Blocks and More Blocks

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• 12 same-sized blocks
• 2 sheets of plain paper

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Preparation

1. Have the blocks ready for circle time.

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1. Tell the children, One day at school, Gracie and Leo are playing in the block corner. They both take some blocks to build with. Display one group of 5 blocks and one group of 7 blocks. Leo builds a tower with his blocks. Build, or have a volunteer build, a tower with 5 blocks. Have the class count along as each block is added to the tower. Gracie also builds a tower with her blocks. Build, or have another volunteer build, a tower with 7 blocks. Have the class count again as each block is added.
2. Ask, What do you notice about the 2 towers? (One is taller than the other.) Why do you think that is? (Gracie has more blocks than Leo.)
3. Say, That is just what Leo noticed. Leo says, “No fair! You have more blocks than I do.” Ask, What do you think would be a fair way to share the blocks? (They should each have the same number of blocks.) How could you help Gracie and Leo solve this problem?
4. If your children need support in redistributing the blocks, ask, What happens if I take a block from Leo’s tower and put it on Gracie’s tower? Does that solve the problem? (No!) Why? (Gracie now has even more blocks and a taller tower.) What if I take a block from Gracie’s tower and put it on Leo’s tower? Are the blocks shared fairly now? Does each tower have the same number of blocks?
5. Repeat the activity with different numbers of blocks for Leo and Gracie (8 and 4, 3 and 9, etc.). Each time, discuss with the children which tower has more or fewer blocks, and how they can tell. Ask what they can do to help Leo and Gracie share the blocks fairly, so that each one has the same number of blocks.