Butterfly Math

This week we did a Butterfly theme.  We created butterflies by placing the goldfish and strawberries into snack-sized baggies.  I pushed the food over to the sides and clipped a clothespin (that the kiddos had made beautiful:) in the middle.  We then bent a pipe cleaner to form the antennae and placed it in the "pinch-y" part of the clothespin to secure it.  So where is the math???  First I did have the kiddos count the pieces of food as they placed them into the baggies.  You can never have enough practice counting, especially the larger numbers so that they learn the pattern to the counting sequence.  Second, I sent cards with the snack so that their teacher could ask the kids in school to think about equality, more, and less.  There is a picture below of each of the cards with the questions.

So after the kids find out how many strawberry pieces the have on each side (subitizing practice since they have a small amount on each side), the teacher can focus in on asking them if they are equal on both sides.  If not, have the kids figure out how to make them equal.  I sent extra cut up strawberries so that the kids could add more to one side if that was the strategy they came up with.  Another strategy could be to eat one of the pieces :).

For the goldfish butterflies, the kids can practice counting the large sets.  Then you can ask them, "Which side has less/fewer?"  Too often we always ask "Which has more?" and then children struggle with the concept of fewer, so vary which question you are asking.  As an extension (if you think they are ready), you can ask them how many more they would need to add to that side to make it the same/equal to the larger side.

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Hotdog Jellyfish and Counting Caterpillars

This week we made some fun creatures for my son's preschool snack.  The first one was Hotdog Jellyfish.  I cut hotdogs into smaller chunks and then I had my son and daughter count out 5 pieces of spaghetti that they stuck into each chunk of hotdog.  Then we cooked them in boiling water for about 6 minutes (long enough to cook the spaghetti).

While the Hotdog Jellyfish were cooking we made caterpillars from grapes.  We stuck grapes onto skewers, but before we started I had my son and daughter guess how many grapes they thought would fit on one skewer.  This builds estimation but also early measurement ideas (i.e. How many grapes long is the skewer?).  I let each of the kids put as many grapes as they could on a skewer and then we talked about if each of them had the same amount on their skewer.  They did not have the same amount so I asked who had more and how many more that skewer needed to have the same amount.  If you do not have room for that extra grape then the kids have to figure out what to do to make them the same (take some off the larger amount).  Once we had a set amount I let them put that amount on all the other skewers.  After all the Grape Caterpillars were made, we then counted out enough candy eyes to put two eyes on each caterpillar.

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Colors, Colors, Everywhere

My daughter also attends the same preschool as my son (they are 18 months apart in age).  So for her turn to bring snack we made a rainbow color theme.  We made fruit kabobs and got to talk about the color rainbow.  We made the first fruit kabob together and then I had her and my son follow the pattern to create the rest of the kabobs.  After they each create a kabob I asked them things like, "How many kabobs do we have so far?"  "Is that enough for all your classmates to have one?" "How many more do we need to make so that everyone will get one?"  "We have made 5 so far and we need six, so do both of you need to make one this time?"

I felt like we needed to add some veggies to the snack as well (because of the other part of the snack which is below).  So I had them put a carrot, mini corn, and cucumber spear on the tray; one for each child in their class.  That skill is known as one-to-one correspondence; one child gets one carrot.

So the other part of her rainbow theme snack was rainbow colored popcorn flavored with Kool-Aid.  I saw it on Pinterest, but here is the direct link to the recipe for Rainbow Kool-Aid Popcorn.

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3 Little Bears???

For this Bear themed snack day, my son and I counted out 8 gummy bears.  Then gave each gummy bear 2 fish to eat.  Since bears love honey, we also gave each bear 2 honeycombs.  We created these goody bags for each child in his preschool.  Then Snack Time at preschool can become Math Time, by the teacher asking questions like "Sort the goodies in your bag any way you want?" (Then asking kids why they chose to sort them in the ways they did.), "Do you think you have 3 Little Bears in your baggy?"  "How many bears do you think you have?"  "How many gummy bears (goldfish/honeycombs) do you actually have?", "J, did you get the same amount as S?" "Do you have enough fish to give each bear 1 fish?"  "Do you have enough to give each bear 3 fish?"

The other snack we created were these bear racing cars.  My son counted out four wheels for each car, one bear, and half of a gummy lifesaver.  After assembling the cars, we placed them on Bacon Street.  You can have the children determine which racing bear is in 1st place, 2nd, etc.

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