Learning Multiplication Using Montessori Colored Bead Bars

My previous post on multiplication using the Montessori Multiplication Bead Board has been very popular, and I’m so happy that a lot of people find it useful.  Now in this post, I’m sharing that the use of Bead Board is just one of the many ways of teaching multiplication in a Montessori classroom.  Another favourite of ours is the use of the colored bead bars.  This is usually introduced after the Multiplication Bead Board or the Charts (though I will share about the Multiplication Charts soon!).  We’ve worked with several multiplication activities using the bead bars, but in this post, I’m just going to highlight the basic presentation.   Again please note, that this is based on a home set-up.

Autumn Nature Finds and How We Use Them

We’ve been blessed with a beautiful weather last week. It’s actually pretty warm and sunny for September in Ireland which is quite unusual.  So I grabbed the opportunity to walk the boys everyday and collect nature objects.  We placed them in a basket and displayed it on the shelf for exploration and learning.

Rocks and Minerals Learning Activities for Kids (with Free Cards)

The summer break gave us an opportunity to explore sciences that Mavi loved to learn but couldn’t because of school.  After our trip to the Wicklow Mountains last month, he’s been asking  if we could learn about rocks and minerals.  He plays Minecraft so he wanted to understand the building blocks he’s using.  I started making the materials last month and it was just a few weeks ago that I finished the entire set and we were able to use it together with our rock collections!

Activity Using Our Water Cycle Learning Pack

We finally concluded our Water Cycle Unit (for Mavi) and he had a blast!  It was timely because it rained for the past few days so we spent most of our days outdoors, observing the nature for the process of water cycle.  Now I’m sharing here the materials that we used and the extension activities that we did.

Montessori Shelves Organization for Small Spaces

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.

Understanding the Water Cycle

Last week I decided that Mavi and I should do a water cycle activity with Vito.  I prepared some materials and simple experiments to demonstrate this amazing science!

Sound Waves Experiment: The String Phone

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.

Introducing Simple Machines to Kids (with Free Printable)

This summer, Mavi requested that we do some science lessons that we haven’t touched before (math’s a different story though).  Thus previously, we had types of fossils and a review of clouds.  Last week, he was watching the story of the caveman on how they were able to build tools that helped them build houses, kill animals for food and clothing and for protection.  As you can see, in his spare time, he loves to spend time in the yard and looks for ways to create an axe using a stick and a stone.  With this interest, I introduced him to simple machines.

Montessori-Inspired Activity: The Life of a Honey Bee

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.

Kingdoms of Life: Animal Kingdom

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.

Fun Rain Cloud Experiment for Kids

Vito is 31 months old.

Still part of our study of the bodies of water, we tried the rain cloud experiment at home and it was a total hit!

Learning About Waterfalls and Rivers

Vito is 31 months old.

Another fantastic activity that we did this week was the making of waterfalls and river.

Hands-On Learning: Land and Water Forms

We started our Bodies of Water Unit last week and Mavi wants to do some more activities again and look what he made for his little brother!

Hands-on Learning on the Types of Fossils

One activity that Mavi and I did during our fossil study was to examine the different types of method of preservation of organisms.  We discovered that there are actually 5 major types of fossils and I’m sharing how Mavi worked on them.

Indoor and Outdoor Light Activities for Kids

Vito is 31 months old.
I decided that for our Light and Shadow Unit, we’ll explore indoor and outdoor lights. 

Investigating the Past Life with Safari Toob Fossils

We love our Safari Toob!  I think every ‘Mom’schooler should have at least a set or two of these toobs.  They are fabulous learning materials and my kids love them!

Anyway, Mavi is officially joining Vito’s weekly themed activities as he’s almost done with school. He misses “Mom” school and urged me to let him join with the activities.  So while Vito is all about play and learn, I’m giving Mavi some serious investigative work like research, more readings, and selective hands-on activities.

Inspiring Kids To Do Research

As you all know, we’re having Dinosaur-themed activities this week. This curriculum is basically for Vito but most of the time, Mavi wants to take part in it as well, especially when the topic is interesting to him.  And since Mavi loves dinosaurs, I gave him some tasks last Monday (holiday in Ireland).

Learning the Different Types of Clouds

I recently purchased a few science books for the boys which I bought from Book Depository.  Mavi loves science and I am so happy that the books are child-friendly and can be read independently by older kids.  I love investing in books because my boys love to read and it can be used over and over all through the years. Great heirlooms for family too!

Anyway, the first book he read was the Clouds Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science 1 (AmazonUS) (Book Depository). This is by far the best book I’ve encountered that illustrated the different types of clouds in a simple way, and the explanations are so basic and easy to grasp for kids. So after reading the book, we sat down the next day and worked on some hands-on activities for retention.

Exploring the Landmarks of the World

Our recent trip to the United States has reignited Mavi’s interest in geography and he asked me if he can review our landmarks of the world figures so he can check the places that he has already visited.