Playing/ Free Exploration

Did you use Cuisenaire Rods for math when you were a child?  My mother found mine in a closet and gave them to us.  They are a wonderful tool for math.  Wonderful.  Little Hen wants to do a math lesson with them daily, and after her intense focus on the lesson, both she and Firecracker will play freely with them for quite a while before putting them away. 

For those not familiar, these are beautifully colored wooden rods used to teach anything from simple addition to geometry to fractions, to patterns…you name the mathematical subject, and you can use Cuisenaire Rods as a natural learning tool. 

(Little Hen and Firecracker laying out sums – here it’s 8’s.)

We are actually using set curriculum, which includes the lesson cards that came with the set, and a notebook of lessons from my days taking educational math methods in undergrad.  (Yes, sometimes I stray from the “unschooling” path…although, if it’s  Little Hen’s request to work from the curriculum, isn’t that still unschooling?  For that matter, why are labels important at all, especially when simply cultivating a love of learning is the goal?)

Wishing you a day full of mathematical enjoyment and exploration!  (Yes, math can be fun, as my girls will tell you!)

This is our spice cabinet (Yes, it’s a bit of a mess.  Yes, the jams and jellies are taking over a bit.  Yes, it looks like I’m single handedly keeping the Clackamas Penzeys store in business.)

This morning, I was feeding Tum Tum in the living room, when I heard some clunking, giggling, and whispering in the kitchen.  Of course, I’m now in the habit of grabbing my camera., so I was able to get some shots of the girls.  They were very busy, playing “Spice Hunters”.  

Little Hen would reach up, grab a spice, open it, and she and Firecracker would describe what they smelled.   The Contintental Rub smelled like “Thanksgiving”; Rogan Josh, “India”; the cloves, “Mama’s tea”; nutmeg, “eggnog”, etc.  Then, Little Hen would read the label to find out what spice they had selected.  When they got to the paprikas (yes, I have several kinds), they declared that the spice hunt was a success, because they had found the “the treasure of the rarest, most valuable ‘pap-ah-reek-ahs’ to bring home to [their] people.” 

At the end, Little Hen said, “Mama, this cabinet smells like that spice store.  You know, the one with the kids’ coloring table, and all the good smells.  I love that place.  What’s it called?”  “You mean Penzeys?”  “That’s the one!!” 

I think this afternoon, we’ll do a little research online about real spice hunters, and the spice trade.  I think it’ll be a really interesting topic (and when would a kindergartener ever  get to cover this subject in public school?).

 

The girls love to play with their “fairy-sized” china tea set.  It’s a mish mash of pieces we’ve collected from thrift stores.  I don’t think we’ve spent more than $3 in total.   There are duplicates of some pieces, and we’re missing a few cups and sugar bowl lids, but the girls still enjoy serving tea to their little guests.

 

Some days they even make paper food (cut from magazines, or drawn on construction paper) to serve on the dishes, and fill the tea pots with water.  The girls love the feel of real china, and the proportions seem to be just right for their favorite dolls, or a visiting invisible fairy or two. 

 The fact that we have a rather eclectic set means that the occaisonal broken piece isn’t the end of the world- we’ll find another that “almost matches” within a few trips to the thrift store.