Montessori Sensorial Activity The Pink Tower

Vito is 39 months old.

We fell in love with the Montessori Sensorial Pink Tower right after we unboxed it!  I observed that Vito has a liking in blocks and patterns, so we’ve been using the Pink Tower almost everyday recently. And just when I thought that this is just an ordinary material of stacking and building a tower, I was totally wrong. This is one of the Montessori materials I should have bought early on when Mavi was just a toddler/preschooler.  I thought of exhausting the use of the Pink Tower with Vito so he will fully obtain the benefits out of this amazing material.

Book Review: Danny Dingle’s Fantastic Finds

I was quite surprised when Mavi finished this book in one day!  It arrived on the mail last week, and when I opened it in front of him, he excitedly asked if he could bring it to school so he can read it during the break. 

Sorting Game Using Alphabet Sound Cards

Vito is 38 months old.

I am so excited that I finally found a way to keep Vito engaged in the alphabet sorting activity.  You see we always sort out objects according to their letter sound (see it here), but my problem is that Vito is more interested with the objects rather than participating in the activity.  The moment I opened the box for us to sort, he would take away one object at a time and he refuses to do the activity and would play instead.  Now this is fine, I have no problems with it.  In fact, this happened to Mavi too.  I let them play with the objects first but then would ask them to participate in the activity right after.  It was temporary for Mavi, he loved sorting objects according to beginning letters rather than playing with them.  As for Vito, it’s different.  He is still in a stage of being “playful” so our sorting activities are sometimes a struggle.  He knows how to do it, but refuses because of the object.

My solution:  I tried using a printed image instead of the objects and tada, he finished everything in a matter of seconds!  With this, we are going to work on printed materials for now, and maybe mix them with objects occasionally just to test whether he has overcome his obsession with tiny figures.

Montessori Knobless Cylinders Sequencing

Vito is 39 months old.

Vito and I have been working on Knobless Cylinders a lot lately and many have asked what this  Montessori sensorial materials can basically do and how can they use it at home.  Though I’ve talked about this before, I realized that I didn’t really explained the method that I’m using, how to use it in the beginning and how to extend the use of the materials once the child has mastered the basics.  So I’m starting a series of post on Montessori Knobless Cylinders ,  from the basics to the extension activities. 

Montessori Inspired February Activities for Preschoolers

Vito is 39 months old.

Thank goodness January is almost over!  I really don’t like January, it’s that time of the year where we get to experience the worst weather condition.  Fortunately, we have fair weather this year, it’s actually warm!  But, I am so looking forward to spring now, and I can’t wait for all these gloomy days to be over.  And speaking of spring, this month, I’ll start adding “spring” activities into our homeschool activities.  We will be using traditional Montessori materials for most part and in some, we’ll have themed activities.  Hope you like what I prepared for Vito for this month.

Fun with Bruder Cattle Truck

The boys received Bruder trucks last Christmas and they’ve been playing with them constantly!   There are so many reasons why I love these trucks, but for Mavi, the size and the sturdiness of the trucks make it a big winner. Anyway, let me share with you one of Vito’s favourites, the cattle truck.  The boys love playing farm and farm animals at home so the truck is a perfect addition to their “small world play” of farm animals.

Multicultural Traditional Costume Cards

Our beautiful multicultural cards from last year are now available in the shop! Click the image for the link.

Montessori-Inspired Antarctica Shelf for Preschoolers

For me January is the best time to introduce kids to the animals of the arctic or of Antarctica.  They can pretty much relate to these animals due to the extreme weather we are experiencing during the months of winter, which makes its peak in January.  And since our 12 Months MORE of Montessori Series for January is to feature Winter Themed activities, I’m featuring simple ways you can do to introduce the continent of Antarctica to your preschoolers.   Now, I’ve done this almost every year with Mavi since he was 4 years old, and I’ve realized that somehow I might have gone overboard with the topic (used a lot of unnecessary materials).  So for Vito’s first exposure to Antarctica, I wanted it to be simple, quality over quantity. 

 

A Penguin Project for Mom and Kids

Oh I am so happy how these turned out!! The boys and I enjoyed making these penguins using simple art materials.  It took us around an hour to finish everything (with a stubborn preschooler) and we were totally blown by the result!  This art project was from Deep Space Sparkle, one of my favourite artsy website and my go to for painting projects. 

World Map Jigsaw Puzzle Recommendations

We love our Montessori continent map puzzle and world map jigsaw puzzle at home.  Mavi is loving the Europe and Asia map puzzles while Vito is using the continent map puzzle. Though quite big, I love that they are inexpensive and well made.   You can get all of these Montessori puzzles in any Montessori shop, mine was from Absorbent Minds UK and Tower High Learning.  Now, I know some of you don’t have any access to Montessori shops.  And because I’ve been asked a lot on where and what to get as alternative, I decided to come up with a list of world puzzles that I like and I feel suitable for our homeschool in the absence of Montessori puzzles. 

The Montessori Short Bead Stairs: Learning About Quantity

Vito is 38 months old.
This is a Montessori math activity on teaching the child about quantities from 1 through 9. We’ve worked on this since last year (starting from 1 to 5) and has been doing a lot of extensions.  This is a simple presentation of the work and I’m sharing some of the extensions we’re working on as well.

Montessori Inspired Penguin Unit for Preschoolers

We are exploring the world of penguins this month and Antarctica! Materials here are a mixture of old and new (some were Mavi’s).  There’s no timeline for this unit, we’ll do this spontaneously all throughout the month of January, in between Vito’s Montessori works and other activities.

My Favourite Penguin Learning Materials

I’m gathering a few learning materials on penguins for our Penguin Unit and I came across some interesting materials. We own some of these already and I already added the rest on my wishlist.   So I’m sharing this here just in case you are looking for ideas as well.

Learning about the Weather for Preschoolers

Drastic changes in weather can be experience around January when you are in Ireland.  Thus, I decided to introduce the concept of weather to Vito around this time.  I will do this in the simplest form I can think of and that’s by using a weather chart. 

DIY Montessori Smelling Bottles

I kept so many spices in our kitchen that I decided to make smelling bottles for the boys.  I can’t believe that it is so easy to make!  Read through the blog and learn where you can purchase the Montessori smelling bottles and materials for the DIY.