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We went to the nursery and bought flowers to plant in ourplanters. Every winter I stop watering the outside plantsand (gasp!) they die off. Everyone really enjoyed going tothe nursery and LD was very excited as I let him get aVenus Fly Trap (usefulu here in the Outback!!)
The girls really enjoyed the flower arranging this week. Theidea to use pipe cleaners and foam beads came fromhttp://mymontessorijourney.typepad.com/my_montessori_journey/2009/04/my-entry.html
The kids have really enjoyed games this week — we’ve playedCandy Land, DinoMath Tracks, Hungry Hippos, the marblerun (not really a board game, but stored with the games!), LetterSoup, and several card games (Rat-a-tat-Cat) being the favorite!
Art for the relatives to admire!! This week I put colored paper and a couple markers inDD’s art workbox. She’s been doing two drawings each day.One day she asked to use the buttons too. Here are a coupleof her creations. The first picture is all one project. Thesecond picture is a picture of her and her brother and sisteralong with the 75 story world tower, where we stayed inSydney (on...
When we were on holiday the kids saw a showcalled “Playschool.” LD saw how to make alieneyes and yesterday he got all the materials heneeded and made himself and the girls alieneyes. I didn’t help in any way shape or form (noteven to find the glue)… a first!!
Every now and then we bring out this map activity (fromwhen we studied pirates, maps and treasure hunts). Forthis activity we map out our house with all the rooms and thebasic furniture. They get a favorite toy and I hide it somewhere inthe house. Then I put an X on the map to mark the spot wherethe item was hidden. They are real pros at this activity now andI have...
ED has really enjoyed painting this past week. She’s gottenher paint shirt and asked to paint numerous times this week. Shedidn’t really get into the marble painting, mostly she likedholding the marble in her hand. Then she laughed and signed“yucky” over and over and over with her bright blue hands!
When we were in Canberra we went to Floriade, a yearlyflower festival. DD decided that she wanted to do a flowerunit when we got home. Today was our first day of activities.We collected flowers from our yard and from our neighbor’sbeautiful garden (with permission, of course!) We used theflowers to hammer them into cards. They turned out reallypretty and you could use this for a symmetry activity as well.We also...
Yesterday we made our own cornstarch clay (idea fromhttp://scrumdillydo.blogspot.com/2009/06/clay-prints-in-two-parts.html)I really like the consistancy of the dough (though it’s saltyso I had the kids wash their hands with sorbolene afterthey were done). LD made jets and DD made necklaceornaments. We poked holes in the cutouts with the end ofa paintbrush. Of course, ED enjoyed working with us andpoked holes in her clay! 1 cup cornstarch1 cup baking soda1/2 cup table salt1...
I haven’t had a chance to reload our workboxes yet, butthey were still full from before our trip. What was terrificyesterday was that the kids selected activities from the workboxesall afternoon (these pictured below AND the basics like math,piano, writing, reading, etc.) The kids have “fallen back to oldhabits” which in this case is just wonderful! I love workboxes!
Here are a couple of our math activities. It’s been aboutsix weeks since we last worked with place value, so we’redoing some review. We used purple dots from MontessoriMaterials (see side bar); you can print them out for free.For 1000, I put ten 100s together with a brad. In the second picture, we are using an activity fromPeggy Kaye’s Games for Learning. This is a wonderfulbook, probably one of THE...
LD has a writing journal. Activities really vary. Forexample, I’ve asked him questions like“What did you do over the school holidays?”“What is your favorite type of junk food?”“What is your phone number?” and“Look at your fingers. Your finger tips areall different. Draw two of your finger printsbelow. Label them.” This idea below I got from Peggy Kaye’s Games forWriting. What a great resource! (Sorry if I’m soundinga bit like an...
Yesterday (well, late last night, actually!) I made a new feltboard. DD got up and played with it right away. It’s greatwhen something relatively easy is such a big hit. I give moredetails about how I made it in the following posts.
