Age: 2 1/2 to 4 years

GET READY: Buy an inexpensive set of heart-shaped cookie cutters sized small to large.

GET SET: Find a tray or container around your house that is large enough to hold all of the cookie cutters.

SIT BACK AND WATCH YOUR CHILD GO: With little or no demonstration from you, your child will begin to touch and examine the cookie cutters. In the beginning he’ll learn simply by touching the hearts and clanking them together. After a while you’ll want to take the largest and smallest hearts and talk to him about the concept of large and small. Try saying something like, “This heart is big. This heart is small. I am big. Right now, you are small. But you won’t stay that way!“ Later on, show him how all of the hearts fit together.

AS YOUR CHILD GROWS: As she grows older still you may ask her if she can put them in order from smallest to largest and largest to smallest. To stimulate her learning you may want to give your child beads, boxes or spoons in sizes small to large and ask her to put them in order too.

YOUR CHILD WILL LOVE: The interesting container or tray, the hearts, the fact that the hearts fit inside each other.

YOU WILL LOVE: Your child’s development of language (large, small, largest, smallest) and visual discrimination.