#57 For All Ages

For All Ages

Grown-ups: Offer help gently, but let children experiment on their own! Investigate how grids are used in art, design, city planning, and other professions, and what tools each profession uses to keep their grids precise and accurate.

Babies: To draw grids with babies, gently fold baby’s hand over a large marker, and enfold baby’s hand in yours. The hand teaches the brain how grids work. Babies also repeat a simple game: you make a nice grid out of tiles, paint chips, or building blocks. Then, the baby messes the grid up, happy that the game can start all over again! The cycle of making structures and then creating chaos is irresistible.

Toddlers and Young Kids: Some toddlers will enjoy helping you make grids, or will try making their own. Many like to play with magnetic tiles and to fold paper. Toddlers may find more interest in grids that represent something – for example, a building with windows, an arrangement of their favorite toys on modular shelves, or a vending machine.

Big Kids: Take turns making up grids with different qualities: circular, precise, beautiful, uneven, or weird. These challenges may lead to interesting tools like compasses and gauges, to precise measurements, and to computer-based explorations. Ask kids to build different grids with the same total number of cells. For example, “one-dollar grid” (one hundred pennies) can have rows of ten (each worth a dime) or rows of five (each worth a nickel) and so on.