Brown Stair

MATERIAL OVERVIEW

• • 10 rectangular prisms that vary in two dimensions (brown paint).
  • The width ranges from 1 cm for the smallest to 10 cm for the largest.
    The height ranges from 1 cm for the smallest to 10 cm for the largest.
    The length is 20 cm.

Example of a practical exercise:

1. 1. tell the child that you are going to « build the brown stair »
   2. go with them to fetch the mat, lay it as far as possible from the shelf, tell the child you will show them how to hold the prisms: pick up the blocks of the stair one by one, holding each in one hand, « from the top », arm alongside the body, and invite the child to carry them with you
   3. once all the blocks are on the mat, sit down with the child, look carefully at all the blocks and grasp with one hand, fingers spread, the thickest of the prisms, lift it then place it in front of you, parallel to the edge of the mat, and look at the child. Cast your eyes over all the blocks, take the thickest one again, compare it with the others to make sure it really is the thickest, then place it right against the first block in front of you
   4. proceed in the same way with all the blocks
   5. once the stair is built, invite the child to stand up to look at it. Walk around the mat, look at the stair and look at the child. Invite them to build it in turn
   6. sit back down in front of the mat and mix up the blocks, then invite the child to do the exercise.
   7. once the child can do it well, tell them you are going to show them something. Take the thinnest of the blocks and place it next to each of the prisms. The difference between each block is equal to the dimension of the thinnest one.