Storybooks are sure lovely to read out to kids, but, they can also be an inspiration for creative play ideas as well. Further, creative play can be very educational based on how it is executed.
We incorporated some fun ideas from the 3 little pigs story that has fondly been a part of everyone’s childhood, throughout generations.
Learning Addition through Brick Cutouts (Ages 5 and above)
What you need: Scissors, glue, orange/brown paper, blue paper, a white plain sheet.
Steps: Draw a brick wall on an orange/brown paper, and cut out the bricks. Draw and cut out wheelbarrows as well from a blue colored sheet. Now paste the wheelbarrows on a plain white sheet. Paste, at random any number of bricks from 1-4 on these wheelbarrows. Then underneath each barrow write down an additional sum. Eg. 3 bricks + ___ = 5 bricks. Ask the child to paste the number of bricks onto the barrow, required to solve the sum.
Math can be a very engaging or a very challenging subject for many students. If the foundation is laid correctly, kids might develop a good amount of interest in the subject and not find it as challenging. Therefore, number recognition is very important.
Indeed the activity described above is a very easy way to teach the basics of math to the young ones and will build analytical as well as motor skills.
Understanding Material Textures (Ages 3 and above)
What you need: some straws, sticks, a real brick
Read out the story if the 3 little pigs to the kids. While this is an easy to comprehend classic story, yet it can be challenging for the children to fully grasp it in terms of the underlying ‘scientific principles’ at work. Allow them to feel the texture and weight of each of the materials that are described in the story. Help them understand that these different textures and weights/mass of objects are very important to realize.
Matter as we know it, becomes a significant area of enquiry in higher classes, thus making kids familiar with it will only be fruitful for the years ahead.
Wind Experiment (3 and above)
What you need: Some straws, some toothpicks, a Lego brick
Place a pile of straws, a pile of toothpicks and a Lego brick on a solid surface.
Ask the kids to blow onto each of these. Ask them to observe the differences. What they’ll realize is that the Lego brick is sturdy, and cannot be blown away easily, while the other 2 aren’t. This will contribute to their overall understanding of the natural world around them, and will be interested to draw similar observations about other objects around them as well. Developing a sense of exploration early on leads to a lot of self-discovery and encourages young minds to imagine and innovate.
Besides, these activities, the moral of the story, alternate endings, country-wise versions, etc. can also be dug into to present a holistic perspective. Teaching and encouraging kids, early on, to explore beyond the obvious, will not only help them develop a critical, reasoning mind but also make them responsible individuals as they grow up.
