Shape Crackers
Here’s a terrificidea from my friend Pamela Pounds. Pamela sends a note to parents the first week of school asking them tosend crackers to help the children learn their shapes. (Ritz - circles, Club crackers -rectangles, Doritos - triangles, Wheat Thins - squares, and Town House crackers- ovals.) The parents are happy to send the crackers and they usuallylast for a month. Pamela says it’snot only a fun way to talk about shapes, but it’s nice for children who don’thave a snack.
I thought ofseveral other additional math concepts you could reinforce:
*Give children twocrackers and ask them to describe how they are different.
*Have children eatone half of a cracker.
*Give children asquare cracker and challenge them to nibble it into a circle.
*Give children twolike crackers. Ask, “Are they thesame amount?” Next, have thembreak one of the crackers into little pieces. Ask, “Are they the same amount now?” You’ll be surprised at theirresponse. This is calledconservation of quantity and is an experiment Piaget used to demonstratedevelopmental stages.
*Give children asheet of paper. Pass out a squarecracker to each child and tell the children to draw what it looks like on theirpaper. Next, give them a circle shapedcracker and ask them to draw it. Continue with other shapes. It’s a fun way to practice pre-writing skills.
Pamela Pounds alsoshared this transition activity. She went to the school cafeteria and got the label off a can ofapplesauce. She glued it to paperand added a stick. When she wantsthe children to sit “criss cross applesauce” she holds up the sign. It’s a great way to get children quietand they are doing “logographic” reading and making print connections.
