Recently, we’ve been bringing balance scales out as part of our math play tables. Our colleague Yana Mohanty noticed that children were drawn to using 21st Century Pattern Blocks with the scales. So this past week, I decided to try that combination at the Children’s Museum of Discovery in Escondido.

That day, most of the visitors were 2–4 years old. I set up a simple balance with a few blocks (first photo) and expected that kids would want to “fix” the imbalance by making both sides equal (second photo).

But to my surprise (and delight), that’s not what happened! Very soon, the scales were overflowing with colorful pattern blocks on one side. Kids were clearly drawn to quantity and color.

From there, many wanted to see if they could get the scale to balance again, which led to all kinds of strategies. Some added more blocks to the lighter side, some started taking blocks away from the heavy side, and some even added blocks to the heavy side.

There was always an evolving problem to explore.

What fascinated me most was how naturally children engaged with deep ideas like equality and inequality – all through play. It makes me wonder how experiences like these might shape the way students later think about quantity, equations, and inequalities, and how play can lay the groundwork for those connections.