Learning About Leaves

The last week of September has brought us to explore more about leaves.  The rapid change in colors and the rate of how they fall from the trees has ignited Vito’s interest on leaves thus we worked on some activities based on these interests.  Below are some of the activities (and ideas) on leaf studies and links to the resources that we used.

Montessori Inspired Autumn Themed Learning Activities

I finally organized our shelf and added autumn-themed activity trays to go along with the change in season.  Vito has been learning a lot from the outdoors, discovering new things (nature finds) and has been observing the changes in his surroundings.  Now to extend this learning, I prepared these activity trays.  How it works?  These are prepared and placed in the shelf (except for the paints).  At times, Vito would randomly select an activity and there are times I would place the activity tray on the table and invite him to play (or work) with me.  If he’s not interested on the said activity, I let him return it back to the shelf and make him select a new one.  This is how I check what’s miss and hit of the learning trays. 

Note that this is a MONTH LONG of activities!

Montessori Inspired Study of Snails for Preschoolers

We’ve been getting a lot of morning showers which resulted in a bunch of snails popping up everywhere.  Vito is loving it, now that he’s older, he’s enjoying the sight of these little fellows.  One time, we caught one sticking out my husband’s car.  Vito was excited!  I made Vito watch as I removed the snail from the car, placed it in our disposable plastic container and brought it inside for him to observe (and explore). 

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.

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.

Growing Watercress with Kids at Home

Vito is 33 months old.

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.

Learning About the Beach

Vito is 31 months old.

Because of our Bodies of Water Unit, we took the boys to the beach a few weeks ago. It was Vito’s first time to be in a beach and actually enjoyed the sand and waddled in the water!

 

Beginning a Plant Study with a Toddler

The perfect way to introduce plants to a child/toddler is through awakening their interest and love of flowers.  Kids love flowers naturally.  We love to look at them, and occassionaly name the flowers as we see them in the road.


Now that Vito appreciates trees and flowers, the next step is to inspire him with a desire to care for and preserve plants and flowers.  Here’s Vito’s early learning of plants!