Children (3 - 5 years)
Children are curious and eager to find out how things work and why things happen. They ask lots of different types of “why” and “what if” questions throughout the day. As you help your child find answers to some of these questions, you are encouraging her to ask more questions and to explore finding answers. Exploring ramps and rolling offers many opportunities to plan, question, and discover.
As your child explores rolling different objects down a ramp—a hill, slide, or home-made ramp—she begins to learn about many things, for example,
- The characteristics of objects (shape, size, weight, texture)
- Motion and movement
- Cause and effect
- As she makes a ramp steeper, measures the distance an object travels, or compares the way that different objects move down a ramp, she is solving problems and using math skills.
Have fun exploring ramps together and soon you’ll be watching your child begin to confidently solve problems and find answers on her own!
For media resources about ramps, visit the Children's section on the site and click on "Unit 5: Ramps and Rolling".