Our Montessori Morning

I can't stress enough how important it is to teach children how to help around the house. Today I had those two rascals doing laundry. They put the clean ones into the blue basket, they put the wet ones in another basket and took them outside and hung them on the line. I highly recommend you invest in a retractable clothes line. This is a great skill for the toddler and bigger child to master. They can easily hang those clothes for you. They love to do it actually. Its the folding the clothes part where they really complain. That's usually when I can bribe them with an otter pop (we live in Arizona, it's like 108 today) to get it done. Plus again...that cold popsicle is sensory right? 

Then I put them to work helping me load the dishwasher. Dax pretty much knows how I like the thing loaded. I am picky about spoons forks and knives going in their own separate space. Jocelyn jumped in on the fun and helped load the plates. Let them experience putting in the soap, closing the dishwasher and pushing the buttons. Independence is key here!

Then came some working on letters.  My little man does not like handwriting at all. He gets so frustrated with himself if he can't write something legible. This is when I put it aside and we try something else. If some activity makes my kid angry at himself, Im going to try doing it a different way. One that he'll enjoy. Then we'll revisit this same way later and see how he does. Make sense? 

We then read a scripture from a "scripture Master" card pile I had since high school. He always impresses me when it comes to the gospel. Usually people read these things and have no idea what they mean, but he was able to read almost every word of that old age scripture talk and he told me in his own words what it meant. Proud mamma here folks. 

So I took him outside after the frustration period and we wrote our letters in chalk on the sidewalk. Much better! Thinking outside the box. We're trying to master little "g". 

And while we were out there we decided to turn on the hose and water the dead spots on my lawn. That soon turned into a rivers and streams discussion as they saw water in the gutter. We made our own stream in the gutter. Then we found things in the house that would either sink or float and we talked about that. This led to Dax wanting to be sprayed by the hose....I was more than happy to hose him down. But then he turned on me and came after me with the hose....I was soaked to the bone and laughing the whole time. Mary Poppins came to my mind "With every job that must be done, there is an element of fun"....I love her. 

Then we went in for snack time. We did some sensory stuff again using our taste. Jocelyn trying a lemon....Sour....then some salt.....Salty! There is no word to describe salt. 

Dax had so much fun cooking waffles the other day, I got him cooking shrimp today. This was cool. He was able to season them, turn them with tongs, shake the pan back and forth and really feel like a chef. We used math too. "Put 3 shrimp in each bowl", then Dax served us our food at the table. There were 8 shrimp left..."How many shrimp do each of us get to make it fair" I said..."3" he said. "But we only have eight" I said. He had to think about this for a second. "2" he said and theres 2 left over. "Good" I said. At the end they each wanted more, so he said "Jo and I get one each...that would be even and fair"....more comments were made like "Im the best chef in the world huh mom", "I can cook anything in the world"..."Yes you can son....yes you can"

The ducks came back today. They got real close to. We hurried out and fed them a piece of bread.....Interactions with animals is pro montessori. Taking care of and feeding them is a great skill to develop.  Then we went back inside and cleaned up our lunch mess. Jo swept the floor with her little broom. I highly recommend purchasing a camping broom like this one. It's easy for kids to manage. 

Then for lunch: Grilled cheese in the waffle iron! Why not? It changes the texture which is also Montessori. Plus my waffle maker was already out. Kids love when you change up a favorite meal. 

Just let them do it!

It was those fun and simple skills of cooking today that brought our Montessori home to life! I let my 6 yr. old do all of it too. He measured, poured, mixed, folded in, sprayed pam & cooked waffles tonight. All by himself. He was so proud and I was so proud. When I asked him "How was cooking tonight" he responded "Great....and easy". Did he complain at first about helping?  YES! he always does. But I patiently help him enjoy the experience. He wanted to do all of it too once he got started. If I butted in to help, he reminded me (quite abruptly) that he wanted to do it all. Kids love being independent. Teach them the skills and stand by and watch. They will surprise you. It would have been much simpler, quicker and less messy to do this all on my own, but the look on his proud face for having accomplished such a task was priceless! Montessori at its best right here folks. 

A Taste of Montessori

Here are some really great skills to get your toddlers actively engaged!

A fun day of learning!

I supplement Montessori with some activity sheets. I love confessionsofahomeschooler.com. She has tons of printables. This particular activity involved cutting. Which is Montessori (think hands on). I discovered quickly that my 6 yr old really has no idea how to cut. I was able to show him how. He has fun coming up with silly sentences using the site word "after". 

 I got our little chalk board out and drew letters with chalk. Jocelyn traced the letters with a wet finger.
                                                 SENSORY ACTIVITY!

 You could easily make your own chalkboard by purchasing a frame from dollar tree and some chalk paint. Paint the glass on the frame and voila!

  Someone gave me this magnet board a long time ago. I almost threw it away. Then today I was going through my junk box and the light came on! This is totally Montessori. We build alphabet letters on it with magnets.

This week we are talking about manners. We did some role play. These are always good to review with little children as they will forget easily and need reminded.  I found some great ideas from Childfun.com

Manners Games and Activities

Role PlayRole play the following situations. . . .


1.Two children are sitting at a table coloring. One child needs a crayon that is out of his/her reach. It is within the reach of the other child. What should the first child say to the other child nearest the crayons? (Choose two children to act this out.)

2. The children are in line at the drinking fountain. Another child asks the second child in line to let him/her have "cuts" in line. What should that second child in line do? (As many children may role-play this activity as the teacher desires).

3. The teacher is giving directions and one child in the class has a question to ask about the directions being given. What should that child do?

4.It's a cold day outside and one child has a sweater and a coat. Another child has no sweater or coat and is wearing a short-sleeved shirt. What should the first child do in this situation? (Choose two children to act out this situation. Either use a real sweater and coat or just pantomime putting them on.)

Please and Thank You~If you were the only person in the world, you wouldn't need manners. But there are lots of people in the world, and good manners help everyone get along together.
~When we ask for something we say "Please", when someone gives us something, we say "Thank You".
~At lunch time, we know we wash our hands and sit up straight at the table. And we know that its not polite to talk with our mouths full.
~When we play together, everyone has a good time when we share, and are polite to each other.
~When we are playing with our friends, it is not polite to whisper about someone who is near by, because it might hurt their feelings.
~It is not polite to interrupt someone who is trying to talk.
~Everyone likes a person who has good manners. Good manners make everyone happened make you a person who is nice to know.

Question Time~What should you say if you walk in front of someone? You say "Excuse me"
~Moving over so someone can sit down is called? "Sharing"
~When you ask for something you say....."Please"
~When you receive something you say...."Thank You"

We ended the day with some ice cream and frozen berries. Sensory; cold eating, tasting and touching. Almost anything can be montessori!

Tuesday's Montessori Activities

Today's activities were quite simple and taught a few skills I want my children to learn. Grace, Poise and balance was taught by putting tape on the floor in different patterns and walking on it, trying not to touch the "lava" a.k.a floor. 

Next was a station of lid matching. This involved a great deal of concentration. Not all the lids were easy to get on. That blue tupperware one is really tricky and takes a lot of muscle. It did not require screwing the lid on either.

"Put the clothespins around the container" station was a hit. I had different clothespins...some super easy to squeeze and put on, and others were just plain hard. This taught muscle use in fingers, coordination and concentration.

 I put the mop in their hands and had them trace the lines. This is great for teaching life skills too "mopping floors".  They also pushed a pillow, a laundry basket and raced back and forth. You could also have children walk backwards or throw a bean bag at them and have them try to catch it or stay on the tape.

 And here is Dax trying to put the lid on the cup. It was a tricky one. I also made him thread a napkin ring. All great life skills.

Another great day of Montessori

Montessori hands-on games

You can come up with so many Montessori type games just by using things you already have.

A paper towel roll serves as a tube for dropping pompoms in and trying to catch them in a bowl. This entertained for quite some time.  I would recommend using colorful pompoms and even coloring or covering the paper towel roll with something bright and colorful. 

Picking up pompoms with tongs is always a great way for kids to learn hand-eye coordination. They get to use their muscles to squeeze those tongs together and keep them together as they drop a pom pom in an ice cube tray. I found this cool tray at my local grocery store. Different shaped things that are fun and colorful, I find are a must for kids to stay engaged.

 Sticking pipe-cleaner through a colander. Teaches concentration and fine motor skills.

 Magnet sticks can keep the kiddos busy for a while as they go around the house seeing all the cool things it can stick to. We play pick up games, seeing who can pick up just the pink magnetic chips, or just the screws and bolts, or just the big or small ones, or biggest to smallest. You get the idea.