Workshops · Picnic garden

Balance Scale

“Same on both sides? Let’s see if it balances.”

Your child combines brass weights on a market scale until both pans balance.

What your child does

• Guess first: Your child picks weights they think will make both sides the same.
• Test it: The scale tips or settles, so your child can see the answer.
• Try again: Your child adds, removes or swaps a weight and tries again.

The problem-solving skill: comparing and adjusting

Comparing amounts, noticing “too much” or “not enough” and making small changes until it works.

Try it at home

Hang two cups from the ends of a coat hanger and balance them with coins or dry pasta. Ask your child to guess first, then try it together.

Balance Scale is one of the workshops in the Brielle’s World app for iPhone and iPad, which is coming soon to the App Store. You can visit it now on the clay island.

More workshops

• Ramp & Roll: running a fair test
• Steady Tank: estimating, then checking
• Robot delivery: planning steps and fixing a plan
• Two Gears: cause and effect in a machine
• Fair Share Plates: sharing equally and rethinking a plan
• Kite in the wind: noticing and describing