Monday, August 20, 2012

Monkeys on the Number Balance

The other day, while L and E (3) were playing with their hanging monkeys, I brought out the number scale for a quick addition game.  The monkeys were perfect for hanging on the scale and added a bit of variety and whimsy to this math game...



To play the game, each child would pick an addition card and then place the blue monkeys on one side of the scale.  They could do this part independently.  Then we worked on the actual addition together (by counting fingers) so they could put the red monkey on the other side to see if the scale would balance.  I don't have expectations that they'll be able to do addition problems completely on their own yet, but I do want to expose them to the concepts, and eventually it will click and become easier for them.  They already recognize the 'plus' and 'equals' signs and understand the general idea that two groups of items can be combined. 

After a couple rounds of this game, I just let them play with the number balance on their own to try out their own number experiments. 



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