playful invitations

Numbers — Playful Invitations

This year, while spending so much time around home, we are feeling particularly in tune with the change of season while strolling through our neighborhood. We watched the bare branches bud and...

Gather, Sort, Compare — Playful Invitations

Equivalence — Playful Invitations

When teaching preschool math I often use the classic picture books by Ellen Stoll Walsh. One of my favorite stories is Balancing Act . Last week, I noticed many of our learners understood the...

Nature Faces — Playful Invitations

This Fall I had the opportunity to present with my dear friend, Dr. Joy Voss, about Playful Invitations at the National Association for the Education of Young Children conference. This extraordinary...

Sorting Colors — Playful Invitations

Natural Materials are so open-ended they can be used for a variety of purposes and they inspire all sorts of play. This time of year, some of us are seeing a rainbow of colors in nature. Now is the...

Open-Ended Play with Materials — Playful Invitations

In my classroom I typically sit at the math table. I plan games and activities with specific math teaching points in mind. Last week, one of my co-teachers was sick and I found myself at the art...

Counting — Playful Invitations

It is the simplest natural materials that seem to inspire the most play. This is often the case in my classroom. When I put open-ended natural materials in the math area children find many mathemat...

Measurement — Playful Invitations

Last summer we visited a Llama farm in rural Minnesota. My children had the opportunity to be up close and personal with these gentle creatures. As my two year old ran around the farm, she zeroed in...

Math Talk — Playful Invitations

Every page asks the same question, and every answer can be correct. -Christopher Danielson

Spatial Relationships — Playful Invitations

Whenever I do puzzles with my three year old I have to stop myself from providing too much help. Sometimes I worry that she’ll get frustrated if it’s too hard, or I’ll get impatient and want to speed...

Math Games — Playful Invitations

As a child I had plenty of time outside. I remember hot summer days playing in the grass and endless sports games staring at the ground, waiting for something to happen. On these occasions one of my...

Writing Numbers — Playful Invitations

Tornados are a part of life in the midwest. At school we practice tornado drills and at home my children have cuddled in the basement as sirens wailed. Thankfully, a tornado has not touched down near...

Number Sense — Playful Invitations

Playful Invitations is very special in my life. The path I took to start this blog was long, and sometimes hard, but I wasn’t alone. I always had the steadfast voice of my mentor and friend. She...

Collecting Data — Playful Invitations

Data must be represented in order to be interpreted, and how data are gathered and organized depends on the question.  -Erikson Institute’s Early Math Collaborative