Did you know that understanding measurements starts as early as infancy and develops throughout early childhood often without any adult guidance. The child‘s mind applies concepts of measurements in many of their everyday activities from infancy and throughout their childhood. Whether they are stacking blocks, weighing rocks, seeing how long a worm is, sorting objects, measurement is present everywhere and everyday in their lives.
When building on children's intuitive early concepts of measurement both in formal and informal ways to develop their vocabulary and understanding of measurement and comparison through exploring will help develop a strong foundation of mathematics at a young age. Measurement is meaningful to children and Learning Resources Primary Science® Mix & Measure Set #gifted are the perfect tools to provide more exposure for children to learn through hands on play.
A fun way to set up an invitation specifically exploring measuring is to place a sensory bin with the Mix and Measure Set. Provide different materials to measure such as rocks, slime, sand, rice, beans, pasta, and water. Invite the child to use the tools to measure all the different sensory materials.
Since children learn best through hands-on experiences because they are using different modalities they will retain and learn new concepts while enhancing their mathematical skills. This type of learning through play helps their brain engage and create and expand their neural pathways since so many of their senses are being used. Hence why play builds brains. The more children are given opportunities of opened ended play such as this they higher their level of thinking will grow and develop.
