10 brown wooden Prisms which are all the same length but whose height and breadth increase by one centimetre each time. Work mat.
DIRECT AIM
To develop the child’s visual perception of dimension.
INDIRECT AIM
To develop the child’s co-ordination of movement. To provide experiences of seriation by showing the relationships between prisms. To give the child basic language important in Maths. Gross motor movements Concentration
PRESENTATION
Individual exercise done on a floor mat.
Place a floor mat on the working space.
Show the child how to carry each prism to the mat by supporting the bottom of the prism with the left hand held just below the prism and with the right hand held stretched over the breadth of each prism. This will give the child a muscular impression of size.
The prisms are randomly placed on the mat. Show the child how to build the stair starting with the largest prism first. Align the long side of the first prism with the top end of the mat and ensure that the prisms are built using the length of the mat as a guide.
Each prism is placed a little distance from the previous prism and then using both hands, push up each prism to meet the previous prism. Every so often run your hands along the sides of the built prisms to ensure that they are all in line.
Mix up the prisms gently and quietly and invite the child to build the stair.
Show him how to feel that the stair has been correctly built by running his hand down the stair, but also show him how to fit the smallest prism into each successive stair.
Should the child struggle with this exercise he can do:
A
The 4 or 5 smallest prisms
B
The 5 largest prisms
C
5 successive prisms from the middle
D
Use every other prisms
Game 1
The child may use the Pink Tower and Broad Stair together and discover the relationship between them. He may discover various differences and similarities. Give the child appropriate language as he makes his discoveries.
CONTROL OF ERROR
When the child feels the stair he may realise there is a prism out of sequence.
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