Monday, January 9, 2012

SMMART MATH:
 Magneto Fun with
Colors and Shapes

Have you seen those magnetic quiet toys?  The ones where you fill up a water bottle halfway with birdseed and little magnetic trinkets and toys?  Then you put a magnet up to the edge of the waterbottle and try to "grab" the toys and bring them to the edge. 

This is a math version of that classic mom-made toy.  Cut up different colored pipe cleaners into one inch pieces.  Toss them into an empty, rinsed, clear- 2ltr soda bottle. 

Draw different colored shapes on the outside of the soda bottle with colored permanent markers.

Have your child use a magnet to try to "grab" one color pipe cleaner piece.  Drag the piece over to the similar colored shape.  "Can you drag the yellow pipe cleaner into the yellow diamond?"  You can mix it up a little:  "Can you drag the blue pipe cleaner into the orange triangle?" 

Try to collect as many pieces as you can with your magnet.  Count the pieces together.  See if a bigger magnet will pick up more pieces.  Have fun trying out the different magnets.

2 comments:

Jaimi Erickson said...

Very creative twist on the traditional sensory/fine motor homemade toy. Thanks for sharing!

SMMART ideas said...

Hi Jaimi, My girls had a lot of fun with this toy and it's a little more practice for my 2 year old who is learning her colors.

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