#69 For All Ages

For All Ages

Grown-ups: Sometimes kids come up with rules as they build. Help them keep patterns consistent from row to row and from column to column. If they make up a new interesting rule mid-grid, start a new grid with that rule.

Babies: Babies will mostly watch parents play, and knock towers down. Babies like regular structures, so towers with consistent patterns are more interesting to them than a plain block tower. Speak about your pattern as you build, for some math vocab.

Toddlers and Young Kids: Take turns making parts for the tower, or invite the toddler to help place pieces onto a tower. They can also guess where the towers you make should go. Switch two of the towers on the finished grid, and see if the kid finds which ones you switched.

Big Kids: Children can experiment with grid rules other than multiplication. You can build addition tables this way, or any grid rule kids invent. You can use covariance monster games (next chapter) to invent rules.