This week's math activity was a lot of fun. We were still studying tally marks. And this time, The Secret Life of Math focused on American Indians and how they kept track of things like time and events.
A little trip to JoAnn's fabric store yielded some suede-like material from their clearance section. Perfect for our little project! *Happy dance*
We played around a little bit with our design until we ended up with the right size and shape for my two little Dakota Indians. I sketched out a shape, folded the fabric in half, then started cutting...
My daughter decided to try the "ink" (black paint) method on her hide, and calculated the animals she wanted vs. the ones she had...
But my son went with his trusty marker set to begin drawing animals we might see around our place.
When he finished, we wandered outside to find some animals to count! (We found some turkeys way off in the distance, but fortunately for this little Dakota Sioux, he had a pair of binoculars in his backpack.)
Then he carefully recorded his numbers on his hide and tucked it back into his belt for safe keeping.
My kids really loved this activity. Role playing is already one of their favorite ways to play, and making "animal hides" just made it that much more fun.
Stay tuned for next week: A book on Roman numerals!
Un abrazo...
