Use Pebbles and Pasta for Graphing Fun

Graphing helps children look at numbers in different ways. Starting children with graphs when they are young helps them count items quickly, organize, compare, and discuss information. Using different items makes graphing fun. 

Materials:  Four varieties of pasta, beans, or stones, paper, crayons, pencil, and a small bag

What to Do:

   Explain to your children there are different kinds of graphs and you are going to be using a bar graph. These graphs help people actually see comparisons between numbers of items.

   On one sheet of paper make a graph that has the same size boxes of four columns with ten rows in each column. In each bottom box, draw a simple illustration of the chosen pasta, bean or stone. Explain that each row going across and each column going down in a graph is called an axis.

  Place no more than ten pieces of each type of pasta, bean, or stone in a bag.  Help your children sort the items based on characteristics like color, shape, size, or texture and count each group.

 Children can place each item in a box above the correct picture. Talk about what the graph looks like. Does one kind have more? Which kind the least amount? Are there any that are equal?  Your children can then color a box as a piece of pasta is removed. Older children can color the correct number of boxes after counting each group. Be sure to have a conversation about what the graph is showing.  On another paper children can dictate sentences about the graph using words such as more, less, and equal. Tape the papers together and tape them to the refrigerator to share with other members of the family.

 

How Does This Help My Children?

  Your children are seeing numbers in a different way. A graph is a great tool to explain math concepts like more, less, and equal. Children are counting and working with one to one correspondence as the item is counted and then placed on the box of the graph. Graphing is a good way to see different groupings as well. By using correct math terms you are teaching math vocabulary that is necessary for school success.

What Else Can I Do?

 Try flipping the graph so that the boxes extend horizontally. Does it show the same information?  Is it just as easy to see which item has more, less or is equal?  Add a different shape of pasta and be sure to add another column for that shape. How does that change the information? A few good books to read with your children that explore graphing and different kinds of graphs are:” The Great Graph Contest” by Loreen Leedy, “Lemonade for Sale: Bar Graphs” by Stuart J. Murphy and “Graphing Favorite Things” by Jennifer Marrewa.

More Fun: For more math fun see the authors’ books “Learning Through the Seasons” available at bookstores, museums, and our website. Also check out more activities for fun on the WNMU Learning Through the Seasons Podcasts and Grandparents Teach Too YouTube videos

Picture: Mark Nowicki  Photo: Fran Darling

Where in the World Do I Live?

Map exploration can be used to show where a child lives and teach geography.

Materials:

map of your area (often found in a phone book)

state map U.S. map world map globe

What to do:

Using the local map, find your child’s street. Point out familiar sites like the library, grocery store, a park, or a museum. Talk about your street and the city where your child lives. Help your child learn the home address by repeating the street name and the city often.

On another day use the state map and show where your city is on the map. Use the state map to point out some familiar sites like a local lake. Practice saying the address and now add the state.

Use another day to show the U. S. map and point out your state. Point out a few interesting places, such as Disneyworld, where the President lives, or a state with lots of sunshine. Talk about the oceans that border the shores of our country. Again practice the address and this time add our country.

Using the map of the world, find our country and backtrack to find the state and city (if possible). Use the globe to discuss that the earth is not flat. Point out where Santa lives

and the route he takes to get to your house. Point out the other side of the world where penguins live.

How will this help young children?

Young children get a glimpse into the big picture of the world. It introduces maps and how to use them.

What else can I do?

Google® maps and show your child the world, state, city and street from space. Zoom in and find your house. Libraries have many books about maps, your area, state and country.

Daevin Scillian’s P is for Passport: A World Alphabetisagreatone.

Watch similar activities on YouTube. Click to view a video with more mapping and model road building activities… While there, you can find other videos on YouTube there or search for Grandparents Teach, Too in YouTube.

Also look for more activities on our website: http://grandparentsteachtoo.org and listen to activities from WNMU Public Radio 90 podcasts at http://wnmufm.org/learningthroughtheseasons 

Picture by Mark Nowicki

Spanish Podcasts Now Posted

Listen to many of our Grandparents Teach Too activities in Spanish!!

We just added a new podcast page on our website that has a small library of wonderful, fun AND educational activities. Listen and enjoy such topics as: Composting With Kids, Playing Games With Teaching Strategies, Reading Matters, Talking With Your Infant and five more... Go to our website Grandparents Teach, Too Podcast page to listen to them all!

Remember you can hear many more English version podcasts posted at WMNU Learning through the seasons Podcast pages. 

Carey, Chris. bookbasket.jpg. Orlando Florida. Pics4Learning. 17 Nov 2013 

Come Indoors and Make Play dough: Video Version

Just in time for all the holiday fun! Make play dough for fun, learning, and great conversation. Watch our Youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL1WpveL8jY for all the ways simple play dough making and playing benefits your children.....

Here are more: Handy Recipes 

 Keep these around the house so you are always prepared for unexpected weather or visitors. 

  

    No Cook Play dough

Mix together: 1 cup flour, 1/3 cup salt in a separate bowl. Mix together ½ cup water, 3 drops food coloring, and 5 drops liquid detergent. Add liquid to dry mixture slowly and knead until desired consistency. Do not ingest. Keep refrigerated in a tight plastic container. It lasts for about a month.

    Clay Dough

This dough can be used to make small sculptures, garden stones, vases for dry flowers, and paperweights. Mix 2 cups salt and 2/3 cup water in a pan. Heat mixture until the salt is completely dissolved. Remove from heat. Mix 1 cup cornstarch and ½ cup cold water in a separate bowl. Stir quickly into the salt water and mix well. The dough will be stiff. Allow to dry 3-4 days.  Add food coloring to the water mixture, if desired. Dried sculpture can be painted. Look for animal, people, and car pictures to help children use their imagination. This mixture must be used immediately.

  Coat any container or pie plate with Vaseline or cooking spray for use as a mold. Press the dough into the mold. Add old jewelry or fake gemstones into the mold first.  Then add the dough. After thorough drying gently remove from the mold.

    Bumpy Texture Clay

  Use this dough for doorstops, summertime garden stepping-stones, and flower pots. They will crack if left over the winter. Mix 1 ½ cup flour and ½ cup salt. Add 6 tablespoons water. Knead to create the clay. This clay must be used immediately. The dried clay may be painted and spayed with polyurethane (adults only).

    Cotton Puff Dough

This is so simple. Mix 1 cup flour with 1 cup water to make a paste. Add 1 bag cotton balls and mix thoroughly. Scoop up a handful and let excess fall away. Form into desired animal or other shapes on a baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour at 325 degrees. Paint when cooled.

    Never Fail Play dough

This is the recipe used in the video. Mix 1 cup flour, ½ cup salt, and 1 tablespoon cream of tartar. Add 1 tablespoon cooking oil with 1 cup water colored with food coloring. Cook in a 3 qt. saucepan over medium heat until mixture sticks together. Remove from heat. Cool slightly. Knead. Store in plastic bags.

How Does This Help Children?

  Children who are read to twice a day and played with often, enter school with 20,000 words instead of a 3,000 word vocabulary.

For more easy fun activities see the our book “Learning Through the Seasons” at museums, bookstores, and http://grandparentsteachtoo.org  and listen to podcasts on WNMU Radio 90 at: http://wnmufm.org/learningthroughtheseasons.  

Great News! Podcasts On the Air at WNMU Public Radio 90

Starting this month, our Learning Through the Seasons activities for your children and grandchildren can be heard on your Public Radio dial...90.1 FM. WNMU broadcasts from Northern Michigan University, Marquette, MI. Our Podcasts will be On Air every Tuesday afternoon at 4:30 and every Saturday morning at 8:30. Give a listen.

You can also go to the WNMU Podcast webpage to hear any of the posted audio activities. If you are looking for quiet, active, science, reading activities all set in the context of social interactions with family and friends. Much to enjoy along the way, while you gather those great ideas to try with your grandchildren.

As always, you can find all our links to media, articles and podcasts on our GrandParents Teach, Too web site. Check us out!

Read, Write and Inspire Your Children

What could be better than reading with your children? Writing stories with your children, of course! Both are excellent activities for reading development but writing stories develops organizational and thinking skills while learning use of language and vocabulary. Sound difficult? Here is a wonderful online tool that can help. Storybird provides all the elements to engage and inspire you and your children, alike.

Materials Needed:

Go to http://storybird.com/ Click Explore to read hundreds of stories written by others just like you. Click Parents for many ideas and ways to share stories. Interaction is big part of Storybird. Making comments and suggestions engages writers and develops social skills at the same time.

What To Do:

Click Create to sign up for your free account. Start your story by viewing an extensive gallery of illustrations to inspire you to “unlock” the stories inside you. You and your children collaborate to develop story ideas that bloom through imagination. Type in your text online and drag the pictures into scenery boards that become the pages of your book. You can easily edit text and rearrange boards at any time. You work is saved as you go along and remains unpublished until you submit your final copy…but it can still be changed anytime after.

Your stories are saved securely online account to share on Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter. Snuggle up with them all on your iPad internet browser,

marking your favorites. All this is free, but you can also purchase hard copies of your books. Print stories on your own printer from downloadable pdf files or order published soft or hard cover books…perfect for sending to friends and relatives for presents. Write your own personal histories and save them in beautiful, professionally illustrated books.

How Does This Help My Children?

Read and write with your children for twice the learning! And because you are writing with online tools, you join a global community of writers, readers, and artists of all ages.

For more great educational activities visit Grandparents Teach, Too web page and listen to WNMU Radio 90 Learning Through the Seasons podcasts.

 

Photos: Storybird website

We Are Now on youtube -- See Your Favorite Activities!!

After a bit of practice and technical trials....you can view many of our favorite activities on youtube.

See live demonstrations of Water Play: Does It Sink or Float?; Making Play "Sand"; Make a 3D Travel Map; Safe Hockey; Making Bubbles...all activities that help children learn and expand vocabulary at the same time. Support children through your interactions, as you will see in our many examples that build confidence and self-esteem.

Hope you enjoy them all...send us your comments and ideas on any of these fun activities.

For more ideas go to our Grandparents Teach, Too Blog: http://grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com/ and listen to Learning Through the Seasons
http://www.wnmufm.org/learningthroughtheseasons.

Podcasts on WNMU Public Radio 90:

Enjoy all your special sharing times with your children and grandchildren!

Ever Wonder What To Do When Your Children Wonder?

So many questions: How does the sun work? Where do stars go in the daytime? How come you can hear me? Can people disagree and still be friends? There is a place you can go to find answers to these wondrous wonders and more or even post your own personal “wonder.” That place is the online community called Wonderopolis and it’s all free!

Materials Needed:

You just need an internet-connected device and the Wonderopolis web address: http://wonderopolis.org/

What To Do:

On the home page of the site you will find many exciting activities and events on the main page. You will also see a menu on the side that will take you to their treasure store of interesting ideas and information. You can view the “Wonder of the Day”; Explore “Wonders”; submit your own “Wonder”; vote for favorite “Wonders.” There is also an “Educator Sandbox” page that offers many great ideas and instructions for activities to do with your children.

A special summer event is being held online right now: Camp What-A-Wonder. It runs Monday – Friday, June 17 – July 26, with a new theme each week. Sign up to receive the Camp What-A-Wonder Bulletin to keep up with all the latest Camp updates. 

Once at the site, you can also use the “Follow Us” menu to receive daily “Wonders” on your Facebook, Twitter, or RSS accounts. You can also enter your phone number and e-mail address to subscribe to receive the “Wonder of the Day” right in your message inbox. There is also a mobile app rated Best Kid’s App by Parenting Magazine that you can add to your android or iOS device.

What Is a “Wonder”?

Let’s look at today’s Wonder of the Day: What Does It Mean To Agree To Disagree? There is an entire web page devoted to analyzing this question from a variety of viewpoints. There are pictures that symbolize the concepts, a video and an audio storytelling example. There are also Wonder Words to expand vocabulary in this area. There are interactive “try outs” and a quiz to engage your child.

How Does This Help My Children?
Everyone wonders...it happens anywhere, anytime. Encourage your children to be explorers on paths to new discovery. Since Wonderopolis started in 2010, it has been recognized as a fresh approach to wonder and learning, receiving many awards for organizations such as: Time magazine, Parenting.com, USA Today and Learning Magazine. The "Wonder" content aligns with current school curriculum standards, too. 

For more great educational activities visit Grandparents Teach, Too web page and listen to WNMU Radio 90 Learning Through the Seasons podcasts.

Photos: Wonderopolis website