Last weekend, Bear and I played with her balance scale. A few days after we compared the weight of containers full of beads, I showed her how to use the weights to find out how much the beads in a specific container weighed.
She scooped beads into a container of her choice (different sized yogurt containers from the recycle box), then poured them into one side of the balance scale. Then on the other side of the balance scale, we placed the weights until the two sides balanced out.
Then I counted out how many grams of weights we had for each container.
I have to say that there is no way Bear could possibly do this activity on her own yet, but I love doing things beyond her zone of proximal development to see what she can absorb. We will need to play with the scale a lot more. Right now, her favorite thing to do is to pile the weights in on one side and then the other.
We also tried to compare the weight of certain amounts of pattern block shapes.
Here we are comparing ten blue diamonds and ten green triangles.
I am definitely going to get the same balance scale here - it looks like a toy that can last for a while and teach at the same time.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing. I always enjoy your posts. It was nice to see you introducing an activity above her zone of development. Children often do more than we think they are capable of!
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I agree with introducing above the ZPD! Children get so much more than we tend to believe!
ReplyDeleteOur scale arrived but we still have to get the weights!