Math and Candy Corn

Today we used candy corn to practice a few math skills.  First we counted the candy corn .

Then we added three pumpkins and talked about patterns .  Almost every child was able to set up an AB pattern.  Pumpkin, corn, pumpkin, corn , pumpkin , corn.  I was pleasantly surprised that most of them could master that skill  .

From Mathrise.com

Pattern recognition is the most important intelligence skill

Out of all mental skills, pattern recognition is said to have the highest correlation with general intelligence. Pattern recognition is the ability to recognize order in a chaos. Patterns can be found in ideas, words, symbols, numbers, and images. They can also be found in behavior, routines, and in nature.

The ability to recognize, identify, and create patterns not only supports mathematical learning, it also contributes to broader social development. By understanding patterns, children are able to make predictions about what should come next. This predictive ability begins shortly after birth and continues throughout our lives. Based on past behavior, babies can predict that cleaning up will follow eating a meal and that putting on clean clothes will follow taking a bath. Likewise, pets can predict that taking a walk may follow eating dinner. No doubt, understanding patterns helps all of us maneuver more confidently in our environment.

How do we “teach ” patterns ? At this age , we really don’t.  We point them out . Many of the littles that sat at small group today had patterns on their clothing.   Patterns are everywhere just start to notice and include that in conversation with your child.

We also played a number recognition game by putting the numbered leaves in order.