Math

It was springtime last year and I was on the hunt for things that reminded me of spring to use with Andrew’s My Obstacle Courses. I was in our grocery store, (which is a great place to find fun, thematic materials- especially in the “holiday” aisle and the shelves at the end of the aisle), and my eye caught a package of colored mini-marshmallows. They appealed to me because of their pastel colors, they could be used with tweezers for fine motor skill building and also because there were so many of them, which means that they make great math manipulatives (patterning, counting, sorting, graphing, use with dice for addition and subtraction, grouping for multiplication and division, etc.). For this post, I thought I would share a sorting station we did and the question cards we used after.

My Obstacle Course Station Activity: Colored Marshmallow Sorting

Station Preparation:

There were four different colors of marshmallows so I divided a sheet of regular white printer paper into four sections, writing the color word in each. I also labeled it “Marshmallow Sorting” because I like things like this to have a title :). You could place this inside of a sheet protector so it stays in better shape than mine!

I typed and printed out some questions for after they were sorted, cut them into question cards and put them into one of my small, spring colored pails. It seems like these cards would be unnecessary since I could just ask him the questions, but for us it makes all the difference in the world when he sees it written out on paper. It’s official My Obstacle Course business for him and not just another pestering question coming from mom.

I poured some marshmallows into one of my colored muffin cups and the station was ready!

At The Station:

When he got to the station, he read the directions, “Sort the marshmallows by color.” He squished them a little bit, smelled them a little bit (which made me realize that he probably hadn’t had much marshmallow exposure before, particularly since my husband and I don’t ever have them around!) and then sorted them. He likes to sort one color at a time but I know other children who sort as they remove items. Interesting to watch!

Once he was done sorting, we looked at the question cards and answered them. You can choose how many questions your child answers or have them “close their eyes and pick” to add some mystery. Here are some questions I wrote out to go with this station: marshmallow sorting questions. I like to incorporate math language in the questions as well ask some questions about personal preferences.

Engage, Encourage and Empower!

I was strolling through the aisles of my local teacher supply store (One of my favorite things to do! What can I say? Some people love to browse for shoes and clothes, I love to browse for educational supplies! 🙂 ) and noticed that there was a whole section devoted to calendar supplies, especially thematic calendar numbers. Obviously, I knew that they carried these materials, I just hadn’t thought to use them in a different way. I guess that’s one of the many things that Andrew has taught me – think outside of the box a bit more and don’t assume there is only one way to do something or use something!

At the time I was working on numbers and number order with Andrew and didn’t really need to go any higher than 31, so I picked some up. Once I got them home and started playing around with them, I got all sorts of ideas. This is just one way I have used them as part of My Obstacle Course. The activity is so simple and easy to set up and yet your child is working on building an essential mathematics skill.

Calendar Number Idea #1: Putting Numbers In Order

How to set up the station: Select a group of numbers that your child is familiar with but also may be challenged by them not being in order (ex. 1-10, 10-20, or 20-30. You could also set out a smaller group if 10 is too much.). Set out the first and last number and place the other numbers below, all mixed up (see photo below for example). Note:  This can be done putting numbers in order from least to greatest and also greatest to least.

Instructions:

My Obstacle Course Station Activity:

• Look at the numbers set out.
• Look at the first number, find the number from below that comes next.
• This is a great opportunity to model and encourage talking and thinking out loud. This is one of the benefits of reinforcing things at home, they don’t have to worry about disturbing the child next to them and you get to hear how they are thinking. Example:  Parent: “What is the first number?” Child: “10.” Parent: “What comes after 10?” Child: “10, 11.” Parent: “Yes, 11 comes after 10. Can you find the number 11?”
• Continue until all of the numbers have been placed in the correct order. Read the numbers in order when completed.

Easy and Informative

These make it so easy to reinforce and build on the math skills your child is ready for and also allows you to see firsthand if they are understanding math concepts. You are able to see in a matter of minutes what they have mastered and where they are struggling. This information can then be used to create future stations that build on skills where and how they need.

I have also found this sort of activity really helpful when meeting with evaluators and teachers because I could share with them specific examples of what he was doing in an environment where he wasn’t anxious and didn’t have to use intelligible words to show what he knew by doing this activity.

Stay tuned for future posts on more ways to use these thematic calendar numbers.

Engage, Encourage and Empower!

Last year I was working with a mother who had a young child but was wanting ways to work with him without having to go out and buy all sorts of new toys and gadgets. One of the things that I found really helpful when I began doing this was going through our own closets and cupboards to use what we already had. I encouraged her to do the same! I reminded her that the station activities do not have to be complicated, in fact the more basic they are, focused on a certain skill, the better they are. This is an idea that I sent her to help her work with her child on recognizing and discriminating between different shapes.

I gathered triangle and square shapes from a building block set and some balls from a hammering game we had. I placed them in a plastic container and provided three empty containers for the shapes to be sorted into. I took some paper and wrote out the shape name while also providing an example (including the example is optional) to add a literacy component and something they can use for reference.

Remember that when you are first working on a skill or concept with your child and you aren’t sure where they are with it, start basic and simple. The most important thing is to give them a good foundation. It’s okay to see if they know it without the visual cue, but I recommend having one available. The purpose of this is not to trick them. If it is too easy, take note and make it more challenging the next time.

Engage, Encourage, and Empower!