Does your family have special collections? Maybe they collect tools, spare change, stamps, ornaments, seashells, or photos. Young children also are drawn to collecting things. These collections can help them prepare for reading, math, and science.

Sharing Treasures

Gather the collection together. Spread them out. Perhaps it’s a group of stuffed animals they line up by color, count, and name. It may be toy cars, dolls, toy figures, books, or interesting stones. Collections need a special box, bag, or place to be together, so they are easily accessible for little hands to manage and handle.

A collection can help children find what objects have in common and how they are different. Children need this skill to look at words and numbers very carefully. Talk about which ones are big, small, a certain color, rough or smooth. Which ones are favorites? Why? Which ones go together? Why? Collections lend themselves to patterning. Can you make two red cars and then a blue one pattern from a pile of cars? This is fun with money, blocks, and beads too.

Grands’ Treasures

With help, children may enjoy interviewing older people to find out about their collections. Help them to ask questions.” What is the collection? Why do you collect? May we see your collection?”

Help children by printing out simple sentences (one per page) for them to “read” based on the interviews. They may use pictures and memory or really read the words. Children can draw a picture for each sentence and make a little collections book. For example: “Grandpa has a collection of tools. This is a hammer. This is a saw. Mom has a collection of flower photos. This is a yellow sunflower. This is a red rose.” Children can dictate a sentence for you to print about their own collection. Make a cover with a title, children’s names, and staple together.

Characteristics

Learning how to group things together, patterning and counting is important early math, and science skills. Talking together with adults about the properties of items and explaining why they like certain things builds language development and self confidence. Children will be expanding their speech and social skills by finding out about the collections of others. Helping children read simple sentences made for them and drawing corresponding pictures will help build early reading, writing, and math skills. If children go to preschool or early elementary grades, they can share the pictures or the collections book. They may be able to bring part of a collection for “Show and Tell” on Face time or Zoom. For more see Grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com; wnmufm.org/Learning Through the Seasons Tuesday afternoons and Saturday mornings live and pod casts during NPR news; Facebook, and Pinterest since 2009.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Grandparents Teach, Too is a non-profit organization of elementary and preschool teachers from Marquette, Michigan. The writers include: Jan Sabin, Mary Davis, Jean Hetrick, Cheryl Anderegg, Esther Macalady, Colleen Walker, Fran Darling, and Iris Katers. Their mission since 2009 is to help parents, grandparents, and other caregivers of young children provide fun activities to help prepare young children for school and a life long love of learning. They are supported by Great Start, Parent Awareness of Michigan, the U.P. Association for the Education of Young Children, Northern Michigan School of Education, the Upper Peninsula Children’s Museum and the Northern Michigan University Center for Economic Education.