M&M Math - Science Saturday

Sorry for the delay. I had a pretty wicked migraine last week that took me out most of the week.

To recap our September Science Saturday: we had a beautiful Saturday afternoon on the 14th and a great turnout of math lovers (my kind of people).

Now, I created this lesson from a second grade lesson that I only remember had to do with M&M and math (yes, 20+ years ago, when I was in 2nd grade). I wanted to bring it down to the preschool level: basic counting, addition, and I introduced the concept of division (sharing the M&Ms) just to see how well it went over.

Here's what I created as worksheets:
M&M Math Lesson for Preschoolers
M&M Bar Graph

I chose a paper cup full of M&Ms instead of a bag of M&Ms. I was pretty good at scooping out right around 40 M&Ms/cup. The parents guided the kids through the worksheets - surprisingly, the kids were patient enough to do the math before eating the M&Ms.

I had the kids count their M&Ms. The best method was to dump them all out and count them as you put the M&Ms back in the cup:

Then, the kids sorted their M&Ms by color and counted the amount in each color:

Then I had the kids add the primary colors (red, blue, yellow) and then the secondary colors (orange and green since there is no purple). This was exciting for most of the preschoolers since they knew what primary and secondary colors were.

The wild cards were the concept of division and the bar graph. I introduced division as sharing their M&Ms. If you split your M&Ms equally between everyone in your family, how many would each person get? I suggest getting a paper cup for each family member and putting M&Ms one at a time in everyone's cup until the M&Ms are gone. Then count the piles to make sure they are equal. If they aren't, how many are left?

For the bar graph, I made it optional since I wasn't sure of the attention span on the beautiful Saturday. Most kids wanted to do it. I recommend transcribing your color counts below the labels on the x-axis (the colors) and using the same color crayon as M&M to color how many M&Ms of that color you have. I told the kids to find the number on the graph (y-axis), draw a line at that number, and color from 0-the number of M&Ms in that color (I have the axis counting by 5's and put on a minor axis of 1's). The kids were then able to visually assess which color(s) had the most M&Ms.

I hope this is successful for you. We had a lot of fun! It's just in time for Halloween, so feel free to use packets of M&Ms instead of cups of M&Ms. Cups were pretty easy for the bulk necessary for Science Saturday (and most likely classrooms).

P.S. I was asked by parents of really young kids how kids learn how to count (like without skipping numbers or getting stuck in transitions between decades). My answer: practice. J had a hard time, and we just practiced. He can now count to over 100 before getting bored, without mistakes most of the time. Hopefully, you can find and state the patterns as you go along (like from 20-100 everything goes decade+next number ie. twenty-one, twenty-two...and 40-90 sounds just like their unit digit (four-ty, six-ty, etc. though fifty is hard since it's not five-ty)).

Related Posts:

• Basic M&M math
• M&M math supplementals

Telling Time for Beginners

We picked up this Dr. Seuss foam clock from Target. It was something that J really wanted, and I was hoping we can learn a little more about time from an analog (non-digital) clock.

J has always been an early riser in the morning. We got a digital clock when he was around 18 months, so he can start recognizing numbers, in hopes that he would understand not making a peep until 7:00 am on Saturday mornings. It worked to an extent.

At 4, he can tell us what time the digital clock reads. He is able to say if his school is closed if it's after 6:00 pm. However, he still doesn't understand that the next numbers in minutes after 59 is 00.

So when we saw the clock at Target for $0.50, I figured whynot? It'll at least start the discussion about time.

Points we've discussed so far:
1. The hour hand is the little arrow. Wherever the little hand is first, that's the first number you say. On real analog clocks, the little hand moves slowly to the next number as the big hand ticks away the minutes. This is a little too advance for my 4 year old at this moment. If your kid is grumpy about the little hand not being exactly on 3 when it's 3:30, explain that you take the number you come across before the arrow when going around the clock (ie. if it's between 3 and 4, you get to 3 first when tracing the edge of the clock with your fingers, clockwise).

2. Each of the numbers represents 5. Starting at 1, we are learning to count by 5's around the clock. This is a really hard concept. I don't know how best to explain the numbers and that 1 really means 5 minutes and 2 really means 10 minutes, etc. If you have insight on helping pretty little kids understand minutes of the clock or counting by 5's, I'd appreciate any help.

Reception: J likes to learn about the clock. He'll bring it to me with a time that he sets and asks me to tell him what time it is. We'll work through the problem together, and he typically asks for another time problem. We have yet to get past two separate time telling problems at a time.

You can make your own clock with a paper plate, two arrows (print them out from Word or the internet), and a brad. If you make your own, you can decorate it however you and your child desires.

How have you introduced time telling in your family? Have you been successful?

Science Saturday, Sept 14 - afternoon

I haven't been feeling well over the last month and this Saturday (Sept 14) is our only free Saturday of the month for Science Saturday. I was hoping for something quick, fun, and easy with minimal prep needed on my part.

I'm very excited about M&M math since math is my first love. We'll have small tupperware cups that can be filled to the parent's desires for M&M math. There would be a worksheet about counting, addition and subtraction, and making a bar graph.

Details: Sept 14 3-5p
SF Bay Area, CA (email me using the address on the side bar << for specific details)

I'm still thinking of ideas for October. We might do silly putty/goo or volcanoes. Hopefully, I start feeling better soon.

Edited: 6:30p 9/8/13 with the decision for M&M math over paper airplanes.

Recyclable Racers

I can't tell you how many times a toilet paper tube has saved my sanity as a mom. Punching four holes with a simple hole punch and using a stirrer straw or a kabob skewer for axles takes 3 minutes max and can lead to hours of play. You can attach a balloon to a straw with a rubber band and then attach the straw to the recyclable via double sided masking tape. After blowing up the balloon, watch it race across your house, driveway, backyard, park, wherever! If your kid is too small for balloons, set up a cardboard box as a ramp and bring on the giggles. You can also add a sail to the car and watch the car move as your child blows on it. Sharing this knowledge was the goal of this month's Science Saturday.

We had a great turn out for our Science Saturday this month! We had it in a park with great sidewalks and access to sand (for weight), but unfortunately, we only one table to assemble things. It was crowded, but we sure had some fun. The goal was to learn about equal and opposite reactions, friction, and general engineering (tweaking your designs for better performance).

How to make your own recyclable racer:

1. Pick out a recyclable you think will make a great race car. I'm always fond of soda bottles. Water bottles nowadays are made with less plastic and are too squishy. I also wouldn't recommend aluminum cans since they are squishy and super light.

Tape standard straws to the bottom of the recyclable
Weigh down the car with washers or sand if necessary

2. Attach two pieces of a normal size drinking straw (small pieces are fine, think cut into 4ths or more) to the underside of your recyclable. This will hold your axles for the wheels, allowing them to move without friction. Note, in previous versions of balloon racers, I used an awl and pre-punched holes into the bottles. Using straws gives you a lot more freedom with adjustments (I hardly ever punch straight holes) and is safer all around (luckily, no battle wounds from before). You want the straw pieces to be parallel to each other and as straight as possible (perpendicular to the direction you'd like the car to move).

3. Stick your axles through the straws. We used stirrer straws for the little recyclables and kabob sticks for the bigger ones. I'd recommend chopping off the points of the skewers before giving to a small child.

4. For wheels, we pre-drilled holes into bottle caps, I made some circular corrugated cardboard wheels using a compass-like tool for cutting circles (affiliate link), and I bought some foam discs. Nobody chose the cardboard wheels. It was split pretty 50/50 on foam and bottle cap wheels.

5. Attach your wheels to the axles. I recommend that the wheels not touch the recyclable since friction will slow down your race car. At this point, you can glue them into place with a hot/warmish glue gun. Whether you use a press fit or you glue the wheels, the wheels should spin with your axle. Make sure the wheels are straight or your car might veer.

6. Attach a balloon to a straw with a rubber band. I found the bubble tea straws (affiliate link) work really well (we cut them into 3rds to reduce costs - though I linked to Amazon, I found these at our local BB&Beyond for $2). You can use a standard straw, but you have to walk the fine line between the rubber band being too tight and crushing the straw or not being tight enough and you can't blow up the balloon.

7. Tape the balloon to the car. I recommend a place where it can hang off the back and you don't have to keep taking it off and on to blow it up.

8. Blow up your balloon and pinch tight, or put your finger over the straw to block the air. Set your car down and let go of the balloon.

9. If your car flips, consider weighing it down (washers or sand do a great job). You can also switch what direction of your car is front (ie. flip the balloon around so it points from the opposite end of the racer).

10. Make adjustments and see if your car can go even faster!

I was able to pull out my camera for video of a few racers we had in the middle of the activity. Parents had to help the little ones blow up the balloons, but fun was had by all:

I think these racers went further than last years balloon racers!

Related Posts:

• Balloon Racers 2012
• Sail Cars

Next Science Saturday and Apologies

The next Science Saturday is this Saturday, August 24, 2013.

We'll be making race cars out of recyclables and learning about gravity and equal and opposite reactions. You can make balloon racers, sail cars, or figure out how to make your car run using forms of energy (elastic, potential, etc). It'll be tons of fun! Bring your own recyclable or use some of the ones we'll bring.

Email me using the link on the left <<, and I can give you detailed information of Science Saturday.

In other news, I apologize for taking a little bit of a blogging break. We still have been doing science at our house. I have two lessons half way composed. Hopefully, one of them will make it to the blog by the end of the week.