How to elevate young children's thinking with buttons!
Close your eyes and take a moment to reflect on your early years of life: any fond memories that still bring you a smile (and maybe a few tears)? I am lucky to have quite a few, as I grew up in France in the 80’s with plenty of time to be a kid — play outside, invent stories, time to get bored, leading to having to overcome boredness on my own, overnight stays with my grandparents, or other family members, etc.
I am going to share today one of those cherished moments to continue our quest to elevate young children.
My grandmother had a box of buttons. A colorful cardboard box, faded over the years, and kept in a chest with other sewing supplies. A treasure box with dozens and dozens of buttons of all sizes, shapes, and colors. At night, after dinner, I would take it out, carefully open it, and invent endless stories on the kitchen table while my grandparents watched the news. I don’t remember what those stories were about, but I do remember the particular time associated with this box of buttons, and the joy, the excitement associated with it.
Years later, after I moved to the U.S., I started building up my own supplies of buttons so that young children around me, either in the home or in classrooms, could access such joyful moments. I ended up buying 20 pounds of pre-owned buttons online, a supply that has lasted to these days (full disclosure, I did not intend to order so many buttons, I guess my metric-system-brain got confused with the imperial system and what 20 pounds of buttons would be, quite a lot of buttons, indeed).
Let’s explore with Maurice and Mme Rigolotte, the endless possibilities of buttons to enter the river of thoughts* of young children and elevate their thinking (once they pass the “I put everything in my mouth” phase : )
Indeed, elevating young children’s thinking is often about balancing listening and talking. If we, grown-er ups, talk too much, we may miss the chance to enter into the child’s mind; if we only listen, we may miss the opportunity to extend the child’s learning and understanding of the world they live in. Hence, I hope the three options below help you notice such critical listening and talking balance.
Sorting with buttons
Remember our post presenting an overview of early mathematics? We mentioned how sorting skills are building blocks for data representation and further data analysis. Buttons are, indeed, a great tool for exploring sorting with young children.
Now, buttons do roll over, so offering trays and cups can be quite helpful. Then, the child can pick the criteria of their choice to sort out their buttons: by colors, by sizes, by shapes, by the number of holes, the shiny vs. the not shiny, or any other ideas that young children may come up with.
I highly recommend a random lot of buttons to bring a magic touch. Because no buttons are the same, the child has to reflect on why a button should go on this cup and not that cup. And share their often-surprising and often-amusing thinking with us. Remember our post on colors?
Is it dark blue, or dark grey? Dark yellow or orange? Is “wood” a color?
Also, from what I have witnessed over the years, children often have a pile of “special” ones, the “I like it so much” ones, providing another opportunity to enter into their fascinating mind.
Comparing with buttons
Another area of early mathematics previously mentioned — measurement — that can be explored with a pile of buttons.
Do you think we can find the smallest buttons? The biggest one? How do you know?
Again, a random supply of buttons extends potential opportunities to discuss, as they come in different sizes, but also shapes.
Oh, this one looks like a bead. Could we still compare its size to the round ones? How?
Imagining with buttons
Although children often appreciate the guidance of the first two options offered today, other may take a different path, and invent stories. And there is beauty in providing this option as well, especially in our often quite structured and busy daily life. Look at the picture
What is going on? What is happening? Are some buttons lined up? Are some buttons hiding under a cup?
The only way to fully understand would be to listen to the child. And give a little bit of time until learning opportunities present themselves.
Why did you pick a bigger button when you made that row? I see yellow buttons here, and blue buttons there, could you tell me more about it? What about the buttons under the cup?
Please share with us your experiences with buttons, either by leaving a comment or using the contact form. How do you find the right balance between listening and talking to elevate young children?
As always, thank you so much for being here, and see you next week!
* Ginsburg, H. (1997). Entering the child’s mind: The clinical interview in psychological research and practice. Cambridge University Press.
