(Almost) Wordless Wedneday: We Were oh So Happy (and Humbled!) When We Received Our Latest Actvity Bags from the Savino Clan This Week!

Luke enjoys the Marble Magnet Run

Number Matching

Color Egg and Ring Matching

Marble Maze

Story Blocks

Sight Words Spelling and Practice

Pattern Repeating

Green Thumb

Nature Matching and Sequencing Cards

Monkey Memory and Sequencing

Lucky Letters, Numbers and Shapes

Irish Flag Puzzle

Domino Parking Lot

Tooth Pick Words and Shapes

Bug Race

I Spy Bag

Paper Plate Bull Frog

Exerecise ABC's File Folder Game

Shapes with Shamrocks

Nina having fun with the Color Eggs and Rings

To read descriptions of the bags they sent us in a prior exchange, go to this post.  And to read about the ones we went them before, see our Montessori in a Bag post.  And check back later this week or early next week (depending on how life allows me to post) for full descriptions and pictures of the Sensory adn Montessori-focused bags we sent the Savinos, as well as for pictures of bags we made up for our recent long road trip to see Nana and Papa.

To see others' Wordless Wednesday posts, check out the links at Wordless Wednesday.

Gratituesday: Gee, God, Geoboards?

 First, a confession: As a mom - particularly a homeschooling one - sometimes I feel like banging my head against the wall in frustration.  Then, when I am thinking at least a little bit clearly, I pause, pray and become far more pleased with my calling.  And, sometimes, find new things to bang.

So, today, I am grateful for the ways God whispers to (and sometimes yells at!) me to change my attitude and my actions, reminding me to maintain an attitude of gratitude and a posture of proactive prayer and choices.

 

Recently, while preparing for an activity bag exchange, I thought I would take a few moments to make mini geo-boards for my children as well as the children we were exchanging with.  Why I decided to do this when I had chores galore, two busy body kids and a head full of need-and-want-to-do's, I don't know.  But my random focus and inability to prioritize sometimes is a sharing for another day.

 

So, there I was, pausing in the chaos of a day to pound push pins into an old block in some convoluted effort to let off some steam while checking something off "my list".  Of course, as soon as Luke and Nina heard the hammering, they came running and, when they saw the push pins, they were all grabs!  So, I started getting frustrated with them, batting their hands away and telling them they needed to wait.  Then, a whisper inside my head - or was it my heart - told me, "Gee, Martianne, you are doing this for the kids.  Why not with the kids?"  So, frustration made way for fun as we took the activity outside, with the kids ejoying making their own versions of geoboards.

Thus, with much thanks to the guiding voice of the Holy Spirit, a potential bang-my-head against the wall moment transformed into a pleasing, productive one: I made another activity for the swap and the kids enjoyed some industrious, focused heavy work and motor skill fun. 

Gee, God, whoever knew Pushpin Geoboards could be a simple solution to mounting mommy frustrations?  Praise God for quiet whisperings...

To read what others are thankful for today, please visit the links at Heavenly Homemakers.

Thankful Thursday (Vol. 3): The Gift of Not Reinventing the Wheel – The Tutor’s Toolkit: M and N Discrimination Cards

Today, as I think about things I am thankful for, I cannot help but to continue to be grateful for the inspiration of others, adapted and expanded upon to suit needs of my family at particular moments. And, since I have been thinking a lot about activity bags this week, I find myself grateful that I can adapt others’ ideas from such bags to activities that are suitable not just for my own children, but for those I tutor, too. Truly, the exchange and adaptation of ideas is a gift that I find myself grateful for countless times a week as both a homeschooling mom and a tutor.

And since gifts given are as much fun as gifts received, as I promised I would in yesterday’s post, I wanted to share an idea that I used with one of my tutoring students this year:  M and N Discrimination Cards.

One first grader I worked with had trouble saying and recognizing his ABC’s when I first started working with him. A very hands-on, kinesthetic learner, he enjoyed mastering his alphabet and phonetic sounds through using the foam letters and a dry-erase placemat we had received in one our Fun and Learning in a Bag activities from Kim and the Alpha-Spoons and the B and D cards (used as intended and in other ways) from the official ActvityBags.com exchange we did with the Our Lady Queen of Saints group, along with other ideas and activities I presented to him. His success with such activities inspired me to make a small set of M and N Discrimination cards for him, which he thoroughly enjoyed.

As a thank you for ideas shared with me, I want to share these cards back.. Just click on the thumbnails throughout this post for large versions of the cards that you can print. And, of course, continue reading for ideas on how to use them.

Obviously, the first step to using the cards is to print and cut them. Then, play any and all of the games below with them:

M or N?
Using just the picture cards with no letters on them, challenge the student to separate them into two groups, one for one starting with an “m” sound and the other for words starting with an “n” sound. For extra fun and challenge, do not reveal what the two group categories (“m” sounds and “n” sounds) are unless the student needs you to.

Easy M and N Phonetic Words Slap Game
Using just the “man” through “nap” word cards, have the student lay all the cards face up. Call out one word and have the student slap the corresponding card.

Easy M and N Phonetic Words Matching Challenge
Using the word and picture cards for “man” through “nap”, challenge the student to put all the cards into pairs of pictures with their corresponding words. Even a beginning phonetic reader should be able to do this.

Easy M and N Phonetic Words Concentration
Using the word and picture cards for “man” through “nap”, lay all cards face down and play “concentration” with them.

M and N Decoding Matching Challenge
Using the “monkey” through “money” and “nose” through “note” picture and word cards, challenge the student to put all the cards into pairs of pictures with their corresponding words. While none of these words are real exception words, many are more challenging for an early phonics-based reader as they are multi-syllabic and contain long vowels, etc.

Challenge M and N Phonetic Words Slap Game
Using the “monkey” through “money” and “nose” through “note” cards, have the student lay all the cards face up. Call out one word and have the student slap the corresponding card. Continue until all words are called. (You can also use the corresponding picture cards as cues. Or, have the student use the word cards as calling cues while you slap the corresponding picture cards and the student tells you if you are right.).

M and N Sound Concentration
Using all the picture cards for “monkey” through “money” and “nose” through “note”, as well as the picture cards with letters in the corners, lay all cards face down and play “concentration” with them. To reinforce the “m” and “n” sounds, when a card is turned over have the student say something akin to” monkey... “m” (the sound) “M” (the letter) before turning the next card over.

Similarly, adapt any of the Card Crazy games I mentioned in this post or create your own. The more practice and exposure through games and activities that the student enjoys, the better the learning experience will be and the longer retention of longer goals should last.

I hope you are able to use these cards in some way for your own activity bags, home teaching, classroom teaching or tutoring.  If so, I’d love to hear about it, as well as about similar activities you and your students enjoy.  Please leave a comment, and links if you have them.

Also, if you'd like to see more of what other folks are thankful for this week, please visit the links at Spiriutally Unequal Marriage.  May we each count our blessings -- great and small!

Works for Me Wednesday (Vol. 3): Activity Bag Exchange II: Our Official ActivityBags.com Exchange

Too often I find myself too busy and distracted to follow up on great ideas I have for learning and exploration with the kids, and, sometimes even to prepare impromptu activities. (Although the kids have a way of creating such activities themselves, getting me back on track, whether I like it or not!) That’s why activities in a bag work for me!

Since this week I have been thinking a lot about activity bags while preparing for a current exchange and looking back at old ones, I thought I would post about the second exchange we participated in this past year. It was organized by an incredible homeschooling mom of eight who helps run a local Catholic homeschooling group we are a part of – the Our Lady Queen of Saints group .

The exchange was based on official materials from ActivityBags.com  with each mom choosing to make one or two types of bags from a given list as instructed. I ended up making the 123 Trail and Number and Shape Puzzle, which was somewhat tedious with all the contact papering and cutting en masse, but still worthwhile, as we thoroughly enjoyed the exchange day and came away with two bags full of activities for both Luke and Nina to enjoy.

Unfortunately, I did not take pictures of all the activities that we received during this eschange and have disassembled some to repurpose their contents for activities which appeal more to Luke and Nina’s ages and interests,while storing away others away in my tutoring supplies as well as in the recesses of our basement until we complete our Order in the Home quest, so I can’t post pictures here. But, I can list some of the activity titles so you can check out descriptions of them in the sample pages at Activity Bags. They were:

• 123 Trail
• B or D?
• Alpha Spoons
• Boredom Busters
• Can You Remember 
• Fabric Pattern Cards 
• Hidden Treasure 
• Number-N-Shape Puzzles 
• Ring Toss 
• Sewing Board

Of these, my children’s favorite by far was “Hidden Treasure”. The bottles of rice with small objects to find in them have become an almost permanent fixture in our car as the kids so love shaking them up to discover things during long car rides. And, although Luke and Nina weren’t too keen on them, some of my tutoring students loved the Alpha Spoons and the B or D activities. (I will try to post more about this and about an extension M or N activity I did later in the week.)

 Finally, I would like to say what really worked for me with this particular activity bag exchange was the exchange day itself! The mom who organized the exchange hosted a tea which we all brought our bags to. Then, moms chatted while kids played. What a nice break from our regular activities! The tea was a much-appreciated afternoon of Moms-with-Moms conversation and kids-of-many-ages fun! If I ever host a local exchange, I definitely want to include a special time like this as part of the fun and sharing.

So, yep, activity bags and afternoon tea-talk-n-play times certainly work for me!  I would love to hear about any you have been a part of. What activities were your kids’ biggest hits? What did you find most beneficial about the exchange? Please leave me a comment or a link below. And, if you want to see more about our past exchanges, please check out our Montessori in a Bag pictures and descriptions here and our Fun and Learning in a Bag post here.

 Also, of course, to read about what works for other folks, please go to We Are THAT Family and click on the links.

Gratituesday: Fun and Learning in a Bag – What We Got in Our First Activity Bag Exchange

Recently, I have been thinking about all the wonderful ideas that other moms and educators share via blogs, yahoogroups, personal chats, activity exchanges, etc. And, although the number of ideas I want to try out always seems to far exceed the amount of time (focus and discipline) I have to prepare each idea for presentation to my children, I am always grateful to hear about others tried-and-true activities. They give me lots to look forward to.

 And speaking of looking forward to things, today I am particularly grateful for activities shared with a wonderful mom named Kim that I met through a yahoogroup. As I posted about yesterday, we did an activity bag exchange last summer. And, this weekend, she and I are sending out Round II! What a blessing the Internet can be when it introduces one to resourceful folks to share, not only ideas with, but practical kids’ activities, too! Love that!

 Just what did Kim share with us last time? A bevy of activities that focused on classic pre-k skills and just plain inventive fun:

Paper Clip Counting activity (A great Montessori-inspired one!)

a Button Jar

Lacing Cards

Circus Reading -- a fabric book with finger puppet characters

a Buckle Book -- a homemade buckle and fasteners book

Color Carton Fun -- a color pom pom sorting egg box

a Matching Game – paint chip matching cards (A great Montessori-inspired one!)

a Morning Routine activity -- a morning/meal routine card set with real life manipulatives

Alphabet Fun – placemat, foam letters and erasable marker

Fun with Numbers – placemat, foam shapes and numbers and an erasable marker

Golf Tee Hammering -- a foam block and golf tee hammering activity (A great Montessori-inspired one!)

Treasure Hunt -- a rice-filled treasure chest coin search game

Luke and Nina truly enjoyed this these activity bags, and I was especially grateful to have them on hand for days at home that I was too busy or distracted to come up with something myself, as well as for long road trips and a visit to Nana and Papa’s. Without a doubt, exchanging activity bags has proved both entertaining and educational for us --as well as time-saving for Mom

I’d love to hear about to hear favorite Activity Bag ideas, successful exchanges (activity bags, crafts, cookies, whatever...) I find them so inspiring! Please share in a comment, with a link if you’ve got one, below.   Also, to read about other things that folks are thankful for this week, please enjoy Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers! Thanks!

P.S. If you want to see what we included in our half of the last exchange with Kim, look at yesterday’s post. As the week continues, I will try to post about another Activity Bag exchange we did and, by next week, I will share what I mail to Kim this weekend.

Montessori in a Bag – Looking Back on Our Side of Our First Activity Bag Exchange

 

Some time ago, I got excited by a post on one of the yahoogroups I belong to which proposed an Activity Bag exchange based on the ideas at ActivityBags.com. I quickly responded, knowing that the exchange would motivate me to get going on fall planning for more formal pre-homeschooling with the kids. Within days, I was paired up with an energetic homeschooling mom of toddler twins. Together, we decided to begin our trade by making 24 bags each – a dozen to keep and a dozen to share.

Since, at the time, I had been dabbling in Montessori-inspired activities with my children for a couple years, I decided to focus on putting together the activities for my half of the exchange with Montessori in mind. And, in the spirit of environmental and economic awareness, I opted to limit my materials for use in the bags to mostly things I already had around the house that could be repurposed. These parameters, along with a wish to pay attention to some descriptors the mom I was paired with used to introduce her children, set me on my way.

The result? Here are the activities I came up with:

Activity Name: Tweezing Pom Poms (Practical Life)

Aims: eye-hand coordination, concentration, learning to use tweezers, preparation for writing (pincer grasp), etc.
Activity Directions: Use tweezers to transfer pom-poms from small rectangular containers to large circular one. Then, re-transfer, sorting pom-poms by colors.
Extensions/Variations: (1) Swap out tweezers with tongs, strawberry huller, or small spoons. (2) Swap out pom poms with other small objects. (3) Swap out containers with attractive bowls and baskets.
Control of Error: No pom poms left in rectangular containers. Unable to make tweezers work.
Bag Includes: 2 lidded rectangular plastic containers, 1 open circular plastic container, 5 black pom poms, and 5 orange pom poms
Montessori Source Inspiration: Practical Life album from amontessorimarketplace.com and Mommy, Teach Me! by Barbara Curtis, page 92-924
Swap Partner’s Descriptor Inspiration: “Fine motor skills is always on my mind...” (Work with tweezers is great for developing fine motor skills.)

WARNING: Although intended for children to use somewhat independently, this activity includes a plastic bag, which may pose a suffocation hazard if placed over head, and may include small parts, which may pose a choking hazard if ingested. Adult supervision is required.

Activity Name: Sound Canisters (Sensorial)

Aims: sound discrimination, grading sounds, order, concentration, independence, ability to make a choice, one-to-one correspondence, etc.
Activity Directions: Shake the canisters to try to find two with matching sounds. For the first few times, use only the canisters with black and white lids. Then, try using all of them, color side down.
Extensions/Variations: (1) Guess the sound and, then, hold canisters up outside to see a shadow of what’s in them. (2) Use only canisters with the same color top and grade them from softest to loudest sound.
Control of Error: End up without a match for the last canister. Paired canisters have sounds that do not match.
Bag Includes: 2 canisters with white lids, 2 with black, 4 with orange and 4 with yellow.
Montessori Source Inspiration: http://www.infomontessori.com/sensorial/auditory-sense-sound-boxes.htm, Sensorial album from amontessorimarketplace.com and Mommy, Teach Me! by Barbara Curtis, pages 103-104
Swap Partner’s Descriptor Inspiration: “Lu...loves music...” (He should enjoy the sound and rhythm of shaking canisters.)

WARNING: Although intended for children to use somewhat independently, this activity includes a plastic bag, which may pose a suffocation hazard if placed over head, and may include small parts, which may pose a choking hazard if ingested. Adult supervision is required.

Activity Name: Yoga Cards (Practical Life)

Aims: control of movement, balance, calming oneself, concentration, body awareness, etc.
Activity Directions: Place all cards on a plate, face up. Pick up a card and attempt the pose. Then, place card, face down, on the other plate.
Extensions/Variations: (1) Make up your own poses based on animals, vehicles and other things of interest. (2) Switch out cards with other yoga pose cards. (3) For poses with animal names, find picture cards or toys to match the names. Put them in a bag or basket and draw one out to decide which pose to do.
Control of Error: Unable to perform pose to own satisfaction.
Bag Includes: 25 yoga pose cards and 2 plates
Montessori Source Inspiration: http://montessoribyhand.blogspot.com/2007/06/yoga-in-classroom.html and http://www.newchildmontessori.com/yoga.html
Swap Partner’s Descriptor Inspiration: “I have a hard time doing physical things- except chasing after them!” (Maybe this activity will help the kids direct some of that physical energy of theirs!)

WARNING: Although intended for children to use somewhat independently, this activity includes a plastic bag, which may pose a suffocation hazard if placed over head. Adult supervision is required.

Activity Name: Walking the Line (Practical Life)

Aims: poise, balance, concentration, developing coordination of body movement, etc.
Activity Directions: Tear a long strip of crepe paper off, lay it in a line on the floor and try to walk along it, balancing.
Extensions/Variations: (1) Walk on the line while carrying a bell, trying not to let it ring. (2) Walk on the line while carrying a full glass of water, trying not to let it spill. (3) Walk on the line carrying something on head, trying not to let it fall. (4) Use the shape control cards to make different shapes to walk on. (5) “Write” letter and number shapes with the crepe paper to walk on. (6) Use painter’s tape or ribbon instead of crepe paper.
Control of Error: Feet not on the line. Losing balance.
Bag Includes: roll of crepe paper, control cards for line, triangle, circle, rectangle, oval, diamond and square
Montessori Source Inspiration: http://www.infomontessori.com/practical-life/control-of-movement-walking-on-the-line.htm and Practical Life album, p. 30 from amontessorimarketplace.com
Swap Partner’s Descriptor Inspiration: “I have a hard time doing physical things- except chasing after them!” (Again, maybe this will help them direct their energy in a positive way.)

WARNING: Although intended for children to use somewhat independently, this activity includes a plastic bag, which may pose a suffocation hazard if placed over head and crepe paper, which may pose a choking hazard if torn small and ingested. Adult supervision is required.

Activity Name: Fabrics (Sensorial)

Aims: tactile discrimination, visual discrimination, one-to-one correspondence, weight discrimination, classification, concentration, etc.
Activity Directions: Divide fabric squares between two plates, so the pile on one plate matches the pile on the other. Mix up the pile on each plate. Then, take the first piece of fabric off Plate 1. Look at it. Feel it. Find its match on Plate 2. Place the matching pair on Plate 3.
Extensions/Variations: (1) Use a blindfold, close eyes or place fabric in a bag so that only the sense of touch may be used. (2) Swap out fabrics with other fabrics. (3) Swap out fabric with different textures of sandpaper or wallpaper samples. (4) Find matches for and classify fabrics by visual patterns – stripes, solids, flowered, etc. (5) Order fabrics by heaviest to lightest. (6) Order fabrics by darkest to lightest.
Control of Error: The color, texture and design of fabric. Ending up without a matching pair.
Bag Includes: 8 pairs of matching fabric swatches, 3 paper plates
Montessori Source Inspiration: http://www.infomontessori.com/sensorial/tactile-sense-fabrics.htm, Mommy, Teach Me! by Barbara Curtis, pages 107-108 and various activities in Sensorial album from amontessorimarketplace.com
Swap Partner’s Descriptor Inspiration: “They are just starting to show interest in how to dress/ undress...” “Le...loves manipulatives” (Clothes are made of all sorts of fun patterns and fabric weights. Manipulating cloth might be of interest.

WARNING: Although intended for children to use somewhat independently, this activity includes a plastic bag, which may pose a suffocation hazard if placed over head. Adult supervision is required.

Activity Name: Color Grading (Sensorial)

Aims: visual discrimination, appreciation of color, color names, order, concentration, etc.
Activity Directions: Take the color cards of the envelope. Separate by color first. Then, put each set of colors in order, top to bottom, from lightest to darkest. Match these with the strips on the tri-fold control card.
Extensions/Variations: (1) Use only black cards first to get the concept of lightest to darkest. (2) Use primary colors only. (3) Use two primary colors and the secondary color they “mix into”. Then, use water and food coloring to explore the colors further. (4) Look at rainbow pictures or a real rainbow. Use the color cards to make a rainbow pattern, which moves from darkest to lightest or lightest to darkest. (5) Use color cards for mosaic patterns.
Control of Error: Order of cards does not match control card.
Bag Includes: envelope of 6 shades of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and black cards and tri-fold control card
Montessori Source Inspiration: http://www.infomontessori.com/sensorial/visual-sense-color-tablets.htm,Mommy, Teach Me! by Barbara Curtis, pages 102-103, pages 91-98 of in Sensorial album from amontessorimarketplace.com
Swap Partner’s Descriptor Inspiration: “They love colors, so we are working on naming them.” (This will help them extend their color vocabulary using “dark” and “light”, etc.)

WARNING: Although intended for children to use somewhat independently, this activity includes a plastic bag, which may pose a suffocation hazard if placed over head. Adult supervision is required.

Activity Name: Color Matching (Sensorial)

Aims: visual discrimination, appreciation of color, color names, one-to-one correspondence, concentration, etc.
Activity Directions: Take out all cards. Make two columns of cards, so the first card in Column 1 matches in color to the first one in Column 2, and so on.
Extensions/Variations: (1) Use only primary colors. (2) Use only secondary colors. (3) Find an object in the room that matches each of the colors and place object on the corresponding card or the corresponding card on the object. (4) Turn cards over and play Memory with them. (5) With a partner, play a simple version of “Go Fish” with cards. (6) With a partner, lay all cards face up. Take one away. Ask partner to discover which one is missing.
Control of Error: Row 1 and Row 2 do not match. One card does not have a pair.
Bag Includes: 2 cards each of red, yellow, blue, orange, green, purple and black
Montessori Source Inspiration: http://www.infomontessori.com/sensorial/visual-sense-color-tablets.htm, Mommy, Teach Me! by Barbara Curtis, pages 100-101, pages 91-98 of in Sensorial album from amontessorimarketplace.com
Swap Partner’s Descriptor Inspiration: “They love colors, so we are working on naming them.” (This will help them name the different colors and explore primary and secondary colors.)

WARNING: Although intended for children to use somewhat independently, this activity includes a plastic bag, which may pose a suffocation hazard if placed over head. Adult supervision is required.

Activity Name: Color Clips (Sensorial)

Aims: visual discrimination, appreciation of color, color names, one-to-one correspondence, concentration, shape names, shape concepts, fine motor skills, preparation for writing (pincer grasp), etc.
Activity Directions: Use only the squares. Lay them out in a line. Match the colors of the paper clips with the cards, laying the paper clips on the cards.
Extensions/Variations: (1) Do the same as above, but try to push the clips onto the square, one on each side, and begin noticing that a square has four sides. (2) Do the same, but with the triangles, noticing that the triangle has three sides. (3)Using the same colored clips, triangles and squares, make a pattern row. Have a partner try to copy it. (4) Match the two triangles, puzzle style to corresponding colored square. Clip together with corresponding colored clips. (5) If you have a magnet string, “fish” for specific colored paper clips and then lay “catch” on the corresponding color cards.
Control of Error: Paper clips and color squares don’t match.
Bag Includes: 1 pink, 1 blue, 1, orange, 1 red, 1 green, 1 yellow and 1 white color card, 2 triangle cards of each color, 4 paper clips of each color
Montessori Source Inspiration: http://www.infomontessori.com/sensorial/visual-sense-color-tablets.htm, Mommy, Teach Me! by Barbara Curtis, pages 100-101, pages 91-98 of in Sensorial album from amontessorimarketplace.com
Swap Partner’s Descriptor Inspiration: “They love colors, so we are working on naming them.” “Le... loves... manipulative.” (They will likely extend their color and shape naming skills with this game while enjoying manipulating the cards and clips.)

WARNING: Although intended for children to use somewhat independently, this activity includes a plastic bag, which may pose a suffocation hazard if placed over head, and small parts, which are a choking hazard if ingested. Adult supervision is required.

Activity Name: Color Lacing (Practical Life)

Aims: eye-hand coordination, concentration, fine motor skills, colors, etc.
Activity Directions: Lace chenille strings through corresponding color cards.
Extensions/Variations: (1) Try to lace color cards from lightest to darkest, using three-color cards as control cards. (2) Sew chenille strip in and out of three-color color card. (3) Make creative constructions with chenille strips and color cards. (4) Replace chenille strips with yarn, wire or shoelaces. (5) Punch holes in pages of defunct board books to make new lacing cards. (6) Lace chenille strings through non-corresponding color cards. Then, have partner correct “mistake”.
Control of Error: Chenille strings won’t go through holes
Bag Includes: 2 blue, 2 orange, 2 yellow, 2 green and 2 pink chenille strips, 5, three-shade cards (blue, orange, yellow, green and pink) and 15 small color card (3 blue, 3 orange, 3 yellow, 3 green and 3 pink)
Montessori Source Inspiration: http://www.ehow.com/how_5141365_make-montessoriinspired-developmental-toys-cardboard.html and Mommy, Teach Me! by Barbara Curtis, pages 117-118.
Swap Partner’s Descriptor Inspiration: “They love colors, so we are working on naming them.” “Le... loves... manipulative.” “Fine motor skills is always on my mind.” (They will likely enjoy using their fine motor skills to lace colorful strings through equally colorful cards.)

WARNING: Although intended for children to use somewhat independently, this activity includes a plastic bag, which may pose a suffocation hazard if placed over head, and chenille strings, which may have sharp ends. Adult supervision is required.

Activity Name: Sorting Buttons (Practical Life)

Aims: eye-hand coordination, concentration, control, preparation to write (pincer grasp), order, counting, visual discrimination, etc.
Activity Directions: Transfer buttons from small rectangular container to ice cube tray sections, one button per section.
Extensions/Variations: (1) Pair the buttons by putting two that are the same across from each other in the ice cube tray. (3) Switch out buttons for other small objects. (4) Count buttons as they are transferred. (5) Sort buttons in the ice cube tray from darkest to lightest.
Control of Error: One ice cube tray section does not have a button in it. More than one button is in each ice cube tray section.
Bag Includes: 12 buttons (2 of each kind) in a lidded rectangular container and 1 ice cube tray
Montessori Source Inspiration: Mommy, Teach Me! by Barbara Curtis, pages 73-74 and http://www.ehow.com/how_2065543_use-montessori-develop-fine-motor.html.
Swap Partner’s Descriptor Inspiration: “They are just starting to show interest in how to dress/ undress...”“Le...loves manipulatives.” (With learning how to dress comes an interest in buttons. Buttons make great manipulatives!)

WARNING: Although intended for children to use somewhat independently, this activity includes a plastic bag, which may pose a suffocation hazard if placed over head, and small parts, which may pose a choking hazard if ingested.. Adult supervision is required.

Activity Name: Animal Numbers (Mathematics)

Aims: counting, sort, numbers 105, preparation for writing (pincer grasp), sorting, etc.
Activity Directions: Turn plates to side that animals are drawn on. Take foam animals out of container and put them on matching plate. Count how many animals are on each plate.
Extensions/Variations: (1) Take foam animals out of container and sort by type of animal. Use side of the plates with numbers and circles written on them. Match the animals to the type of plate that has the number of animals written on it. Turn plate over to self-correct. (2) Swap out foam animals for other things. (3) Use foam animals to make a number book.
Control of Error: Animals on plate do not match each other.
Bag Includes: 8 pairs of matching fabric swatches, 3 paper plates
Montessori Source Inspiration: http://www.infomontessori.com/mathematics/numbers-through-ten-cards-and-counters.htm
Swap Partner’s Descriptor Inspiration: “Le...loves manipulatives...” “They love...animals...” “Le...tries to count on her fingers with me...” “Fine motor skills is always on my mind...” (Using fine motor skills to pick up the animal counters should be fun for them!)

WARNING: Although intended for children to use somewhat independently, this activity includes a plastic bag, which may pose a suffocation hazard if placed over head, and small objects, which could pose a choking hazard if ingested.\. Adult supervision is required.

Activity Name: Sorting Shapes (Mathematics)

Aims: matching, shapes, sizes, sorting, order, concentration, preparation for writing (pincer grasp), etc.
Activity Directions: Take shapes out of bag. Lay them on the card with the corresponding shape outline on it.
Extensions/Variations: (1) Match small shapes with large shapes. (2) Match small shapes with small shapes and large shapes with large ones. (3) Find objects in room that have the shapes and place shapes on them. (4) Make patterns with the shapes.
Control of Error: Foam shapes do not match shapes on cards.
Bag Includes: 2 larger and 2 smaller foam hearts, circles, squares and triangles.
Montessori Source Inspiration: http://www.infomontessori.com/sensorial/memory-games.htm
Swap Partner’s Descriptor Inspiration: “They love ... crafts.” (Foam shapes are often used in crafts. These colorful ones may be fun for them to play with.)

WARNING: Although intended for children to use somewhat independently, this activity includes a plastic bag, which may pose a suffocation hazard if placed over head, and small objects, which may pose a choking hazard. Adult supervision is required.

And, what did get in return? A plethora of fun and learning, which I will post about tomorrow or Wednesday.


I just realized I never actually linked this post to One Hook Wonder, the wonderful blog that hosts Montessori Monday.  So, I am doing so now.  Please be sure to check out links at One Hook Wonder for lots of great Montessori inspiration.