cheers!

This little video of 7-month-old Freya enjoying a glass of water at the weaning table puts a big smile on my face - I had to share it with my Montessori friends!  :)

Here's to a great week!

pumpkin scrubbing

Pumpkin covered in muck and mud?  No problem - just scrub, scrub, scrub!

The weather here has been gorgeous lately -

perfect for scrubbing pumpkins al fresco!

1. Pour warm water from a pitcher into a small dish.
2. Scrub, scrub, scrub!
3. Use the dishcloth to wipe up spills and dry your pumpkin.

The next day we cut our pumpkin open,

and cleaned out the seeds and pulp.

I steamed the flesh and we used it to bake pumpkin bars.

It was fun to do so many things with one little orange squash!

(The bad news?  It looks a lot better than it tastes!  If you want a yummy pumpkin recipe, 

try this Ultimate Pumpkin Bread Recipe - we made it a couple weeks ago, and it was amazing!)

Happy weekend!

opening and closing round containers

Check out Elise's first opening and closing lessons here and here!

the containers closed

the containers open

Want to see this activity in action?  Here, let Elise show you how it's done!  :)

step one:  

Remove the lid to discover what's inside...

Ooo... hand-painted, southwestern coasters!

(Thanks Community Closet!)

step two:

Dump the coasters out of the box - fun!

 step three:

Carefully put the coasters back into the box...

 

step four:

Put the lid back on the box.

Done - easy peasy!

I didn't get a photo, but Elise actually put the box of coasters back on the shelf!  Typically, she takes something out, plays with it, and then leaves it on the floor...  Hopefully this means her sense of order is kicking in, and she's going to start keeping this house shipshape! 

opening and closing hinged boxes

Although the weather has been too nice to spend very much time inside, Elise has been enjoying this new opening and closing lesson.  It's quite a bit more challenging than this one - at first I was concerned I'd missed that balance of not too easy/not too hard, but she figured it out! 

One of the biggest challenges is deciding which side of the box will open.  The interesting objects inside encourage Elise to keep trying until she gets it right!

    open the box

take out the object

 put the object back in

close the box

repeat 

(again and again!)

opening and closing activities for the beginner

Recently, Elise has shown a lot of interest in opening containers.  Taking the lid off a box is a fun challenge for her, but putting it back on is tricky.  To help her develop this skill, I put together a very simple opening and closing basket.   

 a double photo frame

and 

Hubs' old wallet

the frame
in action

the wallet  
in action

I also made this treasure box for Elise out of a shoe box.  

She loves opening it up to see what's inside!

Oh, and last, but not least

the original beginning opening and closing activity:  

the kitchen cabinets!