Patterns and Simple Relationships
To help children to exercises and build their logical thinking capabilities we must practice simple relationships through matching, sorting, comparing, ordering and patterning. These skills will help to understand numbers and the number system.
Simple Relationships and Patterns
Matching
Matching means that persons can notice two things that have something in common. The child can match objects based on size, shape, texture, and function. Understanding this concept of sameness will help children to match a picture card of 5 carrots as both have the same quantity of 5.
Sorting
Matching involves looking for similar things. Sorting follows from matching. Children need to know which objects are the same and which ones are different. Putting objects develop logical thinking and reasoning. It also helps children to understand better numbers.
Comparing
This skill means that the child has to have the ability to identify how similar and different are two random objects. While the child is comparing the object to their cognitive skills, vocabulary, and numbers.
Ordering
In these exercises, the child has been able to compare more than two objects or two sets of objects and putting them in a certain order such as by size or length. For example, having three different sizes of teddy bears, the child has to be able to compare shorter to longest, identify the middle and longest to the shortest teddy bear. Ordering involves also place things in a sequence by describing the meaning.
Comparing
This skill means that the child has to have the ability to identify how similar and different are two random objects. While the child is comparing object their cognitive skills, vocabulary and numbers.
Patterning
Patterning is a way of ordering. The environment of the child should provide opportunities for him/her to identify patterns. The child can use different manipulatives such as stringing beads, pegs, pegboards. Let's make an example: two types of cars, a blue car (A) and a red car (B).
The patterning could be exposed to this level:
- ABABAB
- AAB
- AABB
- AB AAB AABB
More you introduce different variations, more complicated but interesting is. This can improve awareness of the patterns.
How to know what are the basic shapes?
Children are always exposed to various objects in the environment, these objects have shaped. Vegetables, toys, fruit, tools, furniture everything that surrounds us has a shape. It is suggested to let your child explore, touch, smell and let him/her ask questions about it.
You can begin to teach your child what shape represents each object, what the properties etc. When children began to learn shapes and new figures.
Identifying and naming basic shapes help children to describe things in the environment. Understanding the space between objects, the relation of the object will help the child to build strong visual awareness, and visual skills like visual perception, spatial awareness, figure-ground discrimination. Moreover, understanding simple spatial concepts lay the foundation for geometry in future learning.
