Small World Play: Ancient China
Friday, February 5, 2016
Chinese Lantern Project for Kids
Thursday, February 4, 2016
We had a lot of fun today making our Chinese lantern in celebrating Chinese New Year. Mavi and I did this years ago, and I think he would love to do this again, and of course for Vito to experience.
Best Arts & Crafts for Kids and {Learn & Play Link Up}
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Years ago, Mavi would do a lot of artist study. One of my favorites is our Van Gogh project, The Sunflower. It was one of those rare moment wherein both Mavi and I were in depth with our subject and were absorbed by the beauty of painting. But it was just more than artwork. We studied the life of Van Gogh, and how his life reflected in his work. (click the image below for more details)
Now thinking about it, I picked the best art projects and crafts in our link up this week. Here are the featured post:
Tot School Snippets Week 1: Ice
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
I was reading my old blog the other day (private) and I am amazed on how I recorded Mavi’s learning curve week by week. Mavi enjoys reading that blog now! I just have to say that it is quite different when you have one child, you have focus, you have MORE time and well, I was organized. Now, I’m managing and engineering a bigger household, with a school boy and a hyperactive toddler, I barely have time to blog.
So now, I will start writing about Vito’s activities in a week. I have to put a little effort on this, for keeping memories and for Vito to read someday. Currently, we’re not following schedule of doing totschool weekly. There are days when we do a lot of activities, and there are times when I just whip anything that goes into my mind.
Vito is 26 months old.
Getting the Most Out of Sensorial Play
Monday, February 1, 2016
I am often asked by friends, after all the hassle of setting up a sensory bin, with all the mess here and there, what would the child learn from it?
Well basically, this kind of activity is for the child to explore his senses. It includes the sense of touch, smell (scented objects), eyes and hands and etc. But I don’t limit myself in these. We use sensorial play for literacy and math as well. When we do sensorial bin, I make sure that I play with my kids, that I interact with them (especially with Vito) so he’ll learn how to communicate.
Here’s a video of how we play with the ice and used it as a tool in learning vocabulary words, counting and more! No need for fancy toys
Hands-on Learning: Biomes of Australia
Thursday, January 28, 2016
A few weeks ago, while were doing an Australia Unit, Mavi and I talked about the animals in Australia and in which habitat they belong. We’ve done this years ago but it’s always nice to revisit and add a little depth in the topic.
Learning Literature though Play-based Activities and {Learn & Play Link Up}
We love books and most of the time its easier to have your activities revolve around that book. Kids will have a better understanding of the story, and at the same time explore related subjects like what we did with my Grand Father’s Journey, The Glorious Flight and other Five in a Row Activities. I shared here how we explore and dig dipper into the stories and create engaging activities to go along with it.
Montessori Color Box #2 Activity for Toddlers
Sunday, January 24, 2016
Mavi is 26 months.
I recently purchased the Montessori Color Box #2 for Vito. I have a few Montessori sensorial materials that Mavi didn’t really find interesting and I was expecting Vito to have the same reaction to the color tablets. But, I was wrong. The moment I took it out, it was an instant hit! I was thinking all along that he doesn’t know his colors, but surprisingly he knows them by heart already! He can match them perfectly but naming them is a hit or miss. He still calls them mostly “yellow” LOL.
As of the moment, I only introduced 4 colors to Vito: yellow, red, blue and green. Lately, he can identify orange, that’s because we kept on eating clementines and I refer to it as orange! So the color tablets are actually for “formal” presentation of secondary and tertiary colors (well, that’s my plan).
Imaginative Play: Australian Outback
Thursday, January 21, 2016
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We are currently looking at the different biomes of Australia and Mavi wanted to recreate the Australian Outback at home. As you all know, I started putting up small world, sensory tub trays for imaginative play this year. It’s a favourite learning tool in the house and can engage both of my boys hours of play (and learning too!)! So to assemble our Australian Outback tub, I gathered some of our toys that have that “brownish” and “desert-ish” look. Mavi insisted that he should assemble it, and to my surprise it turned out so great!
Math Resources and {Learn & Play Link Up}
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Math is one of my favourite subjects, and it always excites me to see math activities in homeschool blogs. Mavi and I are always having a great time working on this subject especially when he was in preschool. I collected all our favourite math preschool activities and you can check them out on the link or image below.
5 Activities to Learn about Australia
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Montessori Giveaway where EVERYONE WINS!!
Sunday, January 17, 2016
You’ve read that right!! The Pinay Homeschooler is happy to be part of this amazing giveaway!
Our good friend Seemi of Trillium Montessori blog is celebrating its blog’s 3rd anniversary. She came up with this wonderful idea of having a giveaway where everyone wins!
FREE Polar Region Animals Coloring Pages
Friday, January 15, 2016
Mavi is into coloring these days and I would like to share the coloring pages (with trace and draw) that I made for him so you too can enjoy it!
Culture and Traditions of People Around the World
Sunday, January 10, 2016
Welcome to another year and another series of the 12 Months of Montessori. For this month, my friends and I are going to showcase Montessori Cultural activities. If you are a reader of my blog, you know so well that we travel a lot, thus Mavi has grown into a lover of geography and enjoys learning about different places and different culture. Also, we’ve been doing a number of continent studies for years. You can check some of my popular posts on geography below:
- A Continent Study of AFRICA
- A Continent Study of South America
- History of Ancient Europe
- Animals Around the World Activity
- The Study of Ancient Egypt
- Study of Ancient China
The Polar Regions (Arctic and Antarctic Unit) for Gradeschoolers
Saturday, January 9, 2016
January is usually the best time to have winter themed activities or do either Antarctica or Arctic activities. It is the time when kids can envision these frozen part of the planet due to the cold/extreme weather. To start with, I've setup an invitation to play tray in our shelf and displayed books to go along with it. These can be accessed by the boys whenever they want to and they are not age specific, big boys and little brothers can share and play with the tray!
Landforms of the Arctic and Antarctic Regions
Thursday, January 7, 2016
January Themed Activities and {Learn & Play Link Up}
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
I love seasonal themed activities and for this week’s linky, here are my favourite activities that you can do this January in line with the cold season!
Australia/Oceania in a Nutshell
Monday, January 4, 2016
Sensory Bin of Polar Animals and {Learn & Play Link Up}
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
- sensory activity
- learning to count
- learning the names of polar animals
- literarcy and vocabulary words
- camouflage, animal colors that blends with their environment (blue, black, white, brown)
- arctic animals are different from the animals in Antarctica
- penguins are birds and can swim
Object Baskets for I to P
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
** contains affiliate links **
This object basket series has been a popular post and I’m glad that it gave so much inspiration to all Moms and homeschoolers. Before the year ends, I’m sharing with you our second set of the object baskets and this includes letters I to P. But before you dig into this post, I suggest that you read the first part of this series to understand what it is for and how we use them at home for learning.
Object Baskets I to L
I Basket: foam letter , upper and lowercase letter, iguana, insects, ice, island
J Basket: foam letter, upper and lowercase letter, jeans, jigsaw puzzle, jug
K Basket: foam letter, upper and lowercase letter, kangaroo, knife, keys
L Basket: foam letter, upper and lowercase letter, leaves, lion, lemon, DIY sandpaper letter
M Basket: foam letter, upper and lowercase letter, medicine, monster, monkey, DIY moon
N Basket: foam letter, upper and lowercase letter, nuts, nine, DIY sandpaper letter, necktie
O Basket: foam letter, upper and lowercase letter, owl, orange, oval, DIY sandpaper letter
P Basket: foam letter, upper and lowercase letter, pig, pens, paint, DIY sandpaper letter
This is my guide for next year’s activities on learning letters. This will be fun!
For letters A to H, click the images below:
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Science Experiments: What Makes Ice Melt Faster?
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Tried and Tested: Playmobil Native American Superset
Monday, December 21, 2015
I was able to get some really great deals during the Black Friday sale. One of which is the Playmobil Superset Native American Camp. As I mentioned earlier this month, Playmobil is one of the open-ended toys that we love and consider “educational” due to its historical figures and sets. This Playmobil set will be perfect for our American history study next year.
Crazy Over Do-a-Dot Markers and {Learn & Play Link Up}
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
I know you’ve heard about these already and have seen these markers in other homeschooler Moms. My little Vito had a renewal of interest and can’t stop using them! These dot markers are great tools in practicing hand/eye coordination and concentration. Aside from that, we also use it to learn shapes, colours and letters! Next year, we’ll start using them for counting.
Though there are plenty of FREE dot worksheets online, I prefer handwriting our own sheets to save ink. Here are some random photos of Vito using the dot markers.
For learning letters.
Marking shapes.
He keeps asking for more!
Working on letter ‘t’ again.
To save time, energy and INK, I cut out sheets of paper from the IKEA paper roll and just hand drawn everything. Then I place the sheets on one of the work trays so Vito can easily access them. He would usually work on them in the morning. Note that the markers can stain, but they can be wash off with soap AND water (with a little scrubbing). I have these markers since 2011 and they’re still good as new. Here’s the link if you are interested.
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How I Organize and Store Materials
I’ve been receiving requests from readers asking me to share some tips or at least share how I organize our materials at home. To be honest, I haven’t found the perfect formula for organizing materials. I find myself experimenting on what works for me and for the kids. So instead of giving advice on what to do, allow me to share with you how I organize our things at home.
We live in a small apartment… as most European homes are! So our sitting room is our playroom which is also our “home” school room. Except for painting and messy play, this is where all the actions are taking place. So to make it “conducive” for the boys, husband and I purchased Ikea shelves and inserts so I can organize learning materials, mostly of Vito. Mavi’s stuff are in his room including the Montessori materials that we own.
This is the main shelf, the upper layer is for the working trays and the bottom layer contains the inserts. We bought a sturdy insert from Ikea as well, they are really really good, quite heavy so Vito can’t just push and pull them.
Daily Activity Shelf
The inserts contain all the learning materials (non Montessori) of Vito, including the puzzle boards. Surprisingly, they fit! So convenient because whenever I needed to change my materials, I just remove them from the insert and place them on the tray. Same thing when Vito is done working with them, I just put them back on the insert.
Christmas Themed Learning Activities for Toddlers
Sunday, December 6, 2015
This month, we’re going slow (just like everyone else) so I integrated his 25 months activities with Christmas.
1. Transferring trees (soft candies) using a tong.
2. Practicing the use of pegs. I got him these small pegs to work on as he’s finding it difficult to use the bigger ones yet. You can get these nowadays in any store, they’re soft and easy to manipulate by little hands. A good practice in preparation for the bigger pegs.
3. Sorting coloured ribbons. He sort different colours now, but still confused with naming the colours.
4. Counting ornaments with tree foam crafts. He loves this!
5. Rubber stamping in cards. Mavi is writing cards for his friends, and Vito is joining as well. I bought him a box of cards to practice on, like opening the cards and stamping letters on it. He enjoys doing it with his brother! The rubber stamps are from Melissa and Doug.
6. Playdough and Christmas shapes cookie cutter plus ornaments! Lots of hand muscle practice
7. Christmas tree puzzles. Vito has been working with 2-pieces puzzles lately so I created these Christmas tree puzzles to go along with the season.
8. Painting Christmas tree ornaments. Again, I got these from a local store.
9. Tweezing pompoms and putting in a ring; a twist from the typical tweezing activity and perfect for hand-eye coordination! Another version of this is to match the pompoms to the colour of the ring. The rings are from ring counter toy.
We will be doing these activities for the entire month, usually after we read books which we do on a daily basis. May you find this post helpful!
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Practical Life Activities for Toddlers (24 Months) and {Learn & Play Link Up}
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
History Timeline Cards: Ancient Times
Monday, November 30, 2015
Up in the Shop is our World History: Ancient Times Timeline Cards and Booklet. The file includes the following:
- 40 timeline cards of the ancient times (occurred between the period of 5000BC to 500BC). The timeline cards has
- 40 definition cards for each timeline card
- 3 pages of timeline sheets can be connected to form as a guide. The pages are in A4 paper size.
Hope you like it, enjoy!