Four pairs of metal containers, each pair containing water at various temperatures.
- Bottle Pair 1: 37° (Body temperature – the top of one of these bottles is marked with a pink dot.)
- Bottle Pair 2: 27°
- Bottle Pair 3: 17°
- Bottle Pair 4: 47°
Just before inviting the child, the bottles need to be prepared. Then invite the child to come and work with you. Bring the child over to the material and tell him that today we will be working with the Thermic Bottles. Have the child bring the tray over to the table and have him place it near the top middle of the table. Then have the child sit on your left.
Procedure
- Take out the first set of the bottles.
- Place them in a line and show the child how to feel the bottles by wrapping your entire palm around the bottle. (You can repeat using the other hand.)
- Then have the child feel each of the bottles, one at a time.
- Line the bottle in a line again, with the bottle with the pink dot on its top in
the front of the line.
- Take out the second set.
- Mix them up and line them up in a line parallel and to the right of the first set
of bottles but with a rather large gap between the two lines.
- Bring the bottle with the pink dot up near you and feel it.
- Tell the child, “I am going to find the one that feels just like this one.”
- Bring forward the first bottle from the right line and feel it.
- If this bottle does not feel the same as the first bottle, place it to the right of
the right (or second) line.
- Feel the bottle with the pink dot (to neutralize the temperature of your hand)
and continue feeling the bottles from the right line until you have found a
match for the first bottle.
- Once you find a match, allow the child to feel it to check.
- Then place them side-by-side to your left. (This allows you to neutralize your
hands while searching for the other pairs. For all other matched bottles, place
the pairs in the center of the two lines.)
- Replace the bottles that did not match the first bottle into the right line.
- Bring down the next bottle in the left line and find its match in the same way
as with the first bottle.
- Repeat until you have found the match for each of the bottles.
- Place the bottles back into their two lines and mix up the right line.
- Then allow the child to match the thermic bottles.
Exercises
Exercise 1
The child works individually with the thermic bottles as shown during the presentation.
The child is shown how to grade the thermic bottles by using one of the sets.
Matching at a distance
Grading at a distance
Hot and Cold
The positives, comparatives, and superlatives.
Direct
To refine the thermic sense.
The ability of the child to discriminate temperature.
4 years
Because the bottles need to be prepared by the directress, do not leave the tray of bottles on the shelf if they are not ready to be used.