A teepee, pallankuzhi and some multiplications

This post is not about ‘How not to make a Teepee’.  I know that it’s a poorly made teepee. But, my little one enjoyed the hot sunny day sitting in the teepee in our backyard.  She learnt some mathematics with our traditional game ‘Pallanguzhi(Pallankuli)’. 

Pallankuli is a traditional south Indian board game with 14 pits and 70 cowry shells or tamarind seeds.  If you are new to ‘Pallanguli’ visit  or watch this video.

I used our pallanguli board for teaching multiplication. Initially, I used the board to demonstrate about ‘groups of 2’, ‘groups of 3’ etc. Then, I introduce her how second multiplication table to be formed.  She put 2 cowry shells in the first pit and wrote one ‘2’ is ‘2’ (1X2=2). Then she put 2 shells in the second pit,counted and wrote two ‘2’s are ‘4’ (2X2=4) and continued.  Soon she herself learnt that by adding the multiplicand to the previous answer, the next answer can be found.

Of course, it’s similar to using Montessori gold beads. But, I think this method helps counting easier and also helps improving fine motor skills. If you do not have pallankuli, use ice trays.

Lady's Finger Printing

Making art work using lady’s finger printing is not new.  But, it is one of the interesting works for any child. Here is some of what we did with lady’s finger.  Along with lady’s finger, we used curry leaves and Neem leaves for making the plants.

Let's Play an Election Game

'One of the Important Characteristics of a student is to question. Let the students ask question'

                                                                                                                  -Dr.A.P.J.Abdul Kalam

When I and my husband were talking about the recent by election of Tamilnadu, my curious little one started shooting me with her questions – ‘What is Election? What is voting?’

I explained her about our election system and then I thought of creating an election feel via a game – ‘An election game.’

I tried to implement the important features of an election: candidates, ballot sheets and box, standing in line, election Ink, voting, counting and announcement.

Here are our Candidates – Tom and Jerry.

Wait in the line for your turn.

‘Let me put the election ink’

A simple ballot sheet (As we don’t have a printer in our village house)

My little one asked her grandparents to cast their votes too. Her friends asked their mothers to do so.  They laughed and happily participated. At the end, They themselves separated the ballot sheets and counted.  

“Jerry Won. ooooh”