Early Math Project

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What Floats in a Moat?

Vincent Paints His House

by Tedd Arnold

What color will Vincent paint his house?       

Math Connections: 

Repeated Addition              Area                         

Skip Counting                     Multiplication 

Activities to Do Together:    

• Explore mixing colors. Mix yellow and blue food coloring in water. Talk about what happens. Add more water. Talk about what they noticed. Explore with other colors.

• Collect similar objects. Count the objects you collect by 2’s and 4’s to see how many there are. 

• Set up repeating addition problems for your child to solve. For example, 2 + 2 =, 3 + 3 =, 4 + 4 + 4 =, and so on.

• Color a piece of paper together with colored pencils, markers, or crayons. Count how many different colors you can use to fill the entire page. Talk about how the paper did not change size even when you added more colors. 

Extension Questions:

1. What are the different ways to count how many paints Vincent owns?

2. How many animals live in Vincent’s house?

3. How else could Vincent paint his house with the 8 different colors?

4. How many paint brushes does Vincent use throughout the story? 

5. If Vincent has blue and green paint, how many different ways could he paint the front door and walls of his house without mixing the colors? After, draw a picture to show all the combinations. To add complexity, increase the number of paint colors and/or areas.  

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Vocabulary for Building Math Concepts:  

all, time