August 10, 2011

What can YOU do with a piece of track?

This morning we did just a little real informal schooling while Hayden was playing with his Thomas the Train track.  You can take almost any opportunity to do some learning/teaching if you will just seize the moment!


Hayden wanted me to help him build (translated~~help him put some track together so his trains can actually work on it..lol).  I am trying to teach him how the pieces fit together to make a track.  It is much like a puzzle really.  He is getting a good hang of the straight and curvy pieces, it is just adding the fun stuff (aka..bridges, tunnels, etc) that makes it a little more difficult for him right now.


So as I was sitting there with him, I got the idea to throw in a little learning into this playtime.  


So what did WE do with track??  

We counted them, we measured them, we compared them (bigger/smaller, shorter/longer  curvy/straight...concepts he already has down pretty well, but reinforcement is always a good thing!). Then I took his bridge and put one train on the bridge and one underneath and we discussed over/under. Simple little concepts but ones that they have to be taught nonetheless.




See learning with a 3 year old doesn't have to be difficult...it can actually be fun! ; )




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