It's snowing! Finally!

This afternoon, the playground was transformed
into a winter wonderland...

yeeee haw!

orange pomanders

This is one of my favorite seasonal lessons
to do with the children.

Orange pomanders smell divine
AND
require fine motor control.

In a room full of 3-year-olds, what more could you ask for?

First, the child pokes a hole.

Montessori-in-Such makes a classy puncher.
Check it out here.

We prefer to use corn cob holders
with one prong broken off
around here. :)

A push pin or a toothpick would work, too.

The child then pushes a clove
into the hole in the orange.

Repeat as necessary.

I eavesdropped in on X-tine and this particular little one working on the orange pomander in our classroom. The little one asked, "Can I do another one?" X-tine, "Yes." Poke. Push. "Can I do another one?" X-tine, "Yes." Poke. Push. "Can I do anther one?" X-tine, " You can do as many as you'd like!"
And, she did. :)

shop 'til ya drop!

I was just reading my new Domino magazine, and they had an article about mom/architect/toy designer, Lisa Mahar. Read about her at Cookie here. Not to forever be into shopping, but I went to her online store kidonyc.com and was quite impressed with her stuff.




I'm especially into this color-grading puzzle. Check it out here.



















She also has some nice math activities. I liked these counting disks. Check them out here.







Aren't these radishes adorable? Check them out here.














Anyway, I am in no way endorsing Lisa's products - I've never bought anything from her store, but I definitely got a few good ideas from her site. I also liked what she told Domino magazine:

"Children can do a lot more
than we give them credit for.
I respect their ability
to discern craftsmanship and beauty."

True that!

'tis the season...

R and I bought a lovely fake tree on Friday (and, no, we didn't trample anyone in the process) - this is going to be our first Christmas together as husband and wife. I think it's so romantic. R feels the same way; he just doesn't talk about it as much as I do!














We started decorating the tree yesterday. It still has a ways to go - we need to collect more ornaments from our parents. :) Since we're starting from zero on Christmas decor, I decided to choose a color theme - orange (because it's R's favorite color), aqua (because it's my fave), and green (because it's neutral territory). Also, I decided to start collecting bird ornaments because I think our house looks like a bird house. The bows are from ribbons I had saved off our wedding gifts!

















These blue dishes are from the thrift store, the balls are from Michael's, and the birds are little clippy ones from World Market. The glittery garland is also from World Market. Sorry I sound so materialistic, but R and I did some major shopping on Black Friday. We were able to use up most of the gift cards we had received for our wedding. Although it was done unintentionally, it was a really good idea because we got such great deals on house stuff!














I love these bulls on our mantle. I got them from an antique fair this summer, and I think they're pretty humorous! I'm going to put some pine boughs up there with them soon.
















I filled all my blue dishes with Christmas balls and birds and put them all over the house. The mirror is off of a medicine cabinet I bought at an antique fair this summer for $3. The knob is from Anthropologie. We were going to hang the cabinet in our bathroom, but it didn't work. I like the mirror on its own anyway!














I found the little bird salt and pepper shakers at Target. I think they look sweet with the balls and the corn in a tray on our coffee table. The second pic is of another blue dish on our guest room dresser - I'm in love with that orange phone ($5 at the thrift store).

I'm sure you're all ready for me to go back to school tomorrow and start blogging about the Montessori world again! :)

busy hands

Last week was a short school week because of Thanksgiving, so I don't have very many pictures of busy hands. The highlight of the week was reading "Stone Soup" and then making our own veggie concoction. Yum!

Don't worry - no fingers were lost! Here's what was going on across the room:
(excluding all photos of children rolling on the ground in excitement-overload :)