What You Need:
- Deck of cards with the face cards (jacks, queens, and kings) removed
- Metric ruler
- 2 sheets of white paper
What You Do:
- Have your child trace a penny on white paper, cut out the circle and draw an ant on the cut-out circle.
- Shuffle and place the deck face down on the table.
- Have him place his ant at the bottom of a sheet of white paper that's positioned vertically.
- Encourage him to draw the first card. Have him measure the distance from his ant in a straight line up the page, drawing both a line to the end point and marking the end of the line with a pencil dot. (Example: If he draws a 5 card, he measures a line 5 centimeters long and draws a dot at the end of the line.)
- Have him write the number of centimeters his ant traveled next to the drawn line.
- Move the ant up the line and have him stop on the dot.
- Continue drawing cards and measuring until the ant reaches the top of the page.
Variation: Create an abstract line drawing by allowing your child to measure out an ant path, or maze. How many centimeter measurements and lines does it take to complete a full ant path?