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.
Montessori Sensorial Activity The Pink Tower
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
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
Saturday, January 28, 2017
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
Friday, January 27, 2017
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
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
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
Friday, January 20, 2017
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
Thursday, January 19, 2017
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
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Montessori-Inspired Antarctica Shelf for Preschoolers
Sunday, January 15, 2017
A Penguin Project for Mom and Kids
Friday, January 13, 2017
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
Wednesday, January 11, 2017
The Montessori Short Bead Stairs: Learning About Quantity
Monday, January 9, 2017
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
Saturday, January 7, 2017
My Favourite Penguin Learning Materials
Friday, January 6, 2017
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
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
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
Tuesday, January 3, 2017
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.
Montessori January Activities for Preschoolers
Friday, December 30, 2016
Vito is 38 months.
Starting 2017 by sharing what’s on our shelves for the month of January! For this month, we will be working on penguins (preschool style), along with other Montessori traditional work. I’ve been wanting to introduce penguins since December but we were so busy with all the holiday preparations that I decided to postpone it a little bit and introduce it at the time when “all is calm and all is bright” (more sun in January!). Feel free to skim through Vito’s activities and you can leave comments if you have queries.
I post photos in my Instagram everyday for the activities. You can check them or follow me to see how these materials are put into action!
Telling Time Activities
Monday, December 19, 2016
Mavi wanted to practice more of reading the time, especially when it comes to reading and writing “quarter to” and “half past”. He seems to be confused with the positioning of the small hand. So with this, I made a few activities for him to work afterschool. I am sharing these activities as well as the printables were are using (yes it’s free!).
Montessori Inspired Continent Activities for Preschoolers
Friday, December 16, 2016
We Love BrainBox World!
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
We are loving this educational board game! I chanced upon this in a local bookstore, and hesitated to get one though I know Mavi will love it as he enjoys geography activities. Then one day, while I was looking for Christmas presents in Amazon, some BrainBox sets were on 50% off including this World edition. I purchased it right away and anticipated for days so Mavi and I can play the game as I was sick and couldn’t do any physical activities.
Learn to Write Letters for Preschoolers Using Sandpaper Letters
Saturday, December 10, 2016
Advent Books for Christmas Countdown
Sunday, December 4, 2016
Now that the boys are older, I’m starting a new Christmas tradition (other than having a Christmas tree) that will have a meaningful effect in our little family. Aside from the festivity and receiving presents, I want the boys to feel the love of the family, drawing us closer to each other, to other people and to God. I want them to remember that Christmas is all about giving, not receiving things for themselves.
We’ll open and read one advent book each day (but for sure we’ll be reading them all throughout the month!). It’s similar to the Advent calendar but instead of having toys, we’ll read a really good book about Christmas. I wrapped the books already, and randomly select a few to display under the tree for Vito open. (Mavi said Vito can open all of these everyday)
FREE Vegetable Hunt Activity Sheet
Friday, December 2, 2016
8 Christmas Tray Activities for Kids
Thursday, December 1, 2016
We are currently sick (Vito and I), but the good news is Vito is on his way to recovery (antibiotics) while I’m still suffering from cough and flu. Though I don’t have any fever but I don’t feel like doing anything at all, just wanted to lie down, sleep or just relaxing my mind from anything. For me to be able to rest and recover, I decided to come up with Christmas tray activities for Vito to work independently with minimal supervision.
Montessori Inspired Vegetable Activities for Kids (Part 1)
Monday, November 28, 2016
Montessori Botany Learning Materials
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Learning About Fruits and Vegetables for Preschoolers
Monday, November 21, 2016
These fruits and vegetables cards were taken out of the storage box and has been used ever since. It’s been used for naming and identifying fruits and vegetables and also served as matching cards.
FREE Fruits and Vegetables Ten Frames
Sunday, November 20, 2016
We’re going to have Fruits and Vegetables Unit in the coming days and I made these beautiful ten frame cards/sheets that I’d like to share to all my beloved readers! I used images of fruits and vegetables that Vito can identify so he’ll be more inspired to count.
November Activities for Preschoolers
Friday, November 18, 2016
Wooden Counting Pyramid Puzzle from Beleduc
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Language Lessons for Preschoolers: RAMFBITG
Saturday, November 12, 2016
Vito is currently working hard learning his letters, sounds, and expanding his vocabulary. Due to weather constraint we are mostly stuck at home, therefore the lack of outdoor nature studies. So our mornings are mostly spent for his “homeschool”. We are busy reading books, learning letters, doing writing, and practical life activities.
In this post, I would like to share Vito’s language lessons which you can try in your homes as well. Remember my post on booklets? I mentioned in the post that at home we’re learning letters and their sounds in groups (color coded). First group is RAMF-BITG, second is CUSN-POLH and lastly DEXQY-WXZKVJ. This idea came from My Montessori Journey, one of my favourite blogs dated back in 2010. Read more about this grouping here.
Introducing the North American History
Thursday, November 10, 2016
So in this post, I’m sharing how we worked on understanding the history of North America through famous landmarks, figures and playsets that depict the life of the early people of North America.
Early Literacy with Beginning Letter Sound BINGO Game
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Highly Recommended Montessori Materials
Monday, November 7, 2016
Teaching the Phases of the Moon to Gradeschoolers
Friday, November 4, 2016
We’ve been discussing this topic almost every year, and for this year, I wanted to give Mavi something different. So here are the materials I prepared for him: wall chart of the moon’s phases, a booklet for definition and nomenclature cards.
Our Leaf Shapes Study
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
The Owl and Other Nocturnal Creatures
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
With all these Halloween decorations, Vito became fascinated with owls. We’ve been reading The Owl and Owl Babies for days now, and he loves looking at the pictures matching his animal figure. He would also pretend to to have big eyes and pretend flying around the house and say “Im owl Mommy”. So I whipped a few activities to help him explore this beautiful creature together with some night-time animals.
Learning About the Phases of the Moon for Preschoolers
Monday, October 24, 2016
The boys had a blast learning about the phases of the moon last week. We worked on this during our Goodnight Moon Unit and even though this was mainly for Vito, I decided to include Mavi as well. With this, I prepared two sets of learning materials: one for a preschooler and the other is for older kids (elementary). This post is on how you can introduce the moon and its phases to kids from 3years and older.
Before FIAR: Goodnight Moon Unit
Sunday, October 23, 2016
- Goodnight Moon & Bedtime Themed Math Activities Learning Pack
- Goodnight Moon & Bedtime Themed Early Literacy Learning Pack
- Goodnight Moon & Bedtime Themed Bundled Learning Pack
Montessori Coloured Beads: How We Use It At Home
Friday, October 21, 2016
Writing Practise for Preschoolers
Sunday, October 16, 2016
Introducing Montessori Hundred Board for Preschoolers
Friday, October 14, 2016
So the other day, I was tidying up my storage shelf and Vito saw our Hundred Board. He immediately took it out and excitedly said “Oh numbers! Let’s count!” and that’s what we basically did for the past few days.
Preschool Letter B
Thursday, October 13, 2016
A long overdue post of our letter B activities. Vito is currently sick so I barely have time to post. We are not doing any “homeschool” activities except for reading books and play with his farm set. Below are some ideas for learning letter B sound and prewriting activities.
Life Cycle of a Pumpkin (Preschool Edition)
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
We are seeing a lot of pumpkins and though we may not be able to visit a pumpkin patch, we brought home a couple of pumpkins for exploration. I would like to share this very beautiful layered puzzle that I purchased in Amazon. It’s the Life Cycle of a Pumpkin, beautifully crafted and illustrated. There’s a guide for each layer on the left side so the child will know what comes next.
Activities for Toddlers (12-18 Months)
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Basic Montessori Math Materials for Introducing Numbers
Sunday, October 9, 2016
IT’s the 12 Month of Montessori Series for October and I would like to share the top 4 Montessori Math materials in teaching numbers to preschoolers. I love sharing math activities because I love math, and Mavi is now appreciating mathematics because he can see its application to real life.
I am absolutely a believer of the Montessori approach in mathematics, especially to younger kids as it provides a strong foundation in understanding numbers and quantity. The use of tactile materials make it even more engaging to young children. And the best part of this, you can absolutely make a “poor man’s version” of the materials.
Without further ado, I’d like to introduce to you some of the Montessori materials that introduces the units of quantity from 0 to 10.
Halloween Preschool Unit
Saturday, October 8, 2016
I’d like to share Vito’s top picks of activities for October. These are the trays that he would select more often for “play”. Links to the materials are provided, and feel free to ask questions as well.
Playdough Monster Faces
Friday, October 7, 2016
Introducing the Human Skeleton to Preschoolers
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
It’s that time of the year when my kids get to see a lot of human skeletons hanging everywhere! No wonder October is the best time to introduce the human skeleton to your kids. Vito is in the “what’s that” stage and he’s been asking me a lot of questions lately about these “funny” costumes and the hanging bones. So I gathered a few old and new learning materials for him so I can introduce these amazing body system.