The kids have gotten into the habit of asking for dessert every night during dinner. They obviously have the "habit" because it is being fed (literally) by someone (who will be called Jennifer). The promise of a little sugar will motivate them to eat fish, stuffing, cabbage, and other gross oddities.
So it happened again last night. And I had no dessert, but.... I did have Smarties in the pantry.
"Sure, if you eat most of your rice, fish, or broccoli you can have a Smartie."
That sealed the deal.
Before you know it Perry, Cora, and Mason have their bundles of Smarties gleefully in their chubby little hands. They undo the cellophane and beginning arranging their sugar disks. And then the mother in me kicks in. Cora and I divide our faint colored disks by color and arrange a bar graph. I ask her which color has the least, the most, the same, which has 2 or 5. She enjoys showing off her impressive knowledge.
Next, comes Perry. My 3 year old who refuses to learn her colors. The only one she confidently has down is purple. We line up her candy, I call out a color. When she gets it right she gets to eat it. Amazing how her accuracy improved with sugar behind it.
And then Mr. Mason. He started designing shapes with his candy - diamonds, ovals and such. He moved onto grouping his pieces and asking me which had more or less. We counted with one-to-one correspondence to 18.
I was so impressed how each child instinctively moved into mathematical problems specifically geared for their age and abilities. The four of us ended our play with guessing which hand our Smarties were hiding in. It was a great little activity that I enjoyed doing with my kids.
So it happened again last night. And I had no dessert, but.... I did have Smarties in the pantry.
"Sure, if you eat most of your rice, fish, or broccoli you can have a Smartie."
That sealed the deal.
Before you know it Perry, Cora, and Mason have their bundles of Smarties gleefully in their chubby little hands. They undo the cellophane and beginning arranging their sugar disks. And then the mother in me kicks in. Cora and I divide our faint colored disks by color and arrange a bar graph. I ask her which color has the least, the most, the same, which has 2 or 5. She enjoys showing off her impressive knowledge.
Next, comes Perry. My 3 year old who refuses to learn her colors. The only one she confidently has down is purple. We line up her candy, I call out a color. When she gets it right she gets to eat it. Amazing how her accuracy improved with sugar behind it.
And then Mr. Mason. He started designing shapes with his candy - diamonds, ovals and such. He moved onto grouping his pieces and asking me which had more or less. We counted with one-to-one correspondence to 18.
I was so impressed how each child instinctively moved into mathematical problems specifically geared for their age and abilities. The four of us ended our play with guessing which hand our Smarties were hiding in. It was a great little activity that I enjoyed doing with my kids.
1 comment:
You're such a good mom, Jen. How fun!
Post a Comment