[blparent] Math Picnic

[Jo Elizabeth Pinto]

So this afternoon when Sarah came home from school, I had this flash of inspiration.  Since it doesn't happen often and since it worked so well, I thought I'd share it with the rest of you, particularly moms of preschoolers.

Sarah and I had a math picnic.  I filled plastic sandwich baggies with little finger foods like crackers, cookies, and cereal pieces.  I would have used fresh fruit as well if I had any, but I hadn't been to the store.  Anyway, we sat out on the porch swing and opened up the picnic basket.  We would pick out something to snack on, and I'd make a simple addition or subtraction project out of it.

If you have three Cheerios, and the Cheerio monster eats two of them, how many are left?

If you have two cookies and you share one with me, how many do we each have?

If you have four crackers, and the cracker monster eats one, how many are left?

Sarah enjoyed making up the stories as much as she did eating the snacks, and it turned into a really fun activity.  Plus, it's early math education, presented as a game.

Jo Elizabeth

"How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the strong.  Because someday in life you will have been all of these."--George Washington Carver, 1864-1943, American scientist