Features
Using symbols to build math skills
continued

Discovery
Like manipulatives, collections of found objects invite labeling and classifying. Encourage children to examine, discover, and chart the results of various comparisons such as leaf shapes, the weight of stones and feathers, and the weight of wet or dry sand. Have them chart which objects will sink or float and which will stick to a magnet, for example.

Leaf points
(ages 4 and older)
Here’s what you need:
collection of tree leaves
construction paper
glue stick
clear, adhesive-backed vinyl or laminator
scissors
file folder
black marker
zip-top plastic bag
tape

1. Collect a variety of leaves, making sure they are different in form and size.
2. Glue each leaf to a square of construction paper. Cover both sides of the paper with clear, adhesive-backed vinyl (or laminate). Trim the squares to a uniform size.
3. Divide the file folder into four areas. Label the areas with drawings that correspond to basic leaf shapes: smooth with an end point, shaped like an arrowhead, divided into lobes, and fan shaped, for example.
4. Tape a zip-top bag to the back of the folder.
5. Encourage children to match the leaf collection to the patterns on the folder.
6. Store the leaves in the zip-top bag.
Variation: Make similar folder games that encourage children to identify patterns and classify according to attribute.

Garden sort
(ages 3 and older)
Here’s what you need:
assorted objects related to gardening, such as a nut, a small pumpkin, leaves, a plastic bag of mulch, a container of garden soil, a rock
assorted objects not related to gardening, such as buttons, a sponge, a bell, a doll dress, a plastic flower
sheet of poster board
black marker
ruler
storage basket

1. Divide the poster board in half. Label one side “From the garden” and the other “Not from the garden.”
2. Place an assortment of materials in the storage basket.
3. Invite the children to sort and classify the objects.
4. Be prepared to discuss the placement of some objects like the rock and plastic flower.
Variation: Repeat the examination and charting activity with other familiar objects like cars, trees, and pets.

Measure trees
(ages 4 and older)
Here’s what you need:
tape measure
zip-top plastic bags
clipboard and paper
heavy cord
scissors
chart pad
black marker

1. Prepare for the activity by identifying several trees that your group can measure. If there are no appropriate trees on your program’s property, take a neighborhood walk to identify trees in public areas. Or make this activity a feature of a field trip to a community park.
2. Introduce the activity by telling the children they will measure the circumference (around the trunk) of several trees.
3. Using cord, help children measure the circumference of the first tree. Have one child hold one end of the cord and another child walk around the tree with the other end. Cut the cord where the two ends overlap. Place the cord in a bag labeled “Tree 1.”
4. Ask the children to estimate the circumference of the tree in inches. Record their predictions. Encourage them to make non-standard measurements—arms around the tree, heel-to-toe footsteps around the base, or the number of found stick lengths, for example.
5. Use a tape measure and measure the circumference of the tree again. Record the size on the clipboard. Talk with the children about their predictions and offer clues to gaining more accuracy.
6. Repeat the measuring exercise with each tree. Ask the children questions like “Which tree has the smallest circumference?” “Is Tree 2 smaller or larger than Tree 3?”
7. Make a chart that represents the actual and predicted measurements of each tree.
8. Compare the cut-cord length from each tree with the tape-measured circumference. Lay the cord in a circle. Invite children to stand in the middle, measure the distance around their bodies, and compare this length against the length of the cord.

Cooking and meals
Cooking activities and conversations at meal time offer plentiful opportunities to explore correspondence, sorting, and sequence. Conversations introduce subjects children can explore and graph. Examples are number of siblings, grandparents living nearby or far away, nutrition facts, and favorite snack foods.
Be mindful that individual tastes vary widely. Conversations about food preferences are a solid introduction to broader diversity and inclusion discussions.

Set the table
(ages 3 and older)
Encourage orderly, pleasant meals by teaching children about setting a table, and reinforce one-to-one correspondence at the same time. Adjust this activity according to the way your program serves meals. For example, if the children in your group use only spoons, make placemats that reflect the practice. Encourage self-service and remember that children will always try to live up to your expectations.
Here’s what you need:
cardboard
scissors
copy paper, preferably 11-inch by 14-inch colored paper
copier
clear, adhesive-backed vinyl or laminator
black marker

1. Trace the utensils commonly used at meal time—spoon, fork, plate, cup, and napkin—onto cardboard. Cut out the templates.
2. Using the templates, make a copy master of the proper placement of meal utensils.
3. Make copies of the placemat for each child in the group.
4. Cover the placemat with clear, adhesive-backed vinyl or laminate. Provide these for every meal.
5. Ask mealtime helpers to set the table placing the cup in the proper outlined space, the spoon in its place, and so on.
Variations: Older children may want to make permanent placemats from fabric. They can print templates with permanent paint or ink. Or they can trace the utensil outlines with pencil and then hand stitch over the outlines with heavy thread.

Foods I don’t like
(ages 3 and older)
Here’s what you need:
chart pad
black marker
face stamps
glue
old magazines or catalogs
scissors
mural paper

1. Prepare for the activity by collecting magazines with pictures of food and people eating.
2. Gather a small group of children. Ask them to remember a time when they were served a food they really didn’t like. Encourage conversation and introduce vocabulary like disgusting, ghastly, excessive, nauseating, impolite, and repulsive. Help children discern whether their response to the food had to do with its actual taste, its texture, or its color.
3. Help the children identify one food they don’t like to eat. List the foods on the chart pad so children can copy the words if they wish.
4. Tape a length of mural paper to a wall. Invite children to find pictures of the unpopular foods in magazines, cut or tear them out, and make a collage.
5. Encourage children to vote on the most unpopular food. Draw columns on a chart pad. Have children place a face stamp in a column with their vote for an unpopular food.
6. Share the resulting graph with your program’s cook and the children’s parents.
Variations: Plan similar activities based on foods never tasted, food color preferences, favorite vegetables, bread styles, and food sources.

Correspondence waffles
Make this activity part of a routine snack. Or allow older children to prepare and eat this snack as part of center work. Remember that everyone must wash hands before preparing and eating food.
(ages 3 and older)
Here’s what you need:
toaster waffles
toaster
small berries, such as blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries
plates and serving utensils

1. Prepare for the activity by placing clean, small berries in individual bowls.
2. Toast waffles, one for each child, and place on plates.
3. Invite children to explore the berry-to-waffle-hole correspondence. Encourage them to count the holes in each row and column of the waffle. Round waffles offer fun challenges. Invite children to fill the waffle holes with berries. They may choose to fill every hole or to create a pattern with the berries.
Caution: Food is not a toy. Ensure that children treat the food respectfully and eat what they serve themselves.

Large group circle activities
Conducting surveys and charting results can be a regular part of your day. Using a black marker, write a survey question at the top of a chart pad. Draw columns to correspond to likely answers. Let children post their face stamps (see instructions below) to indicate their responses.
Issues to survey can include eye color, shoe style, favorite finger play, shirt color, favorite picture book, number of pockets in clothing, bed time, number of siblings, and number of letters in children’s names. Calendar activities invite charting. Use a chart pad and marker to track the numbers of sunny, cloudy, and rainy days in a month, for example.
All these activities reinforce one-to-one correspondence, a necessary prelude to counting and more complex math skills.

Face stamps
Here’s what you need:
digital camera
adhesive-backed labels, several for each child

1. Use a digital camera to take pictures of each child.
2. Print the pictures on adhesive-backed labels.
3. Let children use these personal symbols in charting activities across the classroom. They are particularly useful in large group charting activities because children aren’t forced to wait while others draw or tally a vote.

Tally sticks
Here’s what you need:
face stamps
craft sticks
2 clean recycled food cans
paint, fabric, glue, ribbon, adhesive-backed vinyl, or other decorative materials

1. Attach a face stamp to the end of a craft stick, one for each child in the group.
2. Decorate two cans. Designate one “Yes” and one “No.”
3. Use these tally sticks for checking attendance, voting on preferences, or answering questions like, “Do you have a baby sister?”

Window streamers
(ages 4 and older)
Here’s what you need:
fabric ribbon of different colors
scissors
tape
window or wall space

1. Use this activity for transitions from circle to the next activity. You can repeat it often with different results every time.
2. Prepare for this activity by cutting 24-inch lengths of ribbon. Make one streamer for each child in the group, ensuring that you have several streamers that match. Determine where you’d like the streamers to hang—in a window or on a low wall, for example.
3. Tell the children they will create a streamer pattern by taping ribbon to the designated space.
4. Dismiss one child at a time from the group. As you call the children’s names, hand out ribbons with a piece of tape attached to one end.
5. Allow the children to build the pattern from either side or center out.
Variation: Use crepe paper streamers for this activity if you aren’t concerned about durability and reuse.

Resources for teachers
Copley, Juanita V. 2000. The Young Child and Mathematics. Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Kohl, MaryAnn F. and Jean Potter. 1997. Cooking Art. Beltsville, Md.: Gryphon House.
Nelson, Esther l. 1981. The Silly Song Book. New York: Sterling Publishing.
Schiller, Pam and Lynne Peterson. 1997. Count on Math. Beltsville, Md.: Gryphon House.
Williams, Bob, Debra Cunningham, and Joy Lubawy. 2005. Preschool Math. Beltsville, Md.: Gryphon House.
Zaslavsky, Claudia. 2001. Number Sense and Nonsense: Building Math Creativity and Confidence Through Number Play. Chicago: Chicago Review Press.