Piggy Bank Plan

This last week I set aside some time to do a ML activity with my middle daughter.

She will be five soon and loves arts and crafts.

With Mediated Learning, the more you mediate,

the easier it becomes to make it a part of your whole way of life.

But if you are just starting out, try setting aside half an hour and mediate a project with your child.

Today I wanted to work on Asking Questions and Goal Planning.

I had just finished paying the kids for their chores, when my daughter found an empty plastic jar and said, "Let's make a piggy bank for my coins!"

I was about to run and gather materials when I realized that we could make this a mediated moment. (INTENTIONALITY AND RECIPROCITY)

So, we sat down and developed a plan.

First I asked the question: What does a pig look like?

Once my daughter determined what a pig had as far as body parts, we moved onto the practical part of putting the pig together.

I asked, "What should we do first?"

She said, "Paint it pink."

"Then what?"

"Um," she thought, "Let's build the face.

I wrote that down then asked, "What should we do after that?"

"Poke a hole for the money!"

"Is that everything?"

"I think so."

"Well, we are going to paint the pig, make the face and then add a slot for the money. Sounds like a good plan. "

Then I went back to each individual step and mediated that:

"Step One is painting the pig. What will we need to paint the pig?"

She thought for a moment.

"Well, we'll need paint and a cloth to clean up spills."

"Yep. Does mom usually have you put something on the table?"

"Oh right. A newspaper."

"Anything else? Let's pretend we're painting, maybe that will remind us."

My daughter and I pretend to paint and then she recalls that we need water in a cup and we need paintbrushes.

With that step determined, we moved onto step 2. (see below after this picture)

Painting the pig body

Step 2 was make the pigs face.

She had already determined what a face was made of so I said,"What should we make the eyes out of?" We did this for each facial feature and wrote a list of materials to gather.

After that, we discussed Step 3.

Make the slot for the coins.

She decided that I should use the exacto knife to make the slot.

Then we went and gathered all our materials.

In the paint room, we saw a smock and realized that we hadn't thought of that part, but we were glad that the smock was with all our painting supplies.

Once the materials were gathered, she set to her task. She kept me informed as she progressed from one stage to the next. (Mom, I'm done the painting part. Come, see. or Mom, I just finished the nose, can you glue down the eyes for me?)

And, as you can see. It turned out great.

Afterwards, we talked about making the plan.

"Plans are really helpful, aren't they?"

She nods.

"Can you remember a time when we used a plan?"

She thought for a moment. "Yes, when we went to the beach with our friends. We made a list of things to pack in our bag so we could have everything we needed." (BRIDGING)

"That's right. Why do you think plans are helpful?"

"So we don't forget stuff."

"Yes. They also help us do things in order and when you do things in order it makes the job easier. Was it easy or hard to make your pig?" (MEANING)

"Easy."

"Right. Do you know why?"

"Because we made a plan."

"And we followed it step by step."

And that's how you make a piggy bank.

Criteria Focus: Goal planning.