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Welcome once again to the "Playful Maths" weekly series brought to you by

  Learn with Play at home (us) and The Imagination Tree

Together, let's make MATHS FUN!

............................................................................................................

Last week I shared Plastic Bottle Number Bowling.

This week we bring you another 2 Playful Maths Activities using Plastic Bottles. 

Today's activity from us focuses on "Measuring, Comparing and  Estimating" 

This activity also includes counting, pouring, fine-motor practice, hand-eye coordination practice, sensory experience, language development and imagination.

Ages: 2+

(M has just turned 4. See the bottom for handy tips to Extend or Simplify to meet your child's needs)

Making the Plastic Bottle Tools

We used recycled Plastic Bottles to make 3 tools to assist us with measuring. A scoop, a funnel and a measuring cup

Materials: 2 Plastic Bottles (one with a handle), scissors, marker.

To Make the Scoop

We used a milk bottle for the scoop. Our milk bottles are made from quite a soft, flexible plastic which makes a great scoop.

It spreads wide for easy scooping but when tipped back holds the rice in very easily.

If you want, you can then also use the scoop as a funnel, simply unscrew the lid!

To Make the Funnel & Measuring Cup

Cut around the top of a bottle to make a funnel. 

(The smaller the mouth of the bottle, the slower the rice will flow through)

Use the bottom half of the bottle for a measuring cup

(we make the measuring cup together. Keep reading to see how and why)

The Play

Materials: Coloured Rice tub (or whatever you're using for measurement. eg flour, salt, water for capacity etc), Plastic Bottle Tools (see above), 1 cup measuring cup, variety of plastic cups.

Scooping and Pouring

We filled up a 1 cup measuring cup and I asked where she thought one cup of rice would fill the bottle to?

She estimated and then we checked.

Filling the measuring cup and then seeing where the rice fills up to.

I cut around the line to make a 1 cup measure from the bottom of the plastic plastic bottle

and then she had to check to make sure they would hold the same amount.

They met approval and we now had a proper plastic bottle measuring cup

I encouraged her to test some of her plastic cups to see if they held the same amount as the measuring cup, more than or less than the measuring cup?

I encouraged her to guess first and then test to see if she was right.

This cup was smaller than the measuring cup. 

It held less rice than the measuring cup

This cup was larger than the measuring cup. It could hold more rice.

We talked about using measuring when we cook. 

What might happen if we were making cookies that asked for 1 cup of flour.

Could we use any cup or should we use a measuring cup?

What might happen if we used the big green cup instead, or the smaller white cup? etc

We looked at all the cups and talked about which one might  hold the same amount as the measuring cup.

This involved making inferences and estimation based on what she'd already experienced.

We then tested her predictions.

This one came very close!

Then I left her to her own devices to play and experiment as she wished.

She managed to get a cardboard tube from somewhere and put it to good use.

And then there was plenty of imaginative play as well.

Handy Tips:

- Simplify this activity by just giving them the plastic bottle measuring tools to play and experiment with. Try some basic counting by giving instructions like, 1 scoop of rice. 2 spoonfulls of rice. etc.

- You can Extend this activity in many ways:

• Have the child make their own plastic bottle measuring tools. What other tools can they come up with?
• Graph the results of your findings. Were there more cups that held less or more than the measuring cup?
• Make your own measuring cups of varying amounts. eg 1/2 or 1/4 cup measurements.

- Mix it up by using the bottles to create a weighing scale to compare varying amounts of rice

- Allow children the freedom to explore and investigate on their own. They will often come up with ideas or experiences that we would not have thought of. It also gives them the opportunity to make these discoveries and learn new skills themselves without being shown them.

- Did you catch our other 2 maths activities using Plastic Bottles?

(click the pictures to go to the posts)

    

- Below are the Paper Tube Activities from both Learn with Play at home and The Imagination Tree
(click on the pictures to go to the posts)

  
  

- Playful Maths. Below are the Egg Carton Activities from both Learn with Play at home and The Imagination Tree
(click on the pictures to go to the posts)

           

Don't forget to join us next week where we're bringing you more Playful Maths activities. 

This time using Bottle Tops.

Happy playing,

Debs :)

Follow the entire series on our

 Playful Maths Pinterest Board.

-----------------------------------

Look where else we are. Are you following along? :)

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Continue reading...

Are you following us on Pinterest?

Welcome once again to the "Playful Maths" weekly series brought to you by

  Learn with Play at home (us) and The Imagination Tree

Together, let's make MATHS FUN!

........................................

Last week I shared Ordering and Number Recognition with Paper Tubes.

This week we bring you another 2 Playful Maths Activities using Plastic Bottles. 

Today's activity from us focuses on "Counting, Ordering & Making 10" 

This activity also includes number recognition, one-to-one correspondence, counting-on and number writing.

Maths Jargon:

Making 10 (or knowing the numbers that go together to make 10 eg. 3 and 7, 2 and 8 etc.) is a fundamental skill for children to master for further maths involving our base 10 system.

It's very beneficial to have a good understanding as it will help with mental maths problems in the future!

(For example, If asked what 76 + 5 is? you would instantly know that to make to the nearest 10 (80) needs 4 more. So it's 1 more than that. 81... sounds long winded for something that happens without thinking hey?) :)

Ages: 2+

(M has just turned 4. See the bottom for handy tips to Extend or Simplify to meet your child's needs)

Materials: 10 Plastic Bottles (we used 1.25 litre ones), Paint, Brush, Balls.

(Tip: no time for painting? Just write the numbers on with a permanent marker or use large stickers)

Setup: Paint your bottles with the numbers 1-10 and set aside to dry.

I wanted to make them big and bright so that the numbers really stood out from the clear plastic.

When they were dry I set them up so they were ready for my daughter to get home from kinder

She was right into it straight away. 

(Even wanted to do it before a snack. That's saying something haha)

After each shot she counted how many were still UP and how many were knocked DOWN

As we talked about the numbers that were Up and Down I reinforced the fact that there were 10 bottles-pins all together by asking her, "how many bottles/pins all together?"

I suggested the idea of writing down the amounts that were Up and Down and she was very keen to. 

(Note: If she was not keen I would have left it. 

Forcing the learning would not make it fun and she would not want to play)

On her own she found the bottles with the corresponding numbers that she wanted to write and used them to see how to write the number.

Putting the bottles back up and ordering them was one of her favourite parts that she insisted on doing without assistance.

To help her with positioning I put dot stickers on the floor where the bottle-pins could go.

To assist with ordering and one-to-one correspondence you could write the numbers on the stickers.

Then she bowled (and counted and wrote and ordered and added and counted on....)

... and bowled.

Handy Tips:

- Simplify this activity by just having fun bowling and trying to knock them down. Just being around the numbers and hearing them talked about in a real life and meaningful way like this will reinforce understanding without having to push any learning at all.

- You can Extend this activity in many ways:

• Having the child paint the numbers on themselves
• Write the numbers as equations  eg. 3 + 7 = 10
• Fill the bottles with varying amounts of water and rice to see how easily they can be knocked down or not
• Make predictions as to the number that will be knocked down and see how close you were.

- Mix it up by trying a variety of different balls. Which type of ball is best for knocking them all down?

- To learn new skills and to consolidate their understanding, children need to experience opportunities to practice these same skills over and over again. You will find many of our Maths activities practice the same skills like counting, number recognition etc. using slightly different materials. This is about making it fun and keeping it interesting for kids. Then, they'll want to learn!

- Below are the Paper Tube Activities from both Learn with Play at home and The Imagination Tree
(click on the pictures to go to the posts)

  
  

- Playful Maths. Below are the Egg Carton Activities from both Learn with Play at home and The Imagination Tree
(click on the pictures to go to the posts)

           



Don't forget to join us next week for more Playful Maths activities with Plastic Bottles.

Which Everyday Materials do you like using for Maths?

Happy playing,

Debs :)

Follow the entire series on our

 Playful Maths Pinterest Board.

-----------------------------------

Look where else we are. Are you following along? :)

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