Materials
large containerbuttons, bottle caps, old keys, or any other small items
Instructions
1. Place the items in a container and give it to a child.
2. Invite the child to sort and classify the items into piles: keys, buttons, and so forth.
3. Then have the child explain how the items in each pile are alike and how they are different. For example, some buttons may be big and some small; some keys may be silver while others are gold.
4. Ask another child to choose one of the piles and organize the items by one characteristic, such as length. The child might put the items end to end and compare and contrast what she sees. For example, how many are short keys? Long keys?5. Ask another child to use the items in another pile of items to solve a simple math problem, such as:* If you have 10 bottle caps and give me two, how many will you have left?* If you have three big buttons and three small ones, how many will you have altogether?6. For older children, create activities that challenge them to use mathematical reasoning. Ask them, for example, to look closely at items and answer questions such as:* Is a gold colored key always heavier than a silver colored one?* Do the big buttons always have more holes that the smaller ones?
