Scaling as a Multiplication/Division model.

Rebecca Hanson had a post on "Developing a scaling primitive in multiplication and division" so in response I decided to play around with some ideas for exploring scaling within Etoys.  The first two involve number lines, the third involves scaling width and can be used in conjunction with a number line (or not) and the fourth, was inspired by on of Richard Feynam's stories of learning from his dad.


That said I still think my two favorites are "Step away from the computer and no one gets hurt" activities.
1) Shadow puppets on the wall.  Seeing the effects of changing the distance of the hands from the wall.  This might be work better with a couple kids telling a story. One example being the "killer rabbit" coming closer and closer and attacking (for you Monty Python fans).

2) Have one child stand at the far end of the room and have kids hold one hand with their arm straight out and "place" the child's head between their thumb and index finger. Then have the child walk towards the kids and and keep the child's head between their thumb and index finger. You could have them measure the distance between the child and the kids and also the distance between thumb and index finger.  I also like this viewing cars or a train far away coming towards you, but this could be a bit dangerous and my insurance agent warns against recommending it ;)

If you have any more ideas please let me know.