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math manipulative: bucket balance or scale?
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DS is going into 1st grade. I am wanting to get him a scale so he can explore measurement. Would you recommend getting a bucket balance (with weights) or a traditional scale where you put an object on top and read the dial? He is pretty good with numbers, so I think he would be fine reading the traditional scale.
I guess they would both work out fine, but I like to start with the bucket balance or a center beam balance so that they get a tangible idea of the comparitive weight of objects. And I think it helps them understand that weight is the mass pulling down toward the earth through gravity if they can see it with a balance…
You could teach that concept by rigging your own center beam balance, and then move on to talking about weight and how it is measured (more abstractly) by using a regular household scale. Here is a pretty cool lego beam balance – if you have time to make it!
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