Spider Catapults

 

Spiders continue to be a popular topic of exploration in our classroom! To infuse this interest with math and fine motor work we introduced clothespin catapults to the children this week. Wooden catapults are easily made by securing a clothespin to a steady base (like a wooden block) with an elastic. 

They require concentration and perseverance for children to operate. As children become more confident using them they are able to use strategy to aim the catapult in a specific direction or apply pressure to further or reduce the launch power. 

Small plastic spiders (ours were from the local dollar store in the Halloween section) are light and perfect for playing with. We offer 'webs' made from wrapping a shallow basket with yarn. Children are encouraged to fire the spiders into the webs.

    

Once children master launching the spider into the web additional math tools can be offered to enhance the experience. A five or ten frame or hundreds chart are easy tools for children to use when tracking how many spiders they have landed in the webs.   

                   

Additional targets can be provided for children to play with (e.g., alphabet chart, number chart, printable web with points). The possibilities are endless! 

Math Catapults

Mini catapults made from a wooden clothespin, wooden block and elastic are so much fun! They take practise and perseverance to learn to manipulate and can easily be used as tools in games. 

We used the catapults with a grid today to encourage number writing and adding. 

The children used the catapults to fire a foam circle at the scoreboard, record their points, and then add them together to see who had the most. 

The children were highly motivated to try and get their foam circle to land on high numbers; they knew the person with the most points won the game. 

Later on in the day the children wanted a more challenging game board. They wanted some areas to be worth zero points and one special spot to be worth a lot. The largest number we could brainstorm was ten million! 

What a fun game! We are going to try using an alphabet grid next.