Name of Activity:. What can you do with a funnel?

Category:. Show Me

Props: Three funnels of various sizes

Your Role: Coach

Directions: Hand your child a funnel and ask him or her to show you what possible ways he can hold it or move it so that he or she shows you how he can use the funnel. After he or she shows you one way, encourage him to use it in a different way and again in another different way. If your child repeats him or herself, that's okay. Just encourage him or her to keep going. As your child is demonstrating each use of the funnel, ask him or her to tell you what he or she is doing with it. Your job is to find out what he or she is doing. Remember, what's important in this activity is the idea, not the detailed nature of the enactment. If he or she seems to have exhausted that funnel, hand him or her one of a different size. The goal here is to determine fluency--numbers of ideas.

Goals for You: Your task is to encourage your child to come up with numbers of ideas.

Goals for Children: : The goal for your child is to use this prop in as many ways as possible--i.e. to demonstrate fluency of ideas,

Possible Strategy:

What to say "Look what I have here? Have you ever seen one of these before? Do you know what it's used for? Could you use it as if it were something else. Could you hold it or move it or use it in a particular way so I could tell what it has become?

What to do Hand the funnel to your child. If he or she seems to be having trouble, turn the funnel around so that your child can take a different perspective

Possible Shaping:

What to say "Keep showing me different things the funnel can become. I can really tell what you're doing. This one is hard, give me a hint."

What to do: If your child is still having trouble, hand him or her a different funnel.

Possible Ending:

What to say: "Great job. You had so many different ideas."

What to do: Put away the funnel so that it takes on importance.

Material on this site created by Helane S. Rosenberg, Ph.D. and Yakov M. Epstein, Ph.D. in conjunction with their forthcoming book titled Play for Success. All material on this site is copyrighted and may not be reproduced or cited without written permission of Helane S. Rosenberg, Ph.D.. Dr. Rosenberg is Associate Professor of Education at the Graduate School of Education of Rutgers-The State University, New Brunswick, NJ. Dr. Epstein is Professor of Psychology in the Faculty of Arts and Science of Rutgers-The State University, New Brunswick, NJ. He is also Director of the Center for Mathematics, Science, and Computer Education of Rutgers University.

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