We have been playing with cars this week in Stay and Play. Always a popular activity, it also almost always involves the children sorting and lining up the cars before roads can be driven on, fires attended to, supplies delivered, races raced or crashes crashed and this week was no exception.
Some of the classifications the children use are easy to spot, others less so. The characteristics the children choose to sort by will have meaning to them and once the child, or grouping of children, has decided she or he will physically sort the vehicles, often lining them up. The children will also be describe why they have chosen those particular vehicles and in doing so will perhaps add, or take away, other attributes, further refining their choices.
This kind sorting and organizing is not limited to cars of course, it happens with any and all toys and materials. In this play the children are developing foundational math skills including number sense, color, size and pattern recognition, analytical skills and logical thinking.
