We are very excited to celebrate another major 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 them … [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 analog clock all on their own. In order for children to be able to tell time with analog clocks they need to : be able to recognise numbers 0-60 know fractions be familiar with definition of past and present, a.m, pm., afternoon, noon Usually preschool children do not have knowledge of these math concepts, however, schedules and time is something that often … [Read more...]
Doing Montessori At Home With Your Toddler 12- 18 months.
The pitter patter of their tiny feet, 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 favourite 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 a very interesting 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 homeschooling routine with a baby on board is more of a challenge than … [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 in order to create new one. We decided to have some fun with water beads and conduct experiment to see what happens when two different colours mix. If you don't … [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 home school 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 life cycle of the plant and learn about seed germination. The whole Plant Unit I plan contains several … [Read more...]
International Kid Chef – Culinary Montessori Activity with Dough
Introduce your kids to international cuisine with this game where they become International Chefs and have to use their creativity (and dough!) to cook different foods from around the world. Free Printable Menu guide and paper Chef’s hat included. This post is a guest piece by Kids Activities Designer Rodrigo Macias. What do you need? Different colors of dough (any kind is cool, even homemade) (Optional) Tape, a printer and paper to get this Menu Guide and Chef’s hat. How to … [Read more...]
Sensory Explorations Outdoors – Touch With Nature Hunt Printable
Children discover the world using their 5 senses. They connect to it by absorbing sounds, textures, smells, pictures, tastes, emotions. At young age children are incredibly sensitive. Learning occurs naturally when they have opportunity to utilise as many senses as possible. In the Montessori classroom there are several areas of development, one of them is sensorial. Montessori sensorial aims to establish strong connection between brain and senses in the process of learning, provide a … [Read more...]
Play-dough Art Mat – Preschool Art Explorations.
Here is something simple to offer your child if they love working with play-dough, and you have inspiration to introduce them to the world of fine arts. This idea come from my obsession to make every single activity meaningful and educational. I wonder sometimes if it's a weakness or strength.. Anyway, we all know how appealing play-dough is to young children. Sometimes they can spend hours molding it in their hands. There are children who are an exception to this rule, for example, my miss A. … [Read more...]
Montessori Inspired Explorations At The Beach
Taking Montessori classroom outside creates great opportunities for hands-on learning using minimum materials and effort. Sun, fresh salty air, sound of crashing waves - what a perfect setup for fun explorations for kids. We headed to the beach to do fun Montessori activities as a part of preschool homeschool program. Before allowing children to play and simply have awesome time in nature, I prepared and organised Montessori inspired activities taking advantage of the natural outdoor … [Read more...]
Learning To Read With Montessori Cards.
Learning to read is not a natural process. Curiosity that draws children to find out more about the world surrounding them usually comes naturally. It is not a secret that children flourish under nurturing and purposeful guidance. Just the right amount of encouragement, regularly held story time, parental example, cosy book nook - a perfect combination that can help children to fall in love with books. When placed in rich environment with properly set up language area, children are directed by … [Read more...]
Children of the World Multicultural Activities for Kids
Each culture carries an incredibly rich palette of colours and gorgeous patterns represented on their traditional costumes. Children love learning about different traditions all over the world and find out what makes them so unique and special. Can you imagine a Montessori classroom without continent study unit? Impossible. Well, besides being essential part of the Montessori curriculum it is also lots of fun for kids to learn and even try different cultural outfits. I have put together … [Read more...]