Some unschooly type people would be horrified at using actual teaching supplies at home. I understand the belief that they can learn more about animals from a trip to the zoo or raising a pet than by filling out a worksheet. But I’m not so hard core that I don’t recognize that there are some thing that are easier to use that are meant for teaching. I went looking for a teaching supply store for two things – lined paper with BIG lines and counting manipulatives. We found lined paper and the kids wanted a scale to compare measures. And with that we got a 15% off coupon for next time.
Well next time was last weekend. We picked up some posters on things the kids commonly ask about, a few math games and a worm kit. Yesterday was spent exploring everything in the bag. We had meant to just put up posters, but as soon as the kids saw the games, they wanted to play. So Honeycomb Hike was first. It’s a very simple same of trying to get our family bears to the honeycomb. You start just moving the number of spaces you roll on the die. If that’s easy, there is an operational die as well. You can play so that you roll both and have to move forward (+) or backward (-) the number rolled. The next level involves the larger bears being able to jump over the smaller bears and no counting that space. We didn’t get that far on our first go round. But the kids thought it was fun and it wasn’t too hard for our 4 yo.
The next game was Sum Swamp. It was little more complicated but the 6 and 4 yo still thought it was really fun. Three dice: two numered and one operational. You take the largest number rolled, then the operational die, then the smaller number. 5 + 3 or 4 – 1 and that’s the spaces moved. We had to get out the counting manipulatives I’d gotten (little bears like the ones that had come with our scale and the game) for the bigger numbers for C. The kids are periodically asking “What’s x plus y?” type stuff – usually in the car – so I’m always holding up fingers. I wanted something they could lay out and count. So we figured out that 6 + 4 is 10. The game also has ‘odds’ and ‘evens’ spaces that require you to roll one die until you get the type of number indicated by your space. It also has numbered spaces that you only roll the operational die for; you then go either forward (plus) or backward (minus) that number. I stayed and helped but they did really well. And C won the game.
And last, but certainly not least, the lined paper. C wants to learn to write. So here it is “Wonce upon a time there was dinosaurs” complete with dino stickers and a drawing of boulders rolling down a mountain.
