Sorting Buttons by Color!

This is a fun project the my youngest keeps coming back to.  It is great for sorting things & color recognition.  You can also throw counting in there.

I started with a deviled egg dish from the thrift store ($2.32).  This one is a nice white ceramic, which is great because I always like to reinforced handling things with care.  I wish I had taken a picture of it before I add the color (but alas I was not thinking that far ahead).  Once I got the dish, I got out "my" set of sharpie markers and started coloring.  So now each "egg holder" is a different color, which is a total of 12.

Then I got out my old collection of odd buttons (started by my mother).  My oldest son helped with the choosing of the buttons for the activity.  This was great for him because he had to find two or three buttons in each color.  We didn't happen to have any brown so we colored a button with marker (problem solved).

Counting Caterpillar

This is such a cute little activity!  I have actually made this a few times.  I have done the activity with my own boys, as well as made it and given it as a cute little gift for a little boy who was going to be a big brother.  He thought it was so cute (and better yet it entertained him & he was learning).  We started with 10 and have since added on.  Our Counting Caterpillar currently counts up to 30.

You can make this caterpillar out of little wooden discs that you can easily pick up at Micheal's Craft Store or you can make it out of card stock (we have done both).  Today I used cardstock & was working with one of my son's friends.  She can easily count to 10, but then starts to get mixed up, so we made a caterpillar that goes up to 20 (and then she can keep adding at a later date).  C also can not identify her numbers above 10, but she can count pretty well, so the dots on the back were very helpful. We used water colors for the front, then I drew the numbers on & put dots on the back for her to count and self correct.
                                 

BUGS! BUGS! BUGS! (Patterns & Colors)

So if you have boys or know any boys you then know that they have an innate fascination with BUGS!  So this game is great.  It is from Discovery Toys (but I was lucky enough to pick it up at a thrift store).  Not only do the bugs not squirm around when you touch them (much to my delight), they are colorful & very detailed.

There are 10, 2 sided cards that get gradually more difficult.  They start off very easy working with colors & then get progressively more difficult when it asks you to complete patterns or make your own.  My guys love this game.  They have even branched out & colored the original patterns that they created on another piece of paper.

Edible Peanut Butter Playdough

What fun this was!  Edible playdough, you gotta love playing with your food and eating what you play with. Although my guys are old enough to know what to put in their mouths and what not to.  Some of our little friends are not.  So this is the perfect activity for little visitors who want to join in on our "cooking" fun.  The boys have their own drawer in the kitchen that holds their cooking supplies (aprons, hats, rolling pins, cookie cutters, flippers, measuring cups, etc...).

Edible Peanut Butter Playdough

18 oz. peanut butter

6 tbsp. of honey

1 1/2 cups of powdered milk

Mix all ingredients well.  All powered milk until the playdough is workable with your hands.  This is a fun recipe for kids to play with and certainly has a great taste.  Optional: Use raisins, nuts or pretzels to decorate.

Alphabetical Order Matching Chart

This alphabetical order matching game came from: www.montessoriforeveryone.com   

They have lots of really cool "stuff" including some free downloads (which this is one of).  I copied the file onto cardstock and then laminated the cards and words (and cut them out).  I then stored it in a file folder (and all the little words in a plastic bag).

With my younger son I split the cards and words in half (less words to search for, for now).  For my older son (by 15 months) I put both cards out and all the words.  They both did a great job on it & I can tell my younger son is going to be doing both cards in no time.   I may add (or change) the words at some point, but for now this is perfect. 

My older son also knows a lot of the words (as sight words), so it is like 2 in 1 practice for him.  J did it this morning while I was making breakfast and then was quick to do it again this afternoon while I was prepping dinner (AWESOME)!

Water and The Maryland Science Center

I love playing in the water (except when it is raining like today & it messes up our original plans), so why shouldn't the kids. Whenever we go to the Science Center the kids favorite place to go is the water table in the Kids Room.  They would be content to play here all day and why shouldn't they? They get to pour, dump, spray, damn up the water, send boats down the "river", hook up & build with pipes to redirect the water & oh yeah (inevitably) end up wet! 

Making Shapes

This is a quick, easy and really cheap activity to make.   After it is made is it great for more than one activity.  I originally made it for learning shapes.  However, I quickly figured out that counting was involved as well as sorting colors.  And best of all it keeps my youngest busy when we are out to dinner!!!

Each tongue depressor is colored on the end and has the shape name written on it.  For example, the square has red ends & each tongue depressor has the word "square" written on it.  Then the triangle is green, etc...

Counting, Sorting, Counting

This activity is great for colors, sorting and counting.  My son also had a great time helping to make it, which he loves because it is "his" game.  We keep it in a nice little cheesecloth drawstring bag that he can carry along with him or hang it up in his room.

 

J helped to paint the "number circles,"  I then wrote the numbers on the front.  The number of colored popsicle sticks match the color of the number circle. Right now J has 1 - 10 set up.  But the game was made for up to 15 (and can easily be added on to).

The Kid's Drawers

This is a simple & fun way to make your house very kid friendly.  We have always had a cooking drawer because of my love of baking (not cooking dinner, I usually leave that to my husband).  Anyway, it is a simple low drawer that the boys can get to & it has all of their goodies in it.  They have aprons, rolling pins, flippers, hats, measuring cups along with hot mits & some pans.

When we moved to our new house last summer, we had enough room in our kitchen for not only our cooking drawer, but we have now added an art drawer.  This is also very simple & basic.  It has some containers of markers & crayons.  As well as a larger box with paint, paintbrushes, scissors & glue.  And then to top it all off a large pack of paper (which we replace quite often considering my sons love to draw).

We also keep the "boys" dishes low so they can get to them.  We all eat dinner with glass plates & cups, but during the day (when we are meandering about by ourselves or with friends, inside & out) we use dishes from "their" drawer.  The boys definitely know the difference and treat the dishes a bit differently (plastic vs. glass).  I also keep their water bottles in the drawer so they can fill them up when we are off on a trip in the car.

 The best is when J decides he needs the contents from all the drawers.  Yes, J will get out a bowl & some measuring spoons & then mix up paint, water & cut up paper & stir!  Lots of fun & a big mess (but he makes it & cleans it up, so it is all good). Sometimes he even serves it up as a meal for his younger brother & me.

The other "kid" drawer we have in our house is our snack drawer.  This drawer has always been around (old house & new - before kids & now).  Anyway, it has definitely grown in size in our new house & with kids the contents has changed.  Nonetheless, it is a great thing and it always amazes me when new friends come over and are amazed all the snacks are in reachable distance for the kids to help themselves.  Don't get me wrong they don't get unlimited chocolate pudding, but they do have choices throughout the day.  It has always been that way, so they don't question what they can and can not have. You can always stock it with whatever you want.  So most of the time whatever is in there (in addition to the fruit in our fruit bowl on the table) is up for grabs (i.e. granola bars, raisins, applesauce, crackers, pretzels, dried fruit, goldfish, fig newtons, etc...) & yes, it contains chocolate pudding sometimes!

Making Sushi (one activity - two purposes)

So, we absolutely love sushi in our house. My kids have eaten it since they were little little.  It was (and still is) the perfect on the go food.  Quick and easy to eat when I am in a hurry and very healthy.  And to make matters even better we moved last summer and we have a great asian grocery store near us that has all the supplies we need.  The boys (and their friends) love making this & they love eating it (great activity & delicious meal).  We use anything from just veggies (i.e. cucumber, red pepper, carrots, avocado) to fake crab, toasted eel or cooked octopus.  All have been eaten without so much as a complaint, except for the octopus.  A is not such a fan of that.

Discovering the Montessori World

This is my first blog post and I promise it will all get a little more exciting as I go along since I am new to blogging!  Anyway, I am in the midst of taking some different Montessori Workshops & looking into some formal teacher training programs as I prepare to reenter the "working" world next year.  So this blog is going to track my work with my children as well as some friend's children.  

As a teacher (before having 2 boys) I was always a hands on teacher, as I always found it more interesting and engaging.  When our boys were born my natural instincts kicked in and we started (unbeknownst to me) raising them in the "Montessori Way."  

This has been great fun for all of us.  The boys are great at many things (i.e. cooking (they have their own cooking supplies), clearing the table, creating lego masterpieces, counting, bringing down the laundry, reading, making train towns, washing the dog, building things with their tools, riding their bikes, sending mail to friends, identifying countries on the map, swimming, painting & playing games).  Each day is an adventure and I can't wait to share it with you.