on the shelves - 20 months

A handful of E's favorite activities this month:

1. color basket one
A homemade version of the traditional Montessori material, Color Box I.  I made our color tablets by simply gluing paint samples onto rectangles of cardboard.  Elise is able to successfully match all three primary colors, and she really enjoys checking her work by "telling the whole story:" red, red; yellow, yellow; blue, blue!

2. caring for a plant
Up until this month, our only house plant had been a small, happily-neglected cactus.  When I saw these little daffodil plants at the grocery store, spring fever got the better of me, and I decided to bring one home!  Although it's looking a little past it's prime, Elise continues to enjoy smelling the blossoms and keeping it well-watered. ;)

3. beginning sorting 
While I drooled over a million and one awesome sorting activities on pinterest, I decided to keep this introductory activity simple.  I put two different types of objects in a basket - cotton balls and wooden eggs, and showed Elise how to sort them into a divided baking dish.  She caught on right away, and has has been getting a lot of satisfaction out of the activity - it must appeal to her sense of order!

4.  matching animals to their babies
Elise has gone completely baby crazy, so this is quite possibly her favorite activity of all time.  I tried to include both male and female animals - if you've ever examined a Schleich figurine, you'll know what I'm talking about.  Anyway, I'm glad I did because while Elise is very much a mama's girl right now, she is really drawn to the male animals, especially the dog - she calls him "Papa" and the puppy "Elise."

5. smelling jars
This is another homemade version of a traditional Montessori material, the Smelling Cylinders.  I'll add another set of jars soon, so Elise can match the scents.  For now, she is busy figuring out how to open the lids, and happily sniffing away at the essential oils I dabbed onto a few cotton balls.  While this activity may seem simple, I think it's really increased Elise's awareness of aromas in the environment.

6. hot and cold cards
Elise continues to be fascinated by hot and cold.  I made these cards out of photos I took of hot and cold things around our house - a steaming tea kettle, an ice cube, etc.  (Thanks to Elsa for the idea!)  Eventually, this will be another sorting activity, but for now we've just been talking about the cards and matching them to the environment.

busy hands

A quick glimpse at all the fun things Elise has been up to the past few weeks:

smelling bottles

 stacking rings 

 shoveling snow

 pushing pipe cleaners

 

reading books

 sliding in the park

matching objects

washing dishes

 

washing a dog

washing herself!

"uh oh! the baby's out of bed!" - a finger play with Anne & Elise

I'm a little mortified about posting a video of myself - do I really sound/look like that?!! - but I thought this would be a fun way to share one of our favorite finger plays with all of you!  It's a slightly modified version of The Baby Chant from Chants, Finger Plays, & Stories by Bev Bos.  Enjoy!  Hope your computer doesn't break!  ;)

here's the baby (hold up pointer finger)
put the baby in the bed (lay pointer finger across palm of opposite hand)
cover the baby up (wrap fingers around pointer finger)
kiss the baby good night (kiss pointer finger)
uh oh! the baby's out of bed! (open hand and hold pointer finger up)

You can continue by saying, We must have forgotten something!   Encourage your child to come up with reasons why the baby keeps getting out of bed... maybe she needs a drink?  or a diaper change?  As those of you with a little one - especially, one who sleeps on a floor bed! - know, the options are pretty much limitless!

matching objects to objects

^^ salt and pepper shakers ^^

"Two!"  Elise continues to delight in discovering pairs.  Everywhere we go she points them out - two dogs in the back of a truck, two crows flying overhead, two shoes on her feet...  Similarly, I've found no shortage of objects for her to match around the house - seriously, I can't stop!  ;)

Here are a few of our favorites:

^^ mittens ^^

^^ objects from nature ^^

^^ buttons ^^

^^ socks ^^

^^ earrings ^^

^^ animals and their babies ^^

finger painting with a toddler: a simple first art activity

 

Remember those fun language games we've been playing that come

BEFORE practicing the letters of the alphabet?

Yes? If not, please check them out here!

Well, this week, we decided to try out an art activity that comes

BEFORE using crayons, markers, pencils, etc...

finger painting!

A few weeks ago, I read a post on Montessori in Mars 

called Coloring with Cornstarch, Crayons Can Wait.

Her words really resonated with me because

I'd been feeling some pressure from friends and family - even E's doctor -

to have her drawing with crayons and making "crafts."

While I am really excited for her to do those things,

I don't feel like she's quite ready yet...

She still uses a fisted or palmer grip - which is natural,

I just don't want her to become accustomed to holding a pencil this way.

Also, she still takes bites off pencils, erasers, and crayons - yum! ;)

[Young children] appreciate how they can easily see the color/s on their paper, unlike the light lines that they tend to end up making with crayons because they have yet to develop stronger fine motor skills." - Teacher Mars

Elise is interested in making marks on paper with writing utensils, though,

so we haven't been avoiding them altogether...

Instead, I've been trying to offer her lots of other opportunities to strengthen her fine motor control:

practical life exercises,

play dough,

and now, edible(!) finger paint.

We tried out the Imagination Tree's Homemade Edible Finger Paint Recipe.

Not only did it turn out great, but it was REALLY fun to make.

(FYI, the magic happens when you cook it!)

Here's a little more finger paint inspiration from around blog land:

Grow Grow Grow

Sixtine et Victoire

How We Montessori