One for you, one for me

As part of playing with blocks, I'd split the blocks equally between my son & I. I'd then proceed to build a structure block by block and have him follow suit. That activity of copying how I build a structure was meant for hand eye co-ordination, turn taking, fine motor, concentration etc.

The way I split the blocks, was to find same blocks and give one identical one to him & one to me. While doing so, I would say "one for you, one for me" or if there are more than 2 of the same blocks, I'd go "two for you, two for me". Odd number blocks are kept back in the bucket. I've only a small bucket of blocks (15 pieces), so it doesnt take long to split them equally.

I split them that way because I want to introduce to him the concept of splitting things in half. e.g. half of 2 is 1; half of 4 is 2.

I've done that many times but I dont think he's ready to grasp that maths concept. For a long time, to him, anything less than whole is half, even if it's a quarter or a third. That's fine with me cos that's a rather advance skill for his age. I merely wanted to introduce it in a fun, by the way manner.

There was though, an unexpected outcome in teaching him how to split equally. He's picked up that process of splitting and applied it in different settings. So when he did that with other toy objects, I'd took the opportunity to teach him that that is a fair way to share. I'd praise him saying "thank you for sharing" or "that's good sharing!" or "I like the way you shared the pieces equally".

Today, I learned that he's picked up that lesson too. He split the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle with my helper who was playing with him. Then he said "good sharing" and gave himself 2 thumbs up!

Whilst I'm happy that he is learning some of the stuff I teach him, it was also a reminder to me that I've to be a good role model cos he's always watching & observing even when we think he's not. So you see, he teaches me stuff too & has helped me to be a better person!