Number Jars

I had these five baby food jars sitting on the counter for a week and was too lazy to take them to the basement to put them in the bag of jars we collect for Clara's school. 15 minutes after cutting up a catalog from the recycling and putting a glue stick and some packing tape to work...number jars! I also needed 15 pompons (or any small item fun for counting). One might argue that it would have taken me less than 15 min. to go to the basement and back (okay, I had to go anyway to get the pompons), but this was more fun.

These are so simple but can be used on so many levels. For very young children they are a perfect introduction to numbers. Place the lids in front of each jar and put one pompon in the '1' jar, two in the '2,' etc. Or put the pompons in the jars in advance and have the child dump them out, count them, return them to the jar and match the appropriate lid to each jar. As kids get older or more experienced with counting and numbers, try these variations:

-After children put the appropriate number of items in each jar, remove the lids. Mix up the jars. Ask them to order the jars from least to greatest or greatest to least. Children with more solidified number sense will be able to do this without counting. Children still developing can order the jars, match the lids to the jars, and count the items to check their guesses. If it seems to difficult, begin by saying, "Which jar has the least?" "Which jar has the most?"

-Combine jars. Hand them the '2' jar and the '4' jar, for example, and have them tell you how many items are in the jars altogether. Children with emerging number sense will dump them out and count them. Children with more advanced number sense will start with the larger number, in this case 4, and count up: "4, 5, 6." When children are able to do this, they may be ready to write equations to go with the operation (4+2=6) or match the jars to cards with the equations printed on them. Limit the cards to 2 or 3 choices and have them choose the card to match the addition operation. Build on these skills by then moving to three-jar equations like 1+4+3. Switch the order of the jars to see if the child understands the total will be the same even if the jars are in a different order.

-Use two colors of items in your jars. Remove the lids and allow children to experiment with sorting. Note the ways they organize the items--the more complex your items, the more surprising methods they sometimes find for sorting. Return the lids to the jars and have them fill the jars with the appropriate number of items, then have them record what they notice. For a child just learning about number combinations you might give them a page with '5' written on it and several pictures of empty jars, for example, and hand them the '5' jar filled with red and yellow pompons. Give them red and yellow crayons and have them draw how many yellow and how many red they see in their jar. Change the ratio of yellow to red and have them draw again what they see. Talk together about the fact that they still have 5 pompons even though the number of reds and yellows has changed. More experienced children can write equations to go with each of the jars on their recording sheet: 1+4=5 beneath one, 2+3=5 beneath another, etc. See if they can find more combinations for 5. Children ready to move to the next step can then try three colors, or jars with larger numbers.

-Use food for subtraction. Have the child fill each jar with the appropriate number of something tasty like small crackers or raisins. If there are five pieces of popcorn in the '5' jar and you eat two, how many are left? What lid needs to go on that jar now?

-Put them to use for collections. Just home from the park and need some time to make dinner? Hand your child the empty jars and that bag of acorns she collected on the way home. How many acorns does she need to fill all the jars with the appropriate number? How many are left over after the jars have been filled?

-Use items with multiple attributes. Children ready for more of a challenge, particularly those who can skip-count (by 2's, 5's, 10's) can figure out how many holes there are in the two or four-hole buttons in their '3' jar, for example, or how many legs are on the plastic insects in the '4' jar. They can determine how many blue wings and how many green wings are on the green and blue dragonflies in the '5' jar. How much money is in the '1' jar and how much is in the '4' jar if you fill them both with nickels?

Lots of mileage out of 15 minutes of cutting and pasting, don't you think? And aren't you feeling better about paying 60 or 70 cents a jar for 3 tablespoons of pureed vegetables now that you've gotten so much use out of them? :)