Let's play with a purpose - a story about symmetry
Hi friends,
I’m so excited to share with you an activity that my son has been doing lately and some of the things he has created. The activity uses a very low key, no technology toy, and is guaranteed to capture your child’s attention for a good 30-40 minutes. The best thing I love about these activities is that your child will be learning through play! They will be exploring and discovering on their own and it will give you opportunities as a parent to help teach them through their own play!
During this time where we all seem to on Zoom at all hours of our lives, it’s becoming harder and harder to keep your kids engaged and occupied in quality activities. The challenge is real, right? When you know you are going to be on your computer for an hour at a time, as parents we struggle to find activities for our kids that we know will last that long. If not, it never fails that we are going to get a surprise visitor from our “co-workers” on our Zoom call!
So, here are a few play-based learning activities that my son loves that I think your children will love, too!
My son got these construction straws as a birthday gift about a year ago and they have been great because they grow with him. He started just practicing pushing the straws and connectors together to make some basic shapes, but now he has grown to creating 3D shapes, and is creating stories and pretend play with what he makes.
I looked at what he had been creating, and saw that he naturally made his designs symmetrical. I also looked at the LEGO creations he had been making. He will spend hours creating a car, taking it apart, and putting it back together. LEGOS are great to use for all kinds of learning activities.
I noticed that my son also liked to create cars and planes that were symmetrical. Since he was naturally creating and playing this way, I thought this would be the perfect time to actually introduce symmetry with him and have him practice it.
So, I set up a “symmetry” line on the floor and created different shapes with the construction straws on the top half. Then I had him see if he could create the bottom half of the design, making the symmetrical mirror image. This was a challenge for him, but he did a great job and it was a perfect, hands-on way for him to learn and practice this math concept.
Using what your child is interested in or has a strength in is a perfect jumping off point for you as a parent to create a learning opportunity for them. If we as parents can find the learning within the our children's play, then they will be much more likely to be interested in the learning as well as will retain what we teach them!
We are going to try to create an art project with our Effortless Art Crayons using symmetry next, so stay tuned to our Facebook and Instagram feeds for that! Make sure you follow us so you don’t miss it!
Speaking of new things, we just launched a new product on our marketplace, Stick Together Kits! They are like paint by numbers, but for STICKERS! They are the perfect indoor activity that will keep your child’s attention, AND, practice hands-on skills. Check out their selection of kits HERE and look out next week for a new blog post showcasing our journey to create our sticker masterpiece!
If you have a great idea for non-technology toys or activity ideas that have kept your child occupied and learning during these past few months, share them in the comments! We'd love to hear!
Till next time,
Nancy