[birds singing] [doorbell ringing] (children) ♪Hello, Hello♪ ♪Won't you be my friend?♪ ♪Hello, Hello♪ ♪Let's say it again♪ ♪Hello, Hello♪ ♪Won't you be my friend♪ ♪Hello, Hello♪ ♪Now you are my friend♪ ♪H-E-L-L0♪ ♪That's a word we all should know♪ ♪H-E-L-L-O♪ ♪You can say it , just say hello♪ ♪♪♪ Hey!

There's Mr. Chuck!

Well, hello, friend!

Hello, Mr. Chuck!

[bowling ball rolling] [wheels squeaking] ♪♪♪ Oh, hello friends.

Glad you could join me today.

Hey, watch this!

I'm going to do a little putting practice.

I'm going to see if I can knock these into that cup over there.

Let's try it.

♪♪ Ah!

Didn't quite make it.

Now this one.

♪♪ Hmm.

♪♪ The ball rolls, but the block doesn't.

But why?

They're both about the same size.

And they're the same color, so I know that's not it.

How about their shapes?

Could it be because they're different shapes?

Huh?

Let's take a closer look.

♪♪ The cube has square, flat sides and sharp corners.

You notice it doesn't roll.

But the ball, the ball or sphere as it's called, has no flat sides and no corners.

It's round, and it rolls.

Do you suppose things roll because they're round?

I think you're right.

(male #1) Gather round boys and girls, let's roll.

♪Rolling, rolling, rolling♪ ♪Keep those balls a-rolling♪ ♪You can try to get that hole in one♪ ♪Just place 'em on the ground♪ ♪They roll because they're round♪ ♪You can have some rolling, rolling fun♪ ♪Yah!♪ [glass breaking] ♪♪♪ ♪Here they come♪ ♪♪♪ (children) ♪Green♪ ♪Red♪ ♪Yellow♪ ♪Blue♪ ♪Green♪ ♪Red♪ ♪Yellow♪ ♪Blue♪ (male #1) ♪Rolling, rolling, rolling.♪ ♪Keep those balls a-rolling♪ ♪You can try to get a hole in one♪ ♪Just place them on the ground♪ ♪They'll roll because they're round♪ ♪You can have some rolling, rolling fun♪ ♪Roll on♪ ♪Roll on♪ ♪♪♪ [kids clapping and cheering] Did you realize you could have so much fun with things that roll?

Miniature golf is fun.

So is this.

[bowling ball hitting pins] Bowling!

♪♪ All you need is ten toilet paper tubes and a soft ball.

You line up the tubes like this.

And then, you step back and roll the ball.

♪♪♪ [bowling ball rolling and hitting pins] Oh, this is even fun to play inside if you use a soft ball and don't throw it.

And don't forget to ask permission first.

So your mom and dad can help you find the best place to play.

♪♪♪ Let's count.

♪♪♪ Here's something else that's fun.

Painting with marbles.

Oh, you'll need an adult to help you with this one.

Here's what it's going to look like when it's done.

And here's what you'll need to do it.

Some old newspaper, a shallow box or a baking pan that no one minds you using, some washable paint like tempera paint, and paper.

And of course, one or more marbles.

Make sure you spread the newspaper all around where you're going to paint because this could get messy.

Your paper is in the box.

Then you're going to drop a few blobs or dribbles of paint on the paper.

I think I'll use blue.

[paint splatting and dripping] Here's where the fun begins.

Drop a marble into the box and start rolling it around through the blobs of paint.

Back and forth, round and around.

Back and forth, round and around.

(male #1) ♪Rolling, rolling, rolling♪ ♪Get that marble rolling♪ ♪You can have some rolling, rolling fun.♪ ♪Just put that marble down♪ ♪And roll it all around♪ ♪You just might have a painting when you're done♪ If you're happy with the way it looks, let it dry a bit, then take it out.

Or you could add some more paint and roll some more.

[paint splatting] ♪♪♪ [Mr. Chuck laughing] ♪♪♪ Painting with marbles is fun.

♪♪♪ I'm thinking of something else that rolls.

Something that we use everyday.

Sometimes we use one...two...three...even four to get from one place to another.

Can you think of what I'm talking about?

(boy #1) Hmmm.

(boy #2) Hey!

(boy #1) That's not it.

(boy #1) No way!

(boy #1) I told you!

(boy #2) Is that a word?

(boy #1) Oooh.

(boy #2) [whispering] Wheels, wheels.

(boy #1) We don't have enough letters for wheels.

(boy #1) Do you know what you're doing?

(boy #1 and boy #2) Wheels!

(girl #1) W-H-E-E-L-S.

Wheels.

♪♪♪ Wheels.

Wheels.

♪♪♪ Wheels.

Wheels.

♪♪♪ Wheels.

Wheels.

♪♪♪ What shape is this wheel?

It's a circle and circles are round.

That's right.

And it's the round shape that let's wheels roll.

How many things have you seen that have wheels?

Cars.

Trains.

Buses.

Tricycles.

Lawnmowers.

Skates.

They all have wheels.

Lot's of things have wheels.

Wheels make our lives easier.

You know, they allow us to get people and things from one place to another faster and easier than we could if we didn't have wheels.

Do you have a wagon?

If you have a wagon, you can move lots of stuff a lot faster than you could if you had to carry it.

Look at this wagon - look at these things here.

If you had to carry all of these things by hand, you'd have to make two or three trips to get them from one place to another.

With a wagon, well, you can move it all at once.

Just like that.

(children) Wheels!

If you have a toy like this one where the wheels snap on and off, you might check it out for yourself.

Take the wheels off and try scooting it around.

Then put the wheels back on and see how much better and faster it moves.

Let me show you another kind of wheel.

Let's take a look inside this watch.

What do you think we'll find?

Let's take a look.

Well, what do you know?

Wheels!

The wheels that make a clock work are called gears or sometimes cogs.

See they have little teeth right there and they fit together with other gears.

There are lots of other machines that work this way.

Even toys with gears inside that make them move.

So you see, wheels keep lots of things rolling along.

(girl #2) Everywhere I go I see circles.

A circle is round.

Lots of things are shaped like a circle.

A wheel, a clock, lots of clocks.

Circles make the world go round.

♪♪♪ Triangle.

Square.

Circle.

Circle cause it's round.

Triangle cause it's got three sides.

Square cause it's got four equal sides.

[applause] ♪♪♪ Where is a square?

It could be anywhere.

Where is a square?

Oh, look, up in the air.

A square has four equal sides.

Where is a circle?

I know that it's round.

Where is a circle?

Oh, look what I found!

A big, blue circle sitting on the ground.

A circle goes all the way around.

Where is a triangle?

A triangle has three sides.

Where is a triangle?

Where could it hide?

Oh, look over there!

Sitting on a chair A triangle has three sides.

(female #1) Can you see a triangle in this picture?

Is there a square here?

How about a circle?

What is this shape?

And this one?

One more... [horn honking] (male #2) Do you have a bicycle?

Yeah, but it has training wheels.

My daddy tried to take them off and I tried to ride it, but my bike kept falling over.

I keep bumping my head and body.

That's why I can't ride on an ordinary bike.

So that's why I have to have training wheels.

And when I get older I'm going to get me my own bike and my own car.

And I'm going to get me a job.

[paper crumpling] ♪♪♪ I want to be a firefighter.

I want to be a baseball player.

I want to be big as my brother.

I want to be an astronaut.

I want to be a doctor!

I want to be a doctor!

I do!

I do!

Alright, if you be a doctor, I'll be a teacher.

Okay!

I want to be a bear.

(male #3) ♪I see your face♪ ♪What a beautiful face♪ ♪I see your face - it's a lot like mine♪ ♪I see your face♪ ♪What a lover-ly face♪ ♪I see your face - it's a lot like mine♪ ♪You have two eyes♪ ♪And I have two eyes♪ ♪You have two ears♪ ♪I have two ears♪ [nasally] ♪You've got a nose♪ ♪And I've got a nose♪ ♪I see your face♪ ♪It's a lot like mine♪ ♪I see your face♪ ♪What a wonderful face♪ ♪I see your face - it's a lot like...♪ ♪I see your face - it's a lot like mine.♪ [children clapping and cheering] ♪♪♪ On today's show, we've talked about things that roll.

Things like circles and wheels.

You know wheels are all around us.

Their value we can see everyday.

While we as adults might easily grasp the concept of a circle, we sometimes wonder how this shape or any shape for that matter can be of importance to our children.

Especially young children.

Here on parent's corner today we have Bonnie Jamerson.

She's an early childhood educator, and she's going to help us with understanding the value of teaching our children about shapes.

Circles are fun.

Circles are round.

They remind us of our world in general.

They remind us of wheels.

Wheels are round - they move, they spin.

These are things that children are fascinated by.

Shapes in particular are fascinating to children.

They describe the world around them.

The color, and the size, and the shape of a particular thing in a child's world is very important to them.

And when they mix and put shapes together, they tend to form other shapes, and this fascinates children.

At a very young age, this tends to be very abstract to the child.

But as he gets older this sets a foundation for math and science and this is very important in his life.

A good opportunity for parents to use in helping their preschooler to understand the importance of shapes would be to point out certain shapes as they travel along in their cars.

To be able to look at the shape of the stop signs, or to be able to look at the shapes of certain buildings.

To be able to look at the shape of the sun and the moon and point out to their children how important these shapes are in our environment.

And it goes beyond something that's taught in the classroom, but it's something that they will need everyday of their lives.

And to make this come closer to the real world as opposed to something that's contained only in the classroom.

To pull it out of the textbook and to put it into the lives of those young children as they move and live every single day of their lives.

Our world is filled with shapes, and I would have to say that shapes really shape our lives.

Pardon the pun.

I've had so much fun rolling along with you today, but our time is up.

I hope you'll try some of the things we did today, like painting with marbles.

Or maybe you could take time this week to look for some interesting things that roll and draw pictures of them.

Yes.

Try some experiment with your toys.

Maybe you can see which ones roll best and which ones don't.

And don't forget, there are plenty of books about things that roll at the library.

Take a look.

Well, I think my time is up, so I'd better get rolling.

Until next time, so long.

♪♪♪