Start collecting bottle caps from juice bottles and water bottles in a variety of sizes and colors. You’ll be amazed at how many ways you'll be able to use them! Your child will have fun examining the similarities and differences he sees.
- variety of bottle caps in different colors and sizes
Step 1: Place a variety of bottle caps in a basket and give them to your child to explore and sort. As he sorts by color, shape and size, your child is learning to notice similarities and differences in objects.
Step 2: Watch to see how he chooses to organize and sort. Use language to describe what you see him doing. For example:
You put all the blue ones in a pile and all the green ones in another pile! You sorted by color.
I heard you counting the bottle caps. 1-2-3-4. You have four bottle caps.
You have three piles of caps: blue, green and white. Which pile has the most? Which pile has the least?
I see that you have lined up the bottle caps from smallest to biggest. Which one is the smallest? Which one is the biggest?
You put all the big caps here and the little ones over here. You sorted by size.
Step 3: For added fun, hide bottle caps in a bin of sand. Let your child dig through the sand to find the bottle caps. Ask him to describe the color or size of the caps.
Provide caps that are all the same size but in two different colors. Ask your child to sort the caps by color.
Once your child has sorted the caps, ask him to tell you how he sorted them.
