Teaching children at home can be a challenge, especially when you have multiple kids at all varying age levels, and you want to make sure what you have can be used for everyone. The JUMBO Circus Stack and Balance Set is just the product you have been looking for to work with all ages. The elephant pieces in this set are created with a 4:2:1 ratio that allows for a variety of different activities to be created. Here are three activities that you can easily do with your children or even in your classroom with children and each can be modified to work with beginners or advanced learners.

1. Weights and Balance

    1. The set comes with wooden planks that can balance perfectly on an elephant’s back using 2 of the same size elephants place one on each end of the plank. Younger children can easily see how they balance one another out. However, what happens if you move an elephant closer to the middle? Or what if you put one more on one of the sides?
    2. For advanced learned you can put a larger elephant on one side with 2 smaller ones on the other or try stacking them on each side. More advanced learners can also work to get the plank to balance with elephants of different sizes based on where they are placed on the plank.

2. Clustering

    1. Younger children will enjoy creating circles with the elephants. They will notice that two of the same size will make a circle, but what they might also notice is that you can create a line by connecting the feet of the pieces to one another slightly off center.
    2. As the children get older you can teach them about agglomeration and have each child work on stacking a tower of elephants on their backs and legs. If the elephant is on its back, it can rock back and forth. But if it is leaning against another on its feet, it will stay still. Children here must build slowly and carefully so they do not knock them over.

3. Tower Building

    1. These stackable elephants make it easy to build towers, which also helps work on balance for young children and challenge them to build a tower using all the planks and measure it for them. Then challenge them again to build a higher tower using the same planks. Younger children might not get it right away, but older children might begin to see that turning the elephants sideways makes the taller. Children will also learn that if they do not build a tower on a stable base, it is likely to fall over as it gets taller.

As you can see there are many ways to use the JUMBO Circus Set in your classroom or home to teach fun, new concepts to children. What other activities can you think of or building activities to have your children do?