may be a little bit easier to study.  They will probably still lay flat so it is possible to put them under a microscope.

This is a leaf from a Birch tree.  You can clearly see the cells and the veins running through it. Depending on the quality of your microscope, the children will see some version of this and can make great observations about what they see.  Point out some of the characteristics of the leaves they are looking at.  Are they symmetrical?  If they are, then the children can fold them in half along the center vein and both sides will match up.  If they are asymmetrical, they won’t.

On another day, bring out the leaves that have begun turning colors.  How are these different?  How are they the same?  Be sure to leave a few green ones out for comparison.  Have the children feel the difference between the textures of the leaves as well.  Observe as they use their math skills to organize the collection into categories that make sense to them.

How else can you use the science area to support early math competencies?

Start with one good leaf.  Make sure that it is fresh enough that it won’t crumble when touched. Each child should have one good leaf in front of them.  They can then choose a color of paint and cover the leaf with the paint.

There are two ways to proceed.  The children can use the leaf as a printing block by pressing the leaf, paint side down onto paper, or s/he can press paper onto the leaf, paint side up.  Either way, an impression of the leaf should be transferred to the paper.

What makes this interesting is that the children can compare the actual leaf to the print image.  Is it the same?  How?  How is it different?  Using this language, children can consider the properties of the leaf, the image and both together.

Collecting leaves during this time will create great learning opportunities for the children in your care.  Before you set out, give each child a large plastic baggie so s/he can collect his/her own leaves.  Many children will stuff their baggies and others may pick leaves very carefully and consider options before committing to putting them in their bag.  Both of these systems is fine, as the goal is to have several leaves to bring back to the center.

Once inside, I would have the children sort through their leaves.  You could suggest that they put “like” colors or sizes together.  The goals is “sorting”.  You could then graph their leaves based on how they were sorted.

Another way to look at the leaves would be to try and match them by comparing their attributes to a leaf template like the one below.  Be sure to encourage the children to look for similarities and differences to find the closest match.

While the trees are still green and lush it is fun for children to collect their leaves and bring them inside to look at them more closely.  This is a great time to break out the magnifying glasses so the children can look at them in detail.

One of the first things you can do is have the children sort the leaves into piles.  You can them sort them by size (big and small), by color (light and dark) or by shape (pointy or round).  You can have them examine the leaves to see if they are the same on both sides, or different.  Leaves also have veins that run down their centers.  Sometimes they are symmetrical and sometimes they are asymmetrical.   This may be harder for children to see, but you could show them examples.

Using the leaves while they are still relatively fresh, the children can also do leaf etchings.  Simply place a piece of paper over a leaf and show the children how you can rub a crayon over it and you will get an image.

This beginning look at leaves is once again one of those great activities that really blends early science with early math learning.