a pink tower extension

Our computer is on the fritz right now... I'm unable to upload photos, so I'm going to have to be patient and wait until next week to show you all the fun things Elise and I have been doing!  In the meantime, here are some photos of a Pink Tower extension I just found from my teaching days. 

Oh, Pink Tower, how I miss you.  You're certainly not just any old stack of blocks!

For those of you unfamiliar with the Pink Tower, it's a set of 10 wooden cubes, ranging in size from 1 to 10 centimeters.  It was one of the first lessons presented to every three-year-old student in my classroom, but it was NOT just for the little ones. 

One of my favorite things about the Montessori sensorial materials is that the opportunity for exploration is limitless.  The Pink Tower can be used for matching activities, language lessons (little/big, big/bigger/biggest, ect), and in combination with the Broad Stair (This one was definitely a favorite.)  The Pink Tower can continue to challenge older children by introducing them to concepts like weight, area, and volume.

Here are some photos of a bright and busy six-year-old finding the area of one side of each of the cubes of the Pink Tower.   

First, she traced the outlines of one side of each cube on a piece of 1cm graph paper.

 

Next, she colored and cut out the squares.  This child was able to skip count by square centimeters to determine the area.  A child could also do this by counting each square centimeter.     

Here's her finished work!   

 

I'll be popping back in later this week with some more fun little things.  Hope you all have a great week!
 

 

a bag of red treasures

Have I mentioned lately how much we love treasure baskets?

Now that Elise is a little older, treasure baskets have taken on a new purpose.  In addition to providing sensory experiences, they are also a great way to introduce vocabulary.

Today, Elise explored a bag of red treasures...

I introduced this activity to Elise by showing her the bag of objects and saying,

Elise, this is the red bag.

Everything in this bag is the color red. 

As we took each object out of the bag, I named it:

This is a red feather!
These are red shoes!

This is a red block!

 

After looking through all the treasures in the bag, we went on a search around the house for other red items. 

Although Elise only says a couple of words, her understanding of language never ceases to amaze me!

e's first purse

Does this scene look familiar?

 

I can't even count how many times I've left the room for a millisecond, and come back to this:  the entire contents of my purse strewn around the living room, and Elise sitting contently in the middle of the chaos.  It's sweet and all, but after searching for my debit card for the billionth time, I decided it was high time Elise had her own purse! 

clockwise from the top: purse, keys, bracelet, wallet, "pen"

Instead of buying Elise a first purse toy (These actually exist!), I decided to be resourceful and use items I already had here at home.  Real things captivate Elise more that toys do right now anyway.   I chose a purse and wallet that wouldn't be too easy or too hard to open - Elise isn't quite ready for zippers or snaps yet.  

 I filled the wallet with outdated cards - pulling these out is a great fine motor exercise for little fingers! 

The verdict?  Elise loved exploring her new purse, but she wondered why it didn't have any lip gloss or hand cream!  Soon enough, Elise - please don't grow up too fast!

cornstarch & water: an ooey gooey toddler experiment

Back when I was teaching, I totally embraced messy projects.  As a mom, not so much.  I think it's because all the naturally occurring messes are terrifying enough!  Or, maybe it's because my little daughter fearlessly eats anything and everything.  Either way, I've decided to throw caution to the wind, and try some ooey gooey projects with Elise while the weather's still nice.  Wish me luck!  ;)

Our first messy project:  cornstarch and water...

 

First, we filled a tub with cornstarch.  

The cornstarch itself was an interesting sensory experience.
It's SO slippery!

Next, we added some water.
If you try this at home, the ratio is 2 parts cornstarch to 1 part water.

(We weren't that precise - we just added enough water to make a thick paste.)

Then, things got a little interesting.
It wasn't quite a liquid, but it wasn't quite a solid...
It was OOBLECK!

Just in case you were wondering...

YES! Cornstarch and water make a delicious combo.
(According to Elise, that is!)

2 upcycled jug activities

Nothing could be more satisfying than dropping a cylinder-shaped block into a milk jug or pushing a cotton ball through the neck of a glass bottle, right?  What - no? You can think of lots of things you'd rather do?!  Well, you're obviously not a one-year-old then!  Elise LOVES these kinds of activities right now.  How can I tell?  She repeats them again and again, with concentration so strong, she barely makes a sound - just the occasional little happy noise.  :)

Activities like these are great for strengthening fine motor control and building spacial awareness.  Plus, they're a snap to put together - just look in your recycling bin!

pushing cotton balls into a glass bottle

materials needed:

• glass bottle with a short neck
• cotton balls in a dish

Elise eventually filled the whole bottle with cotton balls.  Afterwards, I pulled them all out with tweezers while she napped - it didn't take as long as you would think!

dropping cylinder-shaped blocks into a milk jug

materials needed:

• milk jug with a hole cut in the side
• cylinder-shaped blocks (Ours are part of a set given to us by a neighbor - I think they're Melissa & Doug.  If you don't have blocks like these, shape sorters usually have a cylinder-shaped block.)

When you're cutting the hole in the side of the milk jug, make sure you leave an inch or two of plastic at the bottom.  The first time I did this, I cut too close to the bottom and the blocks bounced out of the jug.  BTW, the purpose of cutting a hole in the side of the jug is so that your child can reach in, grab the block and repeat the activity.  Then, you won't have to spend those precious moments of nap time trying to get the blocks out of the jug.  You can just sit back and sip a mocha, or fold laundry, or whatever!