Scientist/Mathematician Activities & Resources: Ages 3-5

Feb 01, 2013

Ages

3-5

Math time

Feb 01, 2013

Scientist/Mathematician

Many traditional ways of teaching and learning are easily accessed by the Scientist/Mathematician child.  Even so, you can extend what your child is doing at school, and support your child to branch into less favored areas with these activities & resources.

  • Provide many opportunities for your child to take apart and put together.  This may be with a series of complex puzzles, or an old appliance on its way to the scrap heap.
  • Delight in pattern making:  There are so many different patterns to be discovered—both concrete and abstract.  For example, there are countless concrete patterns on clothing, but also consider the abstract patterns of days in and out of school, or days daddy works late. Make patterns out of fun items, such as Goldfish when reading Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister.  As your child gets more skilled, make the patterns more complex.
  • Let’s count!: Make counting part of your everyday interactions!  Count the number of people in line before you, or after you.  Count the number of different kinds of drinks on the menu, or number of kids who slide down the slide.  Make natural addition and subtraction comparisons (e.g., There were 4 kids on line but 2 went down.  How many are left?”)  For kids who love numbers, this is more play than learning, but who says they have to know the truth!
  • Sound Memory Game:  Fill pairs of plastic eggs with matching items that will create interesting sounds (e.g., marbles, beads, various beans, cereals, etc.).  See if your child can identify the pairs.          
  • Online resources:
  • Measure your ear, foot, and height and see how you compare to some of your animal friends! http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org/kidsite/activities/measures/
  • For a fun sorting game that will let your child sort the same items by different characteristics, try http://www.iboard.co.uk/curriculum.htm#3915
  • For a magical symmetry experience, check out http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/charlie-and-lola/games/charlie-and-lola-butterflygallery
  • http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/numbertime/index.shtml: Math games for little ones
  • Fun online math games: http://www.cookie.com/kids/games/mathgames.html
  • More fun math games: http://www.toytheater.com/math.php

 

 

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