Autumn is such a wonderful season, and the best one to observe nature's transformation. The days grow colder and darker, the animals gathering food and preparing for winter, and the amazing leaves changing colour, from their usual green to the enchanting red, yellow or rusty. But did you know that there are two types of trees? The trees that lose their leave are called "deciduous" trees (shedding leaves helps trees conserve energy and water during winter) and the ones that don't, are called … [Read more...]
Authentic Handmade Materials for Your Dream Montessori Classroom
When it comes to creating learning space for the students, it is not about the quantity, but about the quality. If you've been teaching children for a while, you soon begin to realize that not all materials and tools are created equal. One of the unique aspects of Montessori materials is that they are designed for a specific purpose and accompany a learning goal. Aside from being aesthetically pleasing, they are engaging and enjoyable for a child to work with. Practically all Montessori … [Read more...]
Forest Cards and Nature Journaling
Nature has always been an important part of my life, ever since I was a child, and this was one of the things I wanted to share with my children. To be able to discover it together, to see them explore it, in their own unique way, and to teach them nature's importance, and how to protect it.Nature is the one place where you can learn not only to connect with yourself but live in harmony with the environment. It teaches you to protect and respect life, and each living thing, big or small. Nature … [Read more...]
Spring Hands-on Activities for Preschool Children
In our classroom, the change of season or special occasion generated elevated excitement as children always anticipated finding freshly prepared materials on the shelves. For that reason, I gathered a collection of Spring themed hands-on individual activities for your preschool students. Spring vocabulary cards for the memory or match-up games, storytelling startups and for building sentences. Classifying cards with birds, bees and butterflies. I spy with my little eye game Size grading … [Read more...]
Rain Could In a Jar Science Experiment Plus Types of Clouds Printable
This Rain Cloud in a Jar Experiment is a great way to engage your children aged 3-6 in conducting a simple science experiment before heading outdoors. Looking up in the sky on an overcast day can be quite relaxing and entertaining. As I was inviting children to fill in the cup with water and pour coloured water over the shaving cream "cloud", I explained to them that water, when heated, evaporates turning into water vapours. These water vapours turn back into water drops after reaching cold … [Read more...]
How to Teach Sequencing Skills to Children Plus a Free Printable
Sequencing cards are great for developing children's logical thinking and reading comprehension. They tick many boxes when it comes to teaching students and especially beneficial for children with special needs. Sequencing skills are essential for students to master because they: build vocabulary. develop narrating and storytelling skills. help students learn to sequence events and actions. help students to learn to group their thoughts. introduce different concepts (life cycle, ti … [Read more...]
How to Make an Easter Garden – Natural Small World for Play
We are very excited to celebrate another significant holiday with our family and church. Easter is right around the corner and conversations on the topic occur in our home naturally all the time. This year I suggested to my 5 yo Blossom to create an Easter Resurrection garden. My daughter was chuffed! After reading and discussing the story of resurrection we thought of elements that should be included in Easter garden - tomb, rock, cross and hill. Creating small worlds together with kids gives … [Read more...]
Learning to tell time – Hands-On Ideas
I have noticed that generally, children get interested in clocks early on - before they are old enough to be able to read the analogue clock all on their own. For children to be able to tell time with analogue clocks they need to : be able to recognise numbers 0-60 know fractions be familiar with the definition of past and present, a.m, pm., afternoon, noon Usually, preschool children do not know these math concepts. However, schedules and time is something that often becomes an … [Read more...]
Doing Montessori At Home With Your Toddler 12- 18 months.
The pitter-patter of their tiny feet, the shape of their little bellies, arms tightly wrapped around your neck, curious facial expressions, giggles and tickles, sloppy kisses, cheeky glance, one day you will miss them all, oh, so much. Just remember that next time he pulls your favorite vase off the table or after another exhausting day has passed. I found that toddler years can be quite challenging because it's the time when they are on the verge of shifting from total dependence to gaining … [Read more...]
Montessori Inspired Christmas Activities With Printables
Joy and excitement are in the air in this house as we are approaching one of the most welcomed celebration of the year for our family - Christmas. Since our children are still very young, it feels especially significant to build up our family traditions and events around this time. I have noticed that kids at this age have practically no expectations. They are still getting familiar with cultural connotations and are happy to go with a flow. We are going to have a whole set of … [Read more...]
Hands – On Montessori Homeschool Activities For A 4 Year Old
The goal of early childhood education should be to activate the child's own natural desire to learn. Maria Montessori I decided that it is time for us to share activities that our Montessori preschool home classroom is buzzing with. Talking homeschooling journey has been an exciting and strange adventure for me. I had to adapt and change my approach from what I used to do teaching in a classroom. Creating and running a homeschooling routine with a baby on board is more of a challenge than a … [Read more...]
Colour Experiment With Water Beads
Working on science experiments with preschoolers is one of my favourite aspects of teaching young kids. It sows seeds of wonder and excitement creating magic and seeing laws of nature unfold in front of your eyes. Preschool kids love learning about colours. There are tons of different ways to teach children the concept of mixing colours to create a new one. We decided to have some fun with water beads and conduct an experiment to see what happens when two different colours mix. If you don't know … [Read more...]
Hands-on Learning About Plants In Our Montessori Classroom
As Maria Montessori said, "Nothing should be given to the brain that is not first given to the hand". We embrace hands-on learning in our Montessori homeschool classroom. I use every opportunity to make learning practical. My 4-yo Blossom told me that she would like to plant something in our garden. Truth be told at this stage our garden is non-existent, however, we started looking into the life cycle of the plant and learn about seed germination. The whole Plant Unit I plan contains several t … [Read more...]
