Dugald, age 8, is using wood tongs to carefully pick up and deliver beautiful
gemstones from one wood bowl to another. Children at different ages and stages may find this practice more or less difficult: refining fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.
Dugald has solid counting skills by 1s, 2s, 5s, 10s, and is getting more and more accurate with estimating. So, after moving some gemstones from one bowl to the other, he estimated 70 gemstones altogether. Actual count was 52. A chat about "greater than," "less than," and "equal to" followed organically. Simple real-life stories and writing a beautiful Main Lesson Book page with examples of < > = can come next, thereby strengthening knowledge, experience and practical application of real-life skills.
Jedidiah, age 4, assists with delivering boxes to the local recycling center. Jeddah is a bit young for "estimating" by that name, but he can follow a story about apples packed in boxes and shipped by enormous boats across the vast sea.
Age-appropriate stories in everyday settings like this can help children begin to understand the impact that our choices have on our local community and the world at large.
Working a little story-telling into weekly chores doesn't have to be big. Something from the heart goes a long, long way!
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