weighing and measuring – Early Math Counts https://earlymathcounts.org Laying the foundation for a lifetime of achievement Mon, 10 Jul 2017 21:57:16 +0000 en-US hourly 1 183791774 Steal the Jewels https://earlymathcounts.org/steal-the-jewels/ https://earlymathcounts.org/steal-the-jewels/#respond Thu, 24 Dec 2015 12:16:11 +0000 http://www.mathathome.org/blog1/?p=3513 JewelsMy favorite game – completely made up by the fabulous teachers at my former preschool- was called “Steal the Jewels.”

The premise is simple.  Take a whole bunch of shiny strings of beads (the New Orleans Mardi Gras kind work really well) and make a pile of them in one area of your indoor gross motor area, or outside if it is warm.

The children decide the rules.  They may choose to make it a chasing game, where some children are the Stealers and some children are the Rescuers.  The Stealers run to the jewels and steal one string (or two, if the children choose that) and try to get their jewels to the Stealers’ place.  The Rescuers try to tag the Stealers, and if successful, the Stealers give up their jewels and they are returned to the original spot.

It is helpful to suggest some ground rules that are sure to encourage fair play.  Perhaps each child can only steal one string at a time and no one can take a string away from someone who has it in their hands. Encourage the children to make rules that prohibit grabbing the jewels from each other, or tagging too hard.  It works best if the Rescuers assign one child to be the Protector of the jewels, and only the Protector can hover around the pile.

Another way to play is to hide the jewels all over the space and instead of Stealers and Rescuers, the children try to get as many of the jewels back to their jewel chest as possible.  At the end of the round, use a Bucket Balance to measure and weigh the jewels to see which team has more. This game is fun, exciting, engaging, and the math possibilities are strong. It is interesting for the children to also count the strings of jewels to see if there are “more” in the heavier” pile.

 

]]> https://earlymathcounts.org/steal-the-jewels/feed/ 0 3513 Weighing with a Bucket Balance https://earlymathcounts.org/weighing-with-a-bucket-balance/ https://earlymathcounts.org/weighing-with-a-bucket-balance/#comments Mon, 21 Dec 2015 13:45:27 +0000 http://www.mathathome.org/blog1/?p=3515 Balances and scales are rich with opportunities for children to consider weight and size.  The Bucket Balance, pictured below is made for the classroom and it encourages children to weigh objects “relatively” to a standard weight or “relatively” to another object.  Through trial and error, they can see if an object is lighter or heavier than another object and then adjust the balance until they make it the same.

Remember, young children may be fooled by appearances, so they may think that something that is “bigger” may weigh more, while that might not be true at all.

Learning Resources says of the Bucket Balance that it is “Perfect for exploring basic measurement concepts.” Children can measure, explore volume and compare solids and liquids.

Bucket Balance

 

This coming Thursday, I am going to write about a gross motor game that uses the bucket balance.  I think you are going to like it.

 

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