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Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Lids, Caps, Tops... A Free, Recycled Learning Material

Lids, caps, tops... free recycled learning materials from Paula's Preschool and Kindergarten
It isn't a new, or an original idea to use lids as manipulatives in the classroom.  I read about collecting household items to use in math instruction in Math Their Way, first published in 1976. There are a lot of innovative ways to use these free materials to teach mathematics, as well as art and environmental awareness.  Today I'd like to share some of them with you.

Sorting... we sorted by color here...
Lids, caps, tops... free recycled learning materials from Paula's Preschool and Kindergarten
 ... and by size and shape here.
Lids, caps, tops... free recycled learning materials from Paula's Preschool and Kindergarten
 It's fun to make concentric circles, which also happens to involve seriating by size.
Lids, caps, tops... free recycled learning materials from Paula's Preschool and Kindergarten
 You can build tall towers, which not only involves seriating, but also fine motor skills and balancing.
Lids, caps, tops... free recycled learning materials from Paula's Preschool and Kindergarten
 You can see several of those things happening as these children play.
Lids, caps, tops... free recycled learning materials from Paula's Preschool and Kindergarten
 We also used the larger lids to make enclosures at our pretend zoo!
Lids, caps, tops... free recycled learning materials from Paula's Preschool and Kindergarten
 What about sorting with subgroups?  Skinny yellow lids within a container of skinny lids, within a container of various lids...  I showed the children my sorting rule, and they figured out where to put each lid.
Lids, caps, tops... free recycled learning materials from Paula's Preschool and Kindergarten
 Another group made a rainbow picture, not only sorting by color, but making a picture with it.
Lids, caps, tops... free recycled learning materials from Paula's Preschool and Kindergarten
All this was on day one of this material being available!  We'll be exploring further, and hopefully will include some of the other lid ideas I've collected on this pinterest board:

In the meantime, start saving your lids! 

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