E is for...Egg Carton Math Mat

Cristi from Through the Calm and Through the Storm and Meg from Adventures with Jude are hosting this great weekly party called Blogging Through the Alphabet. All are welcome to join in, just make sure to keep your posts family-friendly. I am determined to stay faithful this time around. I might not always post on the same day of the week, but I have every intention to post something each week.

Here is how I decided my "theme" for this round of Blogging Through the Alphabet. As I was going through old blog posts recently, I noticed I have some neat ideas for activities and crafts that I did with in the past. Unfortunately, I always included them in my weekly wrap up posts or more recently in Poppins Book Nook posts, so they sort of got buried. I can't really share them as individual activities or create pinnable images to promote them and share my ideas, which is why I started this blog in the first place (to share my ideas with others who work with children). So, I am going to make new posts for these ideas.

I have found there is a huge benefit in this strategy. I am remembering  ideas that I had forgotten, which means I can now do these activities with the younger children. I will be sharing the old pictures and possibly sharing new pictures of the younger children participating. In fact, this is the second week where I wasn't sure what I was going to post about, and through searching my blog I found activities I had completely forgotten about.

Five summers ago I focused on one number a week with Tabitha and Amelia. We made a number book and did number crafts. I also came up with a fun way to display our numbers. Then I used that activity to further the girls' math knowledge during the following school year. 

E is for . . . Egg Carton Math Mat

I printed out a picture of an egg carton and wrote "How many eggs?" on the bottom. Then I added Velcro strips to each cup, plus one piece to the middle of the lid. I also cut out little oval "eggs" and put the other side of the Velcro on the back of them. 

Originally this egg carton paper was attached to our poster. I had made paper strips which had the number written out plus the numeral. The girls were to a place the number strip to the carton and then attach the correct number of eggs. As we made our way through the summer, more and more eggs filled our egg carton.

As I mentioned, during the next school year I then thought this would be a fun way to work on math skills. Specifically, the concept of zero. First I asked the girls if the egg carton was full or empty. When they told me it was full I took one egg away at a time, each time asking if it was now empty. Finally, it was empty and they learned that there were zero eggs in the egg carton.

Then we worked on some subtraction.  I made up some equation cards from 1-12, plus some number cards for the same amounts. 

These equation cards looked like this:

The Numeral - Empty Box with Question Mark = 0

I put the card above the egg carton and the girls had to put the correct number of eggs in the carton.

Then I asked them how many eggs they would have to take away to make it empty again, to equal zero. They used the number cards. These cards were just square pieces of paper that fit over the square on the equation card.

They found the right number, and took away the eggs. Then they put the numeral card in the equation.

Both Tabitha and Amelia enjoyed this hands-on math activity. They were only 3 and 2 years old at the time.

This can also be used for general addition and subtraction practice for numbers up to 12.

Zero/Red

I have decided, now that we have finished the alphabet, we are going to focus on colors and numbers for the remainder of the summer.  Using the posterboard I had up for our letter of the week, I made a "numbers" sign in our color of the week and using a picture of an egg carton we are going to focus on one number at a time.  This week we focused on red and zero (which was a nice transition from z).  Here is the poster:

Under the egg carton it says, "How many eggs?" 

And the strip of paper is stored under the egg carton picture 

in the black pocket.  It has the numeral plus the number word

written out.

We are going to make number books, one for each number just as we did for the letters/sounds.  

Gluing on the zero to the cover:

Tabitha is writing her name all by herself now.

How many ants are on the anthill?

Zero!

Our three page zero book

The last page asks how many grapes are on the vine.

We had a red scavenger hunt today. The girls had to find the pictures that I printed out on red construction paper and Steven hid.  I found pictures of: firetruck, apple, cardinal, strawberries, and a rose.

Then the girls colored additional pictures I printed out on white paper.  These were used for the red collage they made.

Tabitha's fine motor skills have come a long way.  

Tabitha's

Amelia's

One other thing I introduced combines fine motor skills with math.  I had a oblong basket that conveniently fit 6 Styrofoam balls I found at the thrift shop.  After lining them up in the basket and attaching numerals to the basket 

the girls are to use the paper towel roll to make the balls disappear, one by one.

moving the paper towel roll to the left as they go 

so the numeral corresponds to the number of balls.

When they are done, they have zero balls visible

I came up with this in the middle of the night, go figure.

Here is Tabitha trying it out. She really enjoys this activity.

Amelia wasn't as fond of it.

Wooo, letting them all fall back in.

A quick change of subject:

Some of you may be aware of my Words of Wisdom Wednesday meme that was started a few weeks ago.  I have done a little tweaking to make it what I really want it to be.  When I  write up my weekly post (like this one) I am going to include a thought provoking question for you to pose to your little ones if you choose to join in.  On Wednesday I will post Words of Wisdom Wednesday.  I will continue to include nuggets of imagination and chuckles that I overhear.  That will be the first part of the post.  Then I will share Tabitha's and possibly Amelia's answers to the question I posed the previous Friday.  Maybe you got a one word answer, or maybe a sentence.  Who knows?  Perhaps an entire dialog opened up.  Whatever the response, I invite you to share it in a post and link up.  Grab the Words of Wisdom Wednesday button and please link back to my post.

This weeks Words of Wisdom Wednesday question for you to pose to your little ones is:

How do we get dressed?

I am looking forward to seeing your children's answers.

To see what others are doing with their toddlers and preschoolers head on over to Homeschool Creations and 1+1+1=1

Math: Z is for zero

I wanted to have some activities that demonstrated what zero is.  I have the numeral/Velcro activity that includes a zero (you can find the post describing this in more detail here), but we haven't been able to use it as Amelia tore the 5.  Besides I wanted something additional.  So I grabbed one of my trays, a bowl, half an egg container and some cardstock and construction paper. I wrote equations on the cardstock rectangles that equal zero for 1 through 6 (as there are 6 compartments in the egg container).  Here is how I set up the tray:

They are to look at the first number and place a pompom in the top left compartment

(it is set up this way to work from left to right in preparation for reading)

Then we look at the minus sign and I tell them to "take away" the next amount shown by the next number

They count how many pompoms are left and find the correct numeral card

Yes, I plan on making cards for other difference values,

but we were focusing on zero.

I also created an easier one for Amelia, no subtracting, 

just counting.

Figures, Tabitha liked this one better too.

I am linking up with Math Links over at Joyful Learner.  Come see how others are teaching math to their children.

I am also linking up to



Carnival of Maths Play