If You Give A Mouse A Cookie

I was watching A Place of Our Own a show for parents focused on parenting skills and tips. One of the pointers made for that particular series was that children behave better when they are aware and know what the consequences are of doing something. The better able they are in predicting the consequence to an action, the easier it will be to explain and effect the consequence. While I was mulling on how I could teach my children about cause and effect, I recalled reading this book to my kids a few months back. And an idea formed...

Not only did my kids enjoy the book, but they still remembered the story. In fact, they enjoyed it so much, they have an ongoing competititon on who can remember the sequence of events in the book without missing a beat. So I searched for the book, found it and read on to know what else I did to help my kids learn about Cause and Effect - I don't think it's too young to start them on some basic life skills!

The book If You Give A Mouse A Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff tells a story of what happens to a spunky boy who gives a mouse a cookie. The boy soon realises that the mouse will want more than just a cookie. To go with the cookie, the mouse would like a glass of milk, then a straw, then a mirror, a pair of scissors and so the list goes on. By the time he is done meeting all of the mouse's demands, he is weary.  With a colorful and fun illustration of what happens to the mouse and the kid who gives the mouse the cookie, it was not only my kids who enjoyed it, I did too.

Here's what we did to learn about Cause and Effect:-

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  recall the sequence of demands (which was a fun activity by itself!)


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  Tried to recall why the next demand was made (for example, if he had the glass of milk, why did he ask for a straw?)


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  to help the kids to realise that cause and effect is real - we made some 'IF' statements. (For example, if you didn't sleep early ....?)


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  and it's true that if the child can accurately identify the effect, it'll make relating with him so much easier! You should try it...it's worth investing some time in this activity because it saves a lot more time trying to convince the child to do things later!