Awhile back I had these grand plans to put together Little Sis's preschool plans using MathStart books by Stuart J Murphy. I read several titles to Big Brother over the past few years and he always seemed to enjoy them, so I purchased a few to "get me started" since our local library doesn't carry many of the titles.
One of the books I bought was A House for Birdie that is supposed to introduce capacity in a fun and engaging story.
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Birdie is in search for a house that fits him perfectly, and enlists the help of his four of his friends. As they fly through the neighborhood, each bird house they come across is either too tall, too short, too wide and/or too narrow for Birdie-- but just perfect for one of his friends. In the end, it is Birdie's friends who help make a house just for him.
Preschool Capacity Lesson
To put the math concepts in action, I made an activity called, A House for Me.
I grabbed an large gift box and four toy figures that had differing attributes: tall/ fat, tall/ thin, short/ fat, and short/ thin.
Along with capacity and sizing, I think this is a great story to introduce opposites!
I grabbed an large gift box and four toy figures that had differing attributes: tall/ fat, tall/ thin, short/ fat, and short/ thin.
Along with capacity and sizing, I think this is a great story to introduce opposites!
Once I had my four toy figures, I laid them on the box and traced a door that would fit each figure. I used a sharp knife to cut three sides to make the door.
I added a little brick decor to the house and called Little Sis over to read the book and explore the activity with me.
I added a little brick decor to the house and called Little Sis over to read the book and explore the activity with me.
Interestingly enough, she enjoyed putting Mickey in the tall/fat door and putting the teddy bear in the tall/thin door-- etc. etc.! But it made for some fun pretend play, too. And I always have to remind myself that this is all for exposure anyhow; these early years should all be about playful learning and exploring and that was my ultimate goal for this activity!
I did purchase some other MathStart books, so hopefully at some point I'll share some more MathStart go along activities. Do you enjoy the MathStart series??
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