Cork Stamping Art: Trees in Autumn
Monday, September 12, 2016
Life Cycle of an Apple Preschool Unit
Sunday, September 11, 2016
Vito is 34 months old.
I am so excited to share this with you! Last week, I set up an apple life cycle to Vito (and Mavi on the background) for a little science exploration. Apple is his favourite fruit and he was so delighted to see these materials in our shelf! Now if you take a look at our activity and materials, they’re pretty simple and easy to follow by a young preschooler. I assembled it in such a way that it’s not too overwhelming for him, yet enjoying and engaging.
What is Montessori “Cards and Counters”?
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
Vito is 34 months.
“Cards and Counters” is a Montessori math activity that introduces the child to the units of quantity. This is to reinforce the sequence in numbers (one to ten) and to give the child a visual experience of quantity.
Vito loves to count. He counts pictures, objects and anything that interests him. So for his preschool math, I decided to give him a jumpstart on cards and counters. Take a look at the different ways we explore counting using Autumn-themed objects.
Magnetic Alphabet Sorting Activity and Sensorial Play
Monday, September 5, 2016
I couldn’t resist getting these magnetic letters from Early Learning Center because they were on sale and its the only magnetic set I found that’s using the Sassoon font (text standard in UK and Ireland). With these on hand, I set-up a sorting activity of letters for Vito.
Preschool Letter R
Sunday, September 4, 2016
We started our preschool unit with letter R and I divided the activities into two: (1) phonological awareness and (2) pre-writing. The pre-reading activities is scheduled on Mondays and pre-writing on Tuesdays. Vito does no more than 20 minutes of “school” per day. The rest of the activities, Vito considers it as “game” or “play”. During “school” time, I would quit the activities once I see that he’s bored or not interested. My experience has taught me that it’s not about the quantity of activities that I give to my kids that matter. In fact, they get tired so easily and bored when I do that. Especially with Vito, I learned that I should do things slowly with him, and that I should respect and follow his own timeline of learning. Mavi was different, he absorbs anything… he’s always interested, Vito is very choosy.
Going back, this week we’re starting with the letter R. Vito can name the letters of the alphabet if he’s in the mood so I decided that I should be giving him pre-reading activities so he won’t get bored. Below are some of the activities this week for pre-reading and pre-writing.
A Math Racing Game for Preschoolers
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Vito always wanted to join us whenever we play board games but we don’t allow him because it’s too much for him. Too many cards (and paper money) to scatter, dice which he couldn’t figure out how to use and what to do with it and so much more. So when I was making Autumn-Themed Math Activities, I made sure that I include a game that’s suitable for his age.
Autumn Themed Preschool Math Activities
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Vito is starting “preschool” math this school year and we are not using any curriculum. I guess it’s not necessary in our case. I will be using my experience with Mavi and with the thousand ideas online on setting up “play-based” and Montessori-inspired activities for Vito this school year. So in order for me to be able to organize and prepare materials ahead of time, I decided to come up with seasonal-themes for the upcoming months.
Beginning Letter Sort (R and A)
Monday, August 29, 2016
It’s been awhile since my last post! Sorry for not updating. Vito is starting “preschool” at home and I’ve been busy planning for his curriculum and preparing materials. Actually the curriculum is just a guide, everything will still depend on how he progress and what’s his current interest.
Anyway, I gathered some of Mavi’s old language materials and assembled a letter sorting activity for Vito next week. You’ve seen this a lot, like the booklet, the matching of pictures. But this time we’ll be working two letters a time and sort out objects that matches the beginning letter sound.
Rocks and Minerals Learning Activities for Kids (with Free Cards)
Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Activity Trays for 33 Month Old Toddlers
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Activity Using Our Water Cycle Learning Pack
Monday, August 15, 2016
FREE Printables for Alphabet Learning Sheets
Sunday, August 14, 2016
Hi everyone! I’m often asked in my Instagram account on where I get our printed learning materials for learning letters (letter recognition and pre-writing) so I’m going to share with you the links of my sources here as it’s difficult to do that in IG.
Teaching Toddlers How Plants Grow
Friday, August 12, 2016
Growing Watercress with Kids at Home
Wednesday, August 10, 2016
For the second week of August, we’re learning about plants! So to start with, the boys and I grew watercress at home and they totally love it! Another activity that is suited for siblings! Take a look at how Vito and Mavi worked on this together.
Montessori Shelves Organization for Small Spaces
Monday, August 8, 2016
For this month of 12 Months of Montessori Series, I’m sharing our simple shelves organization at home. I’m sharing our set-up at home and what works for us.
Introducing Toddlers to Animals in Land, Water and Air
Saturday, August 6, 2016
Introducing Wild Animals to Toddlers
Wednesday, August 3, 2016
VIto is 32 months old.
As we continue our wild animals exploration, the boys and I watched documentary shows in Netflix about animals in Africa. Vito enjoyed watching the shows and kept on naming the animals that he can identify. With this, we worked on vocabulary words by identifying other wild animals that he’s not familiar with like gorilla, panther and rhinoceros. We used our Safari Toob Wild animals for this activity together with the matching cards we got from The Wise Owl.
Animals and their Covers
Monday, August 1, 2016
FREE Musical Hand Bell Cards
Saturday, July 30, 2016
Sharing our beautiful musical hand bell cards for everyone to use!
Understanding the Water Cycle
Friday, July 29, 2016
Sound Waves Experiment: The String Phone
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
I think is one of the best example of explaining to a 7 year old that sound travels. I enjoyed playing with this as a young child. But instead of using styro cups, we were used tin cans which I think is more effective.
Montessori Inspired Activity: Musical Instruments
Monday, July 25, 2016
As we continue our Sound and Music Unit, I also introduced the different musical instruments. Of course, it would be best if we have all of these (LOL) or least own one, but since we don’t these beautiful musical figures from Safari Toob will do.
Montessori-Inspired Sounds and Music: The Musical Hand Bells
Sunday, July 24, 2016
Vito is 32 months old.
I prepared a few simple activities for our Sound and Music Unit. It was the week of heatwave so I grabbed the opportunity to bring the boys outside more often to practise their biking and scooting skills, and as for me, able to run and lose a few pounds LOL.
Joking aside, this musical hand bells was a favourite of Vito. He loves using just to listen to the sound it makes and at times ringing the bells together to make “music”.
Homeschool Activities for Toddlers 32 Months Old
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
LETTER PATTERNS
One of the challenging task that he’s working on this month. We’re working with letters CUSN-POLH and here he’s doing the letter C. This printed material was from The Confessions of a Homeschooler and the magnetic board plus the patterns were from Melissa & Doug Deluxe Wooden Magnetic Pattern Blocks Set.SANDPAPER NUMBERS AND COUNTING WITH DO DOTS
He loves the sandpaper numbers! So we worked on tracing the numbers first and I demonstrated by counting it using the do a dot marker. So aside from pre-writing, it’s also a great practise for 1:1 correspondence. The sandpaper numbers can be purchased here and you can get the markers here, Do a Dot Markers.MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
We love Safari Toobs and its his first time to use the Musical Instruments Toob. As of the moment, we do the typical match to figure and picture using the 3-Part Cards from The Wise Owl (Philippine based). You can check about this activity here, Montessori Inspired Activity: Musical Instruments.ANIMALS IN THE WILD
Learning about the animals in the wild, using this set from The Wise Owl again (the 3-Part cards for the Safari Toobs Wild Animals is also in my 200+ Toobs Matching Cards Bundle Pack). He can name a few but find it difficult to say the names of other animals like the rhino, hippo, and panther. You can check the details of this activity here, Introducing Wild Animals to Toddlers.ANIMAL COVERS PATTERN MATCHING
One of our favorite printable from our shop (Animal Skin Cover Matching Cards)! Matching animals with their covers. We are using animals from Schleich and Safari Toobs Wild Animals. You can check the activity here, Animal Skin Covers Sensorial Matching Activity for Preschoolers.MUSICAL HAND BELLS
We’re having the Sound and Music Unit and one activity is using these musical handbells. You can check how we conducted our activity here, Montessori-Inspired Sounds and Music: The Musical Hand Bells.ANIMALS AND THEIR LETTER SOUNDS
A little bit of phonics activity by matching animal names to their beginning sounds. We just worked from letters A to E. Animals are from Schleich and foam letters from Munchkin Letters and Numbers Bath Toys.MONTESSORI KNOBLESS CYLINDERS
This is one of his favorites for this month. You can get the Knobless Cylinders at any Montessori shop or here. Read about this amazing sensorial material and activity here, Montessori Sensorial Activities using the Knobless Cylinders.LETTER TRACING
Vito is currently obsessed with tracing so I got him a dry wipe/wet wipe chalk markers which has no strong scent. I used to purchase those dry erase pens that are using ink but they really smell, and I just discovered these chalk markers which are perfect for Vito. It’s non toxic, has bright colors and can be removed easily! You can get these from AmazonUK and AmazonUS. The wipe and erase cards were Mavi’s and I purchased them from Singapore (Kumon), you can also get them here. And if you have more time and want to create your own cards you can also get this printable instead, Alphabet Tracing Mats.Introducing Simple Machines to Kids (with Free Printable)
Monday, July 18, 2016
Montessori-Inspired Activity: The Life of a Honey Bee
Saturday, July 16, 2016
Vito is 32 months old.
The appearance of the honey bees in our front and backyard has led us to look into the lives of these beautiful creatures who are the main source of honey. Vito is terrified of them but not Mavi. We were out the other day catching a few of them, observing how they produce the buzzing sound and freed them up again.
Montessori Inspired Insects Activity
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
I am reintroducing some Montessori-inspired activities once again to Vito. We’ve been doing lots of free play for the past few days that I miss giving him “prepared” activities. As he will turn three in the next few months, I’m planning to have a more “structured” schedule and curriculum for him this school year. I’ll share that later on once I figure out how to do that.
Anyway, so in our Insects Unit, I borrowed these cards from my friends at The Wise Owl. They’re Philippine based online shop that provides Montessori cards and Safari Toob figures locally. Their cards are lovely and the images are so beautiful!
Montessori Sensorial Activities using the Knobless Cylinders
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
Kingdoms of Life: Animal Kingdom
Sunday, July 10, 2016
Mavi borrowed this book from the library so we can revisit the Animal Kingdom and he wanted to explore more of the other kingdoms of life. We’ve done a couple of times before (here and here) and he loves revisiting this over and over.