Some maths activities - 3-6 year olds

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I recieved permission to repost this e-mail. Much of it was taken from Practica, with their website being - http://www.practica.co.za/Portal/Users/portalPageEdit.aspx?CatID=1 & SubCatID=1 & MenuItem=Item_1 1. Geometric solids - Somehow I've just never got around to purchasing these and my dd is now 5 yo. I remembered an article I read on Montessori and the home at http://www.mammolina.org/ in the Old Publications section, second to last heading on the right-hand side called Montessori Method.http://www.mammolina.org/mARKhives_AM/publish/mCard00103600001923MWWIDXXX000.shtmlQuoting from

this article:"Cubes, prisms, spheres and cylinders are found among householdutensils and articles of furniture" and "The visual perception ofform is taught by the use of geometrical forms andtablets"...."These tablets can easily be cut from cardboard".I suddenly realised that I'm never going to buy these and started looking around the house and in my kitchen cupboards. Big smile. I found Oxo *cubes*...do you have these elsewhere? They are stock cubes wrapped in shiny, silver paper. I found ice cream *cones.* I found cereal boxes, *rectangular solids.* A Pringles chip container was a fine example of a *cylinder.* I was unable to locate a pyramid but upon hearing about my plight, my ds, 10yo, promptly built an excellent example out of lego. It was a fun exercise for all of us.2. I have extracted the following from my Practica programme:(NB:This is copyrighted material.)Help your child to experience

numbers with his body. Write down the numbers from 1 to 10 on ten sheets of paper (I used plain A4 photocopy paper and wrote really large numbers, 20cm or so) and place these on the ground in the correct sequence from left to right. Now do the following:-Invite child to stand on zero, left of number 1. Say something like:'You have five stones.' Invite him to walk across the first five papers until he is standing on number5.- Now say 'Two stones disappear.' He takes two steps to the left (in the direction of number 1.)-'How many stones are left?' He can give you the answer from the paper he is standing on.Continue in this fashion, making up different stories.(Note from me: I just asked my dd, 5yo, to jump forward five steps and backwards two and did away with the whole stone thing.)You may increase the numbers you work with, even right up to twenty, as his understanding increases.Using the same

technique, you can illustrate the age difference between two children:- Let two siblings stand on the correct paper for their age.- Say something like 'Next year, this time, you will both be a year older. Jump to the next age.' They both jump to the next number.- Ask each of them 'How old will you be?'- Then ask 'How old will you be in two years?'Say any number between one and ten. The child stands on that number. Ask him to jump one *more* than that number or one *less* than that number.(Note from me: I asked dd to jump forward two, then another two etc, skip counting by two and she shouted out the numbers she landed on...2,4,6,8,10. I did the same for odd numbers. Then we jumped in three's...3,6,9,12 etc. and four's as I had numbers 1-20 out.)Invite the child to count from one to ten as he walks on the sheets of paper. He may also choose to count backwards as he walks backwards on the

sheets of paper.Numerical conceptualising, calculations, numerical relations, general insight, visual conceptualising. Carol in IL Mom to seven including , 6 with TOF, AVcanal, GERD, LS, Asthma, subglottal stenosis, chronic constipation ( cured now ) and DS. My problem is not how I look. It's how you see me. __________________________________________________