Mystery Math Mats: Shapes

Hi! I'm Leslie- a homeschooling momma to a 5 year old girl and 21 month old boy.  The 2 are as different as night and day.  I share our adventures here to both inspire learning at home and chronicle our lives, because honestly, I never started the baby books and my kids will just have to look back on their childhood through this blog... ha! #keepinitreal

Teaching children to offer or ask for help is an important skill to develop during the early years.  Practicing extending and accepting assistance fosters a learning environment where it is okay to need help and gives children the confidence to ask questions and see support when needed.

There is such a thing as becoming a crutch however,  That is when encouragement comes in- cheering on my kiddos to do what I know they can or at least try to do.

I want to help but I do not want to be a crutch.

Many times as a homeschooling momma, I have to step back and watch and keep my hands to myself and let my kiddo face her challenge, encourage her, and when she has done her best and still needs help, I need to be there to guide but not do it for her.

Not going to lie, our Math activity for our "Help" day was a great learning experience for both my girl and myself!

Mother Goose Time sent us new Math Shape Mats called "Mystery Puzzles" along with our 

Multi-style Tangrams.  I love these mats!  You match the shapes first at the bottom.  Then the kiddos will use all BUT one to make the image at the top of the card.

On the back of the card, are little answer keys so show which shapes will be used.  

The shaded shapes are the ones you use and the white is the one you do not use.

These would be great for quiet time boxes!

Look at that sweet smile of accomplishment on the bottom right hand picture!

The challenge of figuring out what shapes work and which didn't was such a confidence booster for my girl!

Below is the Mystery Mat that had her stumped and had me biting my tongue and keeping my hands tucked away as to not give her the answer but guide her.

I decided to film her as she struggled and reasoned what to do.

I am so thankful she didn't get frustrated (which is what usually happens) and kept trying.  She eventually asked for help, and I was challenged with not giving her the answer 

but guiding her in her thinking.

She felt so accomplished and happy when she finally got the answer!

My boy didn't miss out on the math game either.  I was super impressed with him matching the circle, triangle, and small rectangular shapes!  

Not minutes after completing our Mystery Math Mats and cleaning up all the shapes did my boy then dump the entire basket on the floor!

Help quickly came in the form of his big sister. 

Perfect opportunity to help others on our Help Day.

Problem solved.

I hope we see more of these Mystery Math mats in the future. 

I'll keep you posted when we do!

Until then,

Happy Learning friends!

3 Shape Activities for Preschoolers

We have had lots of fun with shapes this month.

 This month Mother Goose Time sent us Tangram Shapes as our monthly manipulative along with tons of activities and games.  Many of these activities revolved around Friends and Feelings- our theme for this month.

You can easily do these activities at home by cutting out simple shapes from card stock or construction paper.

Here were our top 3 Activities with our shapes this month:

Feeling Faces

Using some chalk, my girl drew an oval on her table.  After spinning the spinner, she then recreated that face with the shapes. With older kids you can ask, "What is that face feeling?  How do you know?"  She could tell me each emotion the face was showing when I asked.

Feeling Shapes Sort

We had 4 shape cards with faces on them.  Each face had a specific emotion- the triangle smiled, the rectangle frowned, the parallelogram was mad, while the circle looked surprised.  I piled her shapes in front of her and she began sorting them.

After sorting the shapes, she then started creating designs with them.  I was really impressed as I watched her create.  I could see her making patterns and really thinking about what she wanted to do.  I snapped a pic of her designs down below. 

Pattern Making: What's Next?

This month we have been focused on an AB pattern, and our pattern making game came with 4 strips with premade patterns on them.

Our strips had an AB pattern (green), ABB (blue). and ABC (red). and a create your own (purple).

There is so much reasoning and understanding that goes on when creating patterns and especially making your own.  Avaleigh has just recently become interested and is really understanding patterns, so we try to squeeze in pattern making whenever we can.

I hope you enjoyed seeing some ways to help your learner have fun while learning about their shapes.  If you would like to see more learning ideas, be sure to like our Facebook page. 

 I will try to do a GIVEAWAY on there soon <3.  

What are some of your favorite shape activities to do with your kiddos?