Make the most of every opportunity that you get to spend time with your child. Extract some lesson from every situation. Observe together.
Out for a drive? Get your child to observe the trees. Are they green? What kind of leaves do they have? Are they similar to or different from the other trees in that area? Are they flowering? Do they bear fruit? What would happen if there were no trees? What happens when we cut trees indiscriminately? In answering these questions, or even in being driven to think about these, lies an education. Get your child to ponder about how many other creatures are dependent on trees – the birds, insects, squirrels. In raising these thoughts, there is scope for endless discussion.
In the supermarket? Get your child to observe how goods are categorized and arranged in sections. What would happen if anything was placed anywhere? Get your child to observe the price of things. Show the bill. Ask if they can decipher the information in it. Why is billing necessary? There’s a whole mathematical world to be discovered in just this visit.
Mathematics is everywhere. In the lift? Numbers tell you on which floor you are on or how to get there. Mobile phones are a storehouse of numbers. Playing cards and even registration plates on cars and two wheelers reveal numbers. There are flat numbers and shop numbers. If you direct your child’s attention to numbers, they will find them all around.
Observe natural phenomena such as seasons, and what we do in each. How do we dress? What do we eat? How do animals behave? Do they feel hot or cold? Going a little deeper, you could talk about the concept of hibernation, and why nature has provided this provision.
Observe the sun and the moon. Do they rise at the same time from the same position every day? Is the size of the moon same every day?
And so it can go on and on. Make the most of it!
