the Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood – Early Math Counts https://earlymathcounts.org Laying the foundation for a lifetime of achievement Mon, 10 Jul 2017 21:57:12 +0000 en-US hourly 1 183791774 The Museum of Childhood (Pt. 2) https://earlymathcounts.org/the-museum-of-childhood-pt-2/ https://earlymathcounts.org/the-museum-of-childhood-pt-2/#respond Tue, 13 Jan 2015 12:30:46 +0000 http://www.mathathome.org/blog1/?p=3162 Early PlayVisitors to the Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood can see one of the greatest collections of doll houses in the world.  The houses range from Victorian mansions to modern-day apartment complexes; each unique and representative of a different era in history.  IMG_1417

 


apartment

 

Some of the dollhouses seemed far too delicate for play. Some were very complicated. They all had intricate details that revealed a slice of life from a certain place and time so carefully designed that you can almost see teeny families living inside of them.

How does “housekeeping” or “dollhouse” play connect to math?  As young children explore family life, they consider the relationships that exist between people and between the roles they play.  Imagine the young child putting the baby in his crib.  She is thinking about the babies she knows in her life.  They are small and they are young.  Their growing understanding is that babies are smaller than some other people and younger than some other people.  It is the relationship between the baby’s age and size as well as his role relative to others in his family.  Once the young child begins making these observations and putting this information together, she is constructing logico-mathematical knowledge.

Arranging the furniture and sorting it into the appropriate rooms is another way the young child develops mathematical competence while playing with dollhouses.  The places and spaces she encounters will challenge her social constructs about how these things compare to her own home and family.  She will have to develop new schemas for new information as her current schemas are challenged.  Even if your classroom dollhouse doesn’t look exactly like the homes your children live in, they provide a framework for play that encourages creative thinking.

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The Museum Of Childhood https://earlymathcounts.org/the-museum-of-childhood/ https://earlymathcounts.org/the-museum-of-childhood/#respond Wed, 07 Jan 2015 12:36:15 +0000 http://www.mathathome.org/blog1/?p=3147 Last week I visited the Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood in London, England.  We were on vacation visiting my family in Jolly Olde England and I made it a point to get over to this museum since I knew it would provide inspiration for this blog and it would fill my heart with images of children at play and children throughout history.

Over the next few weeks, I am going to write about some of the areas of the museum, especially those connected to early math learning.

One of the first things I noticed was the sheer quantity of toys specifially designed for open-ended construction play.  Everything from Legos to large wooden blocks are placed strategically throughout the museum.  You can also see how these “types” of toys exist in other areas of the world.

IMG_1410These are very simple blocks with nongender specific figures that can be arranged and designed in an infinite array of scenes.  Here, the blocks are set up as a playground area, but they could depict anything a child’s imagination can create.IMG_1411These blocks are much older but you can see how they are not unlike the newer version.  I love the wooden carry box and the endless possibilities for open-ended play this set provided for children a century and a half ago.

The museum is very careful to remind guests that many of these toys were not available to most people.  Only people with disposable income might buy these toys for their children or a set, like the one above, might be a gift for a many children at Christmas time, for example.

Open-ended construction manipulatives are grounded in early math concepts.  As children manipulate these block sets, they consider their attributes (and therefore, their uses), the spatial requirements for placement and utility, the quantity of available pieces…. the list goes on.

Next week, I will share some photos of nesting blocks, Froebel’s gifts, and doll houses.

 

 

 

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