Filling and Emptying
The full bucket, the empty bucket, and the endless trip between the two.
Filling and Emptying is a Montessori activity for a child aged 12 to 18 months. Area: Early Math. Time: 5-10 min.
What the activity builds
Experience the ideas of full and empty, the very first quantities before any counting.
The materials
- Two identical buckets or bowls
- Six to eight big balls or big cork stoppers
- A rug to define the space
How to do it, step by step
- Set the two buckets side by side, one full, one empty.
- Take an object from the full one, drop it in the empty one, then stop.
- Do it once more, slowly.
- Push the buckets toward them and let them transfer things their own way.
- Once everything has moved over, say once: "it's empty," "it's full."
The parent's role
Show once, then step back. Let go of any expectation of a result: they'll likely dump the whole bucket out onto the rug at once, and that's just as valid an experience as moving things one at a time. The vocabulary comes after the motion, never before.
Safety
Objects should be bigger than a toilet paper tube. No bucket with a rigid handle that could tip over onto the child. Constant supervision, and store everything up high afterward.
You remain the sole judge of what is right for your child. These activities are offered for educational and recreational purposes: they do not replace medical advice or the guidance of an early childhood professional.
Ways to adapt the activity
- Easier: just three objects.
- Harder: smaller objects that are still big enough, or a narrower container.
- Extension: filling with a spoon instead of a hand.
Up next
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