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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!

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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.

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The other day we were making a batch of coloured rice to use for some measuring fun so I thought I'd share the details of how we made it in case you'd like to know.

It's very easy to do and you can colour it in a whole rainbow of colours for fun and interesting play and learning.

Materials: White rice, White vinegar, Food Colouring

(I have seen other people use an alcohol instead of the vinegar or even. just water. 

I use the vinegar because it helps to spread the colour evenly whilst also sterilizing 

and hopefully preserving the rice so we can get extended use out of it.)

Directions

Pour some vinegar into a bowl (or plastic ziplock bag) and add your food colouring.

You can use up to 1 tablespoon of vinegar per cup of rice.

Add as much colour as you'd like to get your desired colour.

Hint: I made 4 cups of rice so I used 4 tblsps of vinegar. 

I could have gotten away with using a little less though.

Add your rice to the bowl (or plastic ziplock bag) and stir (shake) until all the rice is evenly coloured

I lined my trays with foil and then spread out the rice for it to dry.

 (I'm always tempted to use towelling paper to speed up the drying process but I'm sure that the rice would stick to it!)

How long your rice takes to dry depends on a number of factors.

How wet you made your rice, how thinly the rice is spread and the temperature/conditions under which the rice is drying.

Hint: If your rice is very important for an activity I would suggest making it the night before

 so you are sure you will have nice dry coloured rice.

Despite it being a damp day, our rice took only a couple of hours to completely dry on the trays sitting in the kitchen.

Now your coloured rice is ready for play!

Enjoy!

Have a look at how we used this rice for some Playful Maths
(Click the picture to go to the post)

Happy playing,

Debs :)

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