Fall Activity Trays

Bean has been working on some new fall activities.

Cutting Practice Trays

I found these free Fall Cutting Strips from Montessori Print Shop.  Bean does really well using her scissors.  She does better with paper than hair, though.

Playdough Play

I found this recipe for pumpkin pie scented playdough and made some up for Bean.  Note to fellow playdough makers - I tried making this recipe.  I did not have enough salt so it did not turn out right.  Next time I think I will try cutting this recipe in half to see how much that will make.  But it did smell wonderful anyways.

Halloween Sensory Tub

I couldn't find all the fall items I had for last year's sensory tub so I had to get a few new things.  Thank goodness for Target's $1 section.  Yes, lookey there, I gave Target a compliment.  Ha!

We used sticky skeletons and mice which we quickly learned weren't good cause the green peas stuck to them, ghost and bat erasers, mini pumpkins, snakes and spiders.  Bean left one of the spiders on the counter and later that night when I went in for a snack, I had quite the fright!

Notice the bee that is hanging around up there?  That's Bizzy.  Bizzy the Bee.  Bean was assigned to bring her home for the weekend and journal what the two of them did all weekend.  They had a wonderful time together and Bizzy has been invited back any time she wants.

Kidtivities - Washing the baby

I mentioned earlier here that I am enrolled in an online Montessori training class. Montessori lessons are broken up into different categories or areas of study. One of these areas is called Practical Life. Practical Life is just that really - activities to teach children how to care for themselves by doing normal everyday life things that help instill confidence and well-being in a child.

I came up with this activity which we call "Washing the Baby" after seeing several other blogging Montessori moms sharing similar lessons.

First off, we gathered up a plastic washable doll, baby wash, lotion, baby powder, bath tub (which in this case is the small dish pan that we use for our sensory tub), wash cloth, towels, and some bath toys for the "baby".

I placed everything on a tray and showed Bean what do do with each item and how to wash the baby. Bean had a great time with this activity and asks to do it again and again. We have the cleanest baby doll in the neighborhood.

After Bean finished washing the baby, we moved the tub off to the side and she dried the doll off.  She loved applying the lotion and powder.  This doll is clean and smells so good!

We have to work on the proper handling of a baby but that's another lesson.

This activity is designed to teach children how to properly wash their bodies.  By learning how to wash the baby, they see how to care for themselves.

After the lotioning and the powdering, Bean diapered and dressed the baby, too.  Then she promptly put the doll head first into a bookbag and started carrying her around.  Like I said, proper baby handling techniques will be taught later.  One step at a time.

Lacing Beads and Sea Creatures

On Sunday, Bean and I did some painting - a lot of painting. A few months back I purchased these packs of wooden beads, spools, pegs and pots from Hobby Lobby. I had intended to paint the spools and put them in Bean's Easter basket but that danged bunny didn't leave me any room. He took it all with his silly candy. Oh well.

(I will share the peg and pots and the larger beads and how we use them in a later post.)

I wanted to make Bean some new Montessori-ish activities to do this month and remembered I had these that needed to be painted. I spread out some newspaper, grabbed all of our paints and supplies and we got to work. Bean started painting a little box she found in my craft stash. I asked her what color she wanted to use and she said "PINK!". That's my kid.

You can tell two things from these pictures.  One, she is tired of having her picture taken, and two, she has developed the same habit I have of sucking in my bottom lip when I'm concentrating on something.  Aww...

This painting process took a lot longer than I had planned. Like all day longer. Bean gave up way before I did. We took breaks throughout the day but it did take all day to paint everything.

Here's the finished product of the spools and how I presented them to her as a Montessori activity. Right away she knew what to do and started lacing the beads. She got frustrated a few times with the cord I gave her to use. It was a drawstring that came out of a hoodie I wear so it does have a little more "play" in it than should be but it did the job.

 

After she finished the lacing beads, I brought out some printables I found on 1+1+1=1. These are from her In The Girly Sea Preschool Pack. These are the 3-part cards showing various sea creatures.

There is one control card for each image and then Bean is supposed to match up each creature name and the corresponding picture. I was really amazed at how well she did. She got them all correct the first time she tried. She matched the words up first. I know she can't read but she matched the letters up by shape. Then she went back and added in the pictures. My kid's a genius!!! Okay, okay, I know that's a little overboard but really, my kid's a genius people! She takes after her mama. Duh!

Toddler Needlework

Some of you may know that Bean goes to a Montessori preschool. I often ask her what she does at school. I am most often given the same answer - "I don't know".

Each week they send home a folder with school information and Bean's handiwork. It is usually crayon drawings or colored pieces of paper glued to a page. Standard toddler work. 

This is what came home with Bean on Monday.

 

I was amazed.  They teach the kids to use a loom and a needle and thread.  The teacher will outline the shape and sit with the child while they stitch around it.  Bean's come home before with a partially completed shape but never a fully completed one.  I used to think that this was one of those projects where the teacher did most of the work while the child sat at watched.  I actually did an observation in Bean's class yesterday morning and watched this process take place.  The teacher did sit with a child while she was doing her needlework.  But the child went and got the needle, cut the thread, took out the loom, did get some help putting the material in the loom but not much, and then sat there and went around the shape sewing back and forth herself.  Again, I was amazed. 

Bean is 3.  She can do better needlepoint than I can.  Do you think my Mom would have handed over a needle to me at age 3?  Nope. She didn't want to give me one when I was 12, especially after the tragic sewing machine incident involving my thumb.  My thumb still twitches when it gets near a sewing machine. 

I just love the Montessori method and am glad Bean has gotten to experience it.