Tried and Tested: How Machines Work Book

I wanted to give this book a review and a little presentation as I really like its concept.  You know how much I love hands-on activities, and if you are learning about machines, nothing is best than having a real experience.  The problem with this is we don’t have the scientific tools and the space for this kind of experience.  So I was really really happy when I came across this book kit from Suzie’s Home Education Ideas last year.  I immediately placed an order as you seldom see stuff like this available in Amazon.

What is the book all about?

This is a book about simple machines.  The book has a colourful presentation of the history and usage of each type of the machine/invention.  The timeline of the invention is very helpful. Mavi loved reading it, and discovering how each machine evolved through time.

Now the book comes with cardboard kits, bolts, nuts and other kits.  The kit is combination of cardboard and plastic.  After each discussion of the machine, you are instructed to create the blach blatch.  To assemble the blah blach, you need the instruction sheet for that. Yes, it has a separate sheet for instruction, while the book will simply explain the theory behind the model.

So this is basically this is what it looks like.  The book is readable by younger kids who love machines.

 

This is the kit (made of cardboards) that is included in the book.  Some would say that this is the downside of the book.  The cardboard wouldn’t last long if you keep on using the kits.  As fro me, I’m fine with these cardboards.  The book is not that pricey, there I expected that it doesn’t come with fancy materials like those of KNex and LEGO.  So far, they served their purpose and was able to demonstrate the concepts behind the simple machines without breaking apart.

These are nuts and bolts with strings.  You can barely see them here. They’re all pretty easy to use and assemble.

 

And here’s the instruction sheets.  Again, so easy to follow.

Based on my experience and how Mavi dealt with it, I realized that this kit is appropriate for kids around 8years+.  For a 6years old, the materials can be too tedious to assemble.  The bolts and nuts are quite a challenge for Mavi and I, unless you are skilled in using these materials.  The cardboard stand is quite annoying, always detached from the board because it doesn’t fit perfectly.  They could have created a more sturdy material that fits on the board.  Other than that, I like the book and the kit that comes with it.  This book teaches the basic with hands-on materials that are handy and doesn’t take up space (like those educational toys that are made up of gazillion pieces).  And much more, affordable! You can get it from Amazon and Book Depository. 

I highly recommend Book Depository for readers from Asia and those who wants free shipping.

Those in Europe, you can get this from Amazon UK.  And in US, Amazon (as of now it is very pricey!), so you’re option is Book Depository.

If you have more questions, don’t hesitate to drop me a comment in this post.  I would love to answer your queries!  And watch out for the actual lesson, I will have a separate post for that.

FREE Animal Life Cycles Learning Material

At last! I was able to update my Animal Life Cycles file and I added life cycles of insects!  Yes, so many have emailed me asking about it. So sorry, I did not include it in the first edition because we were not studying it yet.

Sensory Play and Activities

Welcome to another post on 12 Months of Montessori Series!  For May, we’re exploring Montessori sensorial activities and I am sharing with you fun activities that led to discoveries using their senses.

My initial plan for this was for a nature exploration outdoors since we all know that nature provides the BEST sensory experience.  But because mother nature wasn’t in the mood (rained throughout the week!), I decided to do most of our sensory activities at the backyard and indoors.

Montessori emphasized that children learns with their senses.  It is important that they use their senses to explore the world they live in.  Stimulating these senses will send signals to the child’s brain that will help to strengthen the neural pathways which are important for all types of learning. 

In a Montessori classroom, there are a lot of sensorial materials that are used to help the child develop discrimination, order and broaden and refine their senses.  But just because we don’t own any of these materials, that doesn’t mean we can’t do sensorial at home. In fact, I prefer giving my kids the REAL experience when it comes to sensory.

Without much further ado, here are Mavi and Vito…

Sense of touch.  We started off with ice and water play. This was the time when we got Mr Sun.   I immediately took out the materials and let the boys play together.  This activity introduced the concept of warm and cold to Vito.

 

Sense of hearing.  We explored the rhythm bells I got earlier this year. Oh boy, it was really something new to him and he loves shaking it to produce sound.  Here, I introduced Vito the loudness and softness sound.

Sense of touch and smell.  We went crazy over Crazy Soap!! Thanks to Stimulating with Rachel who suggested this brand to us. I wanted to use kid-friendly soap as I used shaving cream before which gives a strong scent.  The Crazy Soap has gentle smell that the kids love, and the foam is just amazing! You can shape it and it bounces!  This activity introduces Vito to vocabularies like “good smell”, “soft”, “bouncy” and “squishy”.

 

Sense of sight.  Activity we did in the backyard where we enjoyed the abundance of dandelions and blowing the seeds!  We also planted garden pinwheels around the yard so Vito and Mavi can enjoy watching it turn (it can be relaxing!).  My Vito was so amazed by the wheels!

Sense of touch, smell and taste. Save the best for last. We made pizza !!!

 

This post is part of the 12 Months of Montessori Learning which is hosted by Natural Beach Living and The Natural Homeschool.

Amazing blogs involved in the 12 Months of Montessori Learning

Natural Beach Living ~ The Natural Homeschool ~ Living Montessori Now ~ Planting Peas

The Kavanaugh Report ~ Mama’s Happy Hive ~ Study at Home Mama ~ Child Led Life

Every Star Is Different ~ Grace and Green Pastures ~ The Pinay Homeschooler

Letter ‘b’ Sound Activities

Sorry, this has been a late post. I was busy for the past few days and could not find the time to share this. 

So this is a continuation of our Letter Sound of the Week activities.  Right after letter a, we moved on to letter b, just in time to feed Vito’s obsession of balls. It took us two weeks to finish this. And note that we don’t do this the whole day! It would only take about 10-15 minutes for each activity, excluding my preparation time of course.  Sometimes, preparation times takes like forever, while the actual activity would last only a minute. That is, if my Vito doesn’t feel like doing it at all. So what I do is put the tray back in the shelf and try again the next day, when he’s in the mood.

Letter ‘b’ basket sound.  Our basket contains a mini book of Dr. Seuss, given to us by Emirates, a block (soft block), and banana.  What we do with this basket is that everyday, I would present it to him and mention all the name of the objects.  We play it over and over so he will remember the words.

Note:  The basket is really really helpful.  I suggest that you should do this as well. Objects shouldn’t be fancy, just look around your house and see what you can find.

I later on added animal figures: bird and butterfly, our Playskool barrel , DIY sandpaper letter and Melissa and Doug Magnetic Letter.

       

Letter ‘b’ craft.  This was a collaborative work for both Vito and Mavi.  Xavi did all the scribbling in our letter, Mavi designed Vito’s hand prints for the butterfly’s wings.

Note:  Since Vito can’t participate in this one yet, I love asking Mavi to show his brother how to do this.  I think this is the best way of showing his little brother how to do things, like gluing and cutting.  This is also a great activity for both brothers to bond.

 

Balls! This was Vito’s favourite object as of the moment and we’ve been playing balls whenever we can (both indoor and outdoors).

Note:  Oh yeah, this has been a favourite toy and activity so far.

Eating and playing bananas. Again, I always use familiar objects for Vito whenever we do our letter sound of the week. Vito eats banana during breakfast so this wasn’t new to him. I let him eat on his own and give him fork so he can practise picking up the banana slices using a utensil. For the other tray, those are banana counters from Learning Resources.  The object of this activity is 1:1 correspondence, that is putting a piece of banana in each hole (this is an ordinary ice tray).  We count as we put the banana in place.

Note:  Vito loves eating, and it is best to incorporate letter sound activities with food as this will help them familiarize with the sounds more easily.

Soft blocks play.  We love these blocks!! These are soft blocks I got from Amazon last year.  Vito loves to stack and squeeze them.

Note:  I highly recommend these soft blocks.  The colours are vibrant and aside from the ones I mentioned, Vito loves touching and feeling all those moulds on the sides.

Bird crafts.  I realized that kids as young as 18 months, can now be exposed to crafts.  This was an assisted activity.  I placed glue on the bird’s wings and made Vito put the feathers on it.  He loves touching the glue more than feeling the feathers.

Creating sound with bells. We started using my Vilac Rhythm Bells.  At first he couldn’t make a sound, but finally created a soft tone when I showed him how to ring it.  I also used this activity to introduce loud and soft sounds.

Bear colour sorting.  Bear counters for colour sorting.  I continually give Vito this kind of sorting activities to expose him to colours. He can identify objects, but it is still a hit or miss with colours. 

 

The bear counters are from Learning Resources.  You can also use buttons.

Books for letter ‘b’.

• BigCat Phonics “Birds”
• Mr. Brown Can Moo.
• Brown Bear Brown Bear
• Baby’s First Animals.

You can all these books from Book Depository as well.  They ship for free anywhere!

We read the books every morning. Not all.  Mostly we can read as much as three books but mostly two books in the morning and two books in the afternoon.

See these in action!

And that’s about it! I hope you enjoy this post as I love sharing these.  Stay tuned for our letter ‘c’ in the next few weeks! Don’t forget to check our letter ‘a’ sound as well.

Oh and don’t forget to pin this activity, so you won’t forget it!

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