August 3, 2007
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Monster Math
by Anne Miranda
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Help your children develop their early math skills with this interactive game of online sandcastle-building!
When you're done playing the sandcastle game, try these other fun object-oriented math activities:
I-Spy!
Directions:
- Play this game with your child while riding the bus or driving in the car, waiting at the doctor's office or shopping together in the supermarket. For starters, find something in clear view and choose one attribute for a clue. For example, you might say, "round like a ball" for an orange. Then say, "I spy with my little eye something round like a ball." Invite your child to look around and figure out what it was you spied. Once your child spies the object you've chosen, switch roles and invite your child to spy' something for you to look for.
- As you look, talk about one or two different things you see that don't have the attribute your child has given you. ("Hmm ...That box couldn't be it - it's not shaped like a ball...") until you find the object your child has chosen. As the game continues, increase the attributes to two. For example, "I see something with 4 legs and that is smaller than this car." (A dog.)
Let's Keep Track!
Materials:
Directions:
- On your next trip, invite your child to choose something fun to look for and keep track of how many you see. (For example, stop signs, fire hydrants, baby strollers, or people on bikes. Or, on longer trips, your child might pick trucks, bridges, or farm animals.)
- Help your child think of a simple way to make a mark on a piece of paper (such as an X, a circle, or a slash or line) every time the item is spotted. Each mark will be equal to one item seen.
- Provide a notepad and pencil, and let the look-out begin! As your child searches, each time the item is spotted, remind your child to make a mark on the notepad.
- How many of the items were spotted? At the end of the trip, help your child count up the marks.
August 10, 2007
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Happy Healthy Monsters
by Random House
Bearobics: A Hip-Hop Counting Story
by Vic Parker
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Music and dance can help you get fit, express your feelings, and explore the science of sounds all at the same time! Make music a part of your family’s everyday life. A family dance party is a great activity for a rainy day!
Before we can dance, we’ll need music. So, let’s make musical instruments from materials found around the house. If you create enough instruments, you can even form your own family band!
What you need:
- Small box
- Rubber bands
- Containers with lids
- Plastic cup
- String
- Rice or beans
- Glue sticks
- Beads
What you do:
- Plastic Cup Banjo
Cut a hole in the bottom of the plastic cup and tie a piece of string through it. Tie a bead on the end of the string. Decorate the cup with stickers, construction paper, markers, etc. Pluck and listen. See how many different notes you can play on the plastic cup banjo!
- Shakers
Put beans, rice, paperclips, dried pasta, or buttons inside empty containers with lids. Containers that work great include: coffee cans, yogurts containers, mailing tubes, and even two paper cups taped together. Make two different shakers and compare sounds!
August 17, 2007
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How Much Is a Million?
by David M. Schwartz
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Here's a playful way to help your child learn to recognize numbers and count from 1 to 10 ... and 10 to 1!
Materials:
- package of peanuts in their shells
- sharp scissors or knife
- black marker
- white poster paint (optional)
Instructions:
- Select 20 peanuts -- 10 for your fingers and 10 for your child's. Cut them in half at their "waistline." Carefully trim away the openings in the shells so the peanuts drop out. Make the openings large enough so the shell halves will fit over your child's fingertips. Make larger openings for your own. (Use the biggest halves for the thumbs.)
- (Optional) Use the white poster paint to make a white background area on each half where you will write the numbers. Allow to dry.
- Use the black marker to number the halves from 1 to 10, as shown. Make the numbers 1 and 10 on the halves you have selected for the thumbs.
- Your finger puppets are ready for play! Some ideas for getting started: beginning with your left thumb, put on the number 1 half and invite your child to copy what you do. You might say something like: "I've put my number 1 on my thumb. Now it's your turn to put your number 1 on YOUR thumb!" When your child's puppet is on, you can use your puppet to say: "Hi, Number 1. Hey, you look just like I do!"
- Working from the thumb across the fingers to the pinkie, continue putting on the number puppets one at a time in sequence, naming them by number as you go. Then the next time you do this, invite your child to tell you what number is next and to put that number on your finger for you.
- Once all the puppets are placed on your fingers, make up number games together. For example, make fists to hide your numbers and invite your child to call them up one at a time, by name. Or both of you hold up the puppets in sequence as you count to 10. Depending on your child's ability to count, you might pretend that you don't know which puppet comes next, and ask for help. Or you might put on your puppets out of sequence and ask for help putting them in order.
August 24, 2007
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Arthur's Science Fair Trouble
by Marc Brown (Illustrator),
Lester Schulman (Author)
The Magic School Bus Blows Its Top
by Gail Herman (Author),
Bob Ostrom (Illustrator)
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Building a homemade volcano can lead to loads of rainy day fun! First let’s learn a little bit about volcanoes and then we’ll find out how a simple chemical reaction can pique an interest in science.
In a real volcano, molten rock from deep within the Earth erupts through a volcano (the molten rock is called magma when it is within the Earth and is called lava when it comes out of a volcano). In this project, a homemade volcano will erupt with a bubbly, fizzy liquid that is produced by a simple chemical reaction.
By making a volcano of your own, you and your child will find out what happens when an acid (vinegar) and a base (baking soda) interact.
Materials:
- Old aluminum pie tin (or baking pan or paper plate)
- Lots of old newspaper
- Baking soda (about 4 tablespoons)
- Vinegar (about 1/2 cup)
- A few drops of liquid dishwashing detergent
- Water
- Small plastic bottle
- Funnel
- Measuring spoon and measuring cup
- Red food coloring (optional)
- Modeling clay
(can be homemade by mixing the following ingredients)
- 3 cups flour
- 1 1/2 cups salt
- 6 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3 cups water
Instructions:
- Place empty bottle in middle of aluminum pie tin.
- Using the modeling clay, make a volcano around the bottle. Leave the area around the top of the bottle open and don't get any clay inside the bottle.
- Decorate the volcano.
- Using the funnel pour 4 tablespoons of baking soda into the bottle. Then add a few drops of liquid dishwashing detergent and a half cup of water.
Now you’re ready to make the volcano erupt!
- Put a few drops of red food coloring and ½ cup of vinegar into the volcano using the funnel.
- Remove the funnel quickly and watch the volcano erupt
When the vinegar reacts with the baking soda, carbon dioxide gas is formed and the bubbles push the "lava" out the "volcano."
Extend the Learning:
- Research with your child about volcanoes in the continental United States (e.g., Mount Saint Helens), and discuss their past and present activity levels.
- Search for information on volcanologists and what they do. Have your child describe the positive and negative aspects of a job as a volcanologist.
August 31, 2007
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Pattern (Math Counts)
by Henry Arthur Pluckrose
Sorting (Math Counts)
by Henry Arthur Pluckrose
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Pattern-Matcher
Teach your children about repeating patterns with the Pattern-Matcher online game:
Animal Lost and Found
Help people find their missing pets with this interactive online activity! Children have to count eyes, ears, and other body parts to make matches!
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