Teaching Math With Mangoes

The children in our group struggled with basic addition. Numbers on a blackboard meant nothing to them. So we went outside, collected mangoes from a nearby tree, and started counting. Three mangoes plus four mangoes — suddenly the answer was obvious. We moved on to subtraction by eating them. By the end of the session, the whole class was laughing, full, and had quietly learned arithmetic. Sometimes the best lesson plan fits in a basket.