Toys That Measure Up

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The hardware store has different shapes and sizes of kitchen scales.

Toys are not exclusively for kids. Adults have them and some can become an addiction with dire financial and health consequences. Example. Cellphones.

The house if full of things kids can play with. Learning begins with play. A kitchen scale for example. It is about numbers and numbers rule the world, but we don’t make the connection because we tend to create borders between existence. School. Work. Sports. Pray.

You can ask kids to put a small apple on the kitchen scale. Help them determine how much it weighs. Write it down. Before they eat bread, ask them to put a slice on the scale. How about two and three slices? We run out of bread and go to the store. Shopping is not in isolation. It is part of one existence and it is ruled by numbers. Kids see it at the cashier. Cashiers weigh the grapes, banana, cantaloupe, okra etc. Kids might love some mango, but you put your foot down. “They’re expensive this time of the year.” If kids like anything in the fruit and vegetable section, ask them to weigh it. Most stores have digital scales or the hanging ones.

“Why mummy?”

“Because, my darling, weight determines the price.”

Grams. Ounces. Kilograms. Liters. Pounds. A kitchen scale merges kids’ school and home because they will get exam questions about weight and how it is measured in different countries. You already have a bathroom scale, try and get a kitchen scale, so that they are comfortable with numbers at an early age.

Nonqaba waka Msimang

Blogger Without Borders

 

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