Six of One, Half Dozen of Another

Use your senses to find and classify contrasting objectsAge 6+ ~30min

This is a great activity for making detailed observations and improving your child’s appreciation of our natural world in a fun and engaging way. The first thing you will need is an empty egg carton or other similar container with multiple small compartments. Give the kids a pair of opposite words and challenge them to go out and find objects based on each descriptive word and place the objects in the container. For example, find 6 objects that are “wet” and 6 different objects that are “dry.” Some other examples of opposite words to search for include: light and dark, living and nonliving, edible and not-edible, rough and smooth, sharp and dull, warm colors and cool colors, and symmetrical and asymmetrical. Before they collect, I teach children the rule of 10: If there are more than 10 of that object, they can pick it, otherwise leave it for others to enjoy. If doing this activity with a larger group of kids, make sure to set boundaries before sending them off. Watch as the kids explore new areas and uncover new things they may not have noticed before! Depending on how many kids you are working with, you can do this activity as one team, or break into smaller teams and then share what you found with each other and try to guess the descriptive opposite words. This activity can also be extended in so many ways.

Try different pairs of opposite words, set time limits or different boundaries for where kids go, write a story using the opposite words and all the objects that were collected, sort the objects into smaller groups based on different characteristics, or create an art piece using all of the objects. You could also choose to look for items inside your house that are opposites. The possibilities are endless!