There are a lot of things in the house to classify. Try doing these simple activities with your child.

·      Helping out in the laundry. Have several baskets and ask your toddler to help out by sorting the clothes—socks in one basket and shirts in another. If your child is more than three years old, you can have more types of clothes to sort—shirts, pants, socks, underwear, etc.

·      Grocery—let your child sort out the canned goods according to size. How about sorting the vegetables? He can either sort these according to color, shape or size.

·      Classify the different types of shoes (sandals, slippers, school shoes, etc.)

·      Use a bucket of buttons and let your child classify by the number of holes.

·      Clothes pin—let your child classify by colors or type (wooden versus plastic).

·      Keep a box of material scraps for sorting by size, color, shape or texture.

·      Other good sorting materials are: macaroni, shells, beans, seeds and rocks.

Here are more difficult classification activities for older children (four years and above)

·      Ask your child how many items in the living room are square or round or heavy, etc.

·      Ask your child to think of everything he can write with, ride on, that swims, that rolls, etc.

·      Ask him to tell you how many things are made of wood, plastic, metal, etc.

·      Extend classification activities to include more than one attribute (heavy and small, or square and smooth, etc.)

 

Ordering objects

THIS is the skill of placing objects in a series (i.e., small, medium, large).  This skill is attained around five years of age but some children can order objects beginning four years old.

·      Begin ordering by size using blocks, books, pencils, etc. Use two objects at first and slowly add more.

·      Your child can also order by weight, length, etc.:

1.    Order three pencils from tallest to shortest.

2.    Make three lumps of playdough with different sizes and let your child order according to size/weight. Use the same playdough and make three different lengths of “hotdogs” and ask your child to order these according to length.

·      Another element you can order is the texture (roughness or smoothness)—you can collect different rocks and have your child order the roughness of the rocks.

·      Line up his toys from shortest to tallest.

 

Measuring

A common activity for measuring is baking. Try simple recipes and ask your child to help you measure. Introduce your child to the different measuring cups or spoons.

·      Measuring can also be done when making your bubble bath or when washing the dishes or laundry. Let your child help with the measuring.

·      Give your child some plastic cups or beakers to measure liquid in the tub during bath time.

·      Use unconventional measuring tools since your child does not understand the concept of unit of measurement (i.e., centimeters, inches):

1.    Cut out strips of paper of the same size and length. Measure your child’s height and mark this on a piece of Manila paper. Let your child paste the strips one on top of the other (from the bottom to top). Then let him count the number of strips to get his height. Try to make this a regular thing (every month or two months) so your child can see how he grows.

2.    You can do this to another family member and compare the two heights.

3.    Measure pencils, toys or paper by using different objects, such as paperclips, rubber bands or coins.

·      If your child can already recognize numbers, introduce the weighing scale. Introduce the concept of kilogram.

 

Estimating and predicting

THE are a lot of opportunities where we have to estimate and predict. Allow your child to do so too.

·      Fill a jar with fewer than 10 objects and have your child estimate the total.

·      Pile some cookies on a plate and let your child estimate the number.

·      Estimate how many objects can fill a small cup (i.e., buttons, candies, etc.).

·      Show the cover of a book with an exciting picture and let your child predict what will happen in the story.

·      Predict the weather for tomorrow.

 

Patterning and sequencing

MAKE patterns by placing objects in a repeating sequence. These activities can be introduced to children three years old and above.

·      Buy a set of stringing beads to use and create a repeating sequence for your child to copy (red-green-blue, red-green-blue). You can create a pattern using shapes or sizes depending on the beads you bought.

·      Your child can create his/her own pattern for you to copy.

·      Look for patterns in magazines, cut them out and make collages.

·      Make patterns with crayons.

·      Glue objects to paper in a pattern.

·      Arrange the pots in your garden using a pattern.

Young children can and should engage in mathematical thinking. Therefore, don’t just focus on counting.

Keep your child’s growing desire to learn more math concepts by doing fun and challenging hands-on activities with him.

 

• Announcement: Clayton Learning Center offers enrichment programs in Mandarin to children from three to eight years old, and Theater for Kids from 2.6 to 4.5 years old. Please call Ianne or Sarah for more details. There will be big discounts for group enrollment in all programs.