Materials:

• index cards
• chart paper
• markers, crayons, and pencils
• sealable plastic sandwich bags

Objective: Children will create drawings of family members to use for math activities including counting, seriating, sorting, grouping, and sequencing.

In Advance: Share stories with children (see box below) about different kinds of families. Emphasize that all families are different, but they are the same in that they care for one another.

ACTIVITY

1. On top of a sheet of chart paper, write the heading Names for Family Members. Ask the class to think of the different names that describe family members like mother and uncle. Record their responses on chart paper.

2. Invite children to make pictures of several family members. Give them index cards and drawing materials to create their pictures. Ask them to write the different family members' names on the bottom of each drawing. Store their drawings in individual sealable plastic bags.

3. Invite the group to share their family drawings. Ask them to place their drawings in order from oldest family member to youngest family member. How about smallest to tallest?

4. Now ask them to group the family members by relationship to their mothers or fathers. Encourage them to think of additional ways to group their family drawings.

5. Invite children to compare all their family members. Who has the most? Who has the least? If they were to compile all of their drawings together, how many aunts and uncles are represented? How many grandparents? Develop graphs or charts to document the information that they are gathering.

6. Finally, ask children, "If you could be one family member other than yourself, who would you choose to be? Why?"

Curriculum Connection: BLOCK BUILDING

A House for My Family. Invite children to design and build a special house for their family. Encourage them to develop their ideas on paper first. Then, schedule time for each child to work in the block area. After they have completed their structure, invite them to show their work to the class. Ask them to tell the class about their home and why it is a special place for their family.