Montessori Mania

I'm going to go back through my photo archives and dedicate the next few weeks to posting about a variety of Montessori "tivities" that C and I did over the summer of 2009. She was right around 2 1/2 years old at the time of these activities. I am continually changing C's Montessori shelf, so I rotate through most of these activities routinely. I try to use regular, everyday household items to make most of my activities with an occasional run to Michaels or Jo-Ann's. I hope you're able to find some useful and educational information from these activities.

Styrofoam Shapes. . . Materials include a thick sheet of styrofoam (found at Michaels), toothpicks, and four different color markers. I used the markers to make dots on the styrofoam in the shape of a circle, square, triangle, and rectangle. Then I gave C a container of toothpicks and she poked one toothpick at a time into the dots to make each of the shapes. This gives her the opportunity to not only identify each shape (which she was already doing), but it helps her learn the pattern of actually making the shapes herself.

An extension of this activity would be to use different colored toothpicks to match to the shapes. I also let C make her own shapes using the toothpicks after she finished up. She had a blast with this "tivity."
Cereal box puzzles. . . Materials include the front of a large box of cereal (preferably something that your child likes to eat). C loves Rice Chex and Cheerios so that's what we used. I simply cut up the cover into three or four separate pieces and then C went to town putting them in the correct order. This develops a child's puzzle working skills using a simple straight cut shape. It's an easy way to teach them to match up colors and letters before moving on to more difficult puzzles with irregular shapes.
As you can see this took some time to master, but C stuck with it. Whatever cereal you use, I would recommend having one cover that's not cut up for your child to check his/her work against.

The mat in these pictures is C's "work" mat. She uses this whenever she is doing an activity to define her work space.

MTM: Food groups

I haven't posted about a Muffin Tin meal in a while, so here is what we had this past Monday for lunch: Annie's Organic Snack Mix Bunnies (carbohydrate), pistachios (vegetable protein), left-over smoothie from the morning (fruit and dairy), left-over organic grilled chicken from yesterday (protein), cucumber and yellow bell pepper slices (vegetable), and dried cranberries (fruit). I always try to include something from each of the major food groups in either C's lunch or dinner. Nothing fancy, but the muffin cups make it so much more appealing! As you can see, C is eager to dig in!

Beleduc Body Puzzle

C received this puzzle as a gift from her Aunt C and Uncle J for Christmas and it has been a huge hit! Not only is it a lot of fun for C to play with, but it teaches her the muscular, digestive, and skeletal systems of the body at the same time. I love that it's wooden and seems to be very durable. There's also a boy and girl version of the puzzle for obvious reasons. After spending some time working with C and teaching her how to put it together, she can now put all five layers together on her own. She is fascinated with her own skin now and keeps asking me if she can take it off so she can see her muscles and her bones. And when she dances around, she'll say, "My bones are making me move!" What a great way to introduce the various aspects of the human body to an almost three year old!

There are five layers to the body puzzle which are pictured below:

Skin:
Muscle:
Digestive system:
And the skeletal system:
C uses the picture cues on the left hand side of the puzzle to help her know which layer comes next.
And here she is working her way through the puzzle. . .

We love this puzzle! Beleduc has a variety of layer puzzles and other fabulous, educational toys and games! Check them out if you have a chance.

Button Sorting

Here is a quick and easy to assemble sorting activity. . .

I used a deviled egg tray and a handful of matching buttons and. . . voila! An instant sorting activity that is attractive to the toddler eye! What little one doesn't love playing with buttons? It also serves as a good color and shape review.

C's Nana gave us these delightful buttons from her sewing stash. Thank you, Nana! (I told you we'd put them to good use eventually!)

Water Transferring

Happy 2010! I'm back after a Christmas/ New Year's hiatus! I'm going to backtrack and post about a few activities from December. Another one of C's favorite Montessori "tivities" is playing with water. Add a little food coloring into the mix and you're guaranteed a good time!

Here she is engaged in a water transferring activity that I set up for her.
I used a silver tray, two small pitchers (99 cents each at the thrift store), and a small funnel. Simple, yet so much fun!