I love when children explore and experiment with math concepts through their play. In fact, check out this quick list of math concepts and play from Deborah at Teach Preschool.
Here are some ideas and ways to engage young kids in math play from around the blogosphere---
I wrote this post for Pre-K Pages. It's one of our most successful math play experiences. We also did a similar activity in first grade when we measured with adding machine tape. Your children may enjoy measuring other things with blocks...or measuring their bodies with other nonstandard measurements.
Karen uses photos to play with all kinds of math concepts--classification, counting, and patterning are just a few.
Use buttons and playing cards to create a fun counting/quantity game. I'd like to put these materials out and see how the children would explore math with them on their own...before adding any of my own ideas.
One of my all time favorite ideas is from Deborah. She and her kids use math bags - bags that the children take home to gather things to use as counters and in math play. I think this makes the math play more personally meaningful...and you get a variety of things to use as manipulatives or counters. (Also check out the other links on the page about Deborah's math bags.)
Check out Teacher Tom's thoughts about "teaching" math and math play. Tom always makes me see things in a slightly different way.
Geometric Shapes Activity (Little Bins for Little Hands)
This activity has lots of possibilities for math play and exploring shapes. I could see my kids enjoying lots of exploration and experimentation.
And a few posts here:
Homemade Board Games
Hands on Graphing
Do I Detect a Pattern?
Exploring Weight
Sorting
This activity has lots of possibilities for math play and exploring shapes. I could see my kids enjoying lots of exploration and experimentation.
And a few posts here:
Homemade Board Games
Hands on Graphing
Do I Detect a Pattern?
Exploring Weight
Sorting
