looking back at summer: the pea fort

 ^^ The Pea Fort - July 2014 ^^

I took a little blogging break over the summer, 

and I know there are A LOT of readers wondering 

What ever happened with The Pea Fort?  

For those of you who just started reading itty bitty love, 

The Pea Fort is a trellis-like structure we built 

and planted pea and bean seeds around 

- in hopes of creating an edible playhouse for Elise.  

You can read more about it here and here.

^^ Elise feasted on peas and beans all summer! ^^

I had plans of picking some to freeze and enjoy over the winter, 

but all were consumed immediately upon being picked, 

either inside or just outside of The Pea Fort.  :)

That makes more sense anyway,

don't you think?

^^ The Pea Fort The Snow Cave - November 2014 ^^

What will we plant next year?

Maybe more beans and a few less peas.

(The pea plants died-back once the weather got hot,

and it was tricky pulling them out from around the bean plants.)

I'd also like to try a climbing flower or two.

Morning glories?  Sweet peas?  Hmmmm...

We have all winter to dream!

favorite veggie reads

Eat food.  Not too much.  Mostly plants.

                                                                   

                                                                 - Michael Pollan (In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto) 

      

A few books that have inspired our growing love of vegetables!

• Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert
• Vegetables, Vegetables!  by Fay Robinson
• Vegetables in the Garden by Pascale De Bourgoing
• The Vegetables We Eat by Gail Gibbons
• Vegetables Every Day by Jack Bishop
• Food For Thought by Saxton Freymann

vegetable taste test

Did you know that when you're eating vegetables, sometimes you're eating leaves?  And stems?!  And flowers?!!!

I'm sure you knew that, and I guess I did, too - I just hadn't really thought of it that way before.  Elise, on the other hand, apparently thinks about it a lot.  A few mornings ago, before she even rolled out of bed, she exclaimed, "Mama!  I eat leaves!!!"  Surprised, I responded, "You do?!"  To which she replied, "Yes, salad!"

Anyway, this early-morning conversation about the parts of plants that we eat inspired this vegetable taste test.  It was so much fun, we actually put it together again to go along with our lunch!  ;)

root - carrot

bulb - scallion

stem - celery

leaves - spinach

flowers - broccoli

fruit - cucumber

seeds - peas

(We didn't have one of these prepared, but for bonus points, eat a tuber - potato!)

Please check back on Friday for a list of our favorite vegetable books!

matching objects to pictures

One of the principles of Montessori education is to move from concrete to abstract.  First, Elise matched objects to objects, now she's matching objects to pictures, and soon she'll be matching pictures to pictures...

'

Why matching?

Matching supports the development of visual discrimination, 

which is an important reading skill.

Matching can also enrich vocabulary,

especially if the items being matched are related.

Matching provides experience in 1-1 correspondence,

which is a critical math skill.

Matching also requires problem solving;

the visual disharmony of mismatched items provides a control of error.

Oh, and there's just something so interesting 

about seeing two items that are exactly the same, right?

Whew!  Ready to match objects to pictures?

Here we go!

^^ "Hey!  I have that!" - matching familiar items to catalog photos ^^

^^ matching Rosie to photos of Australian Cattle Dogs in The Ultimate Dog Book 

- Elise finds this mach a lot! ^^

^^ real-life matching - We bring field guides on all our walks. ^^

^^ matching vintage fake fruit to fruit cards from Montessori Print Shop

 - The fruit was leftover from a Carmen Miranda costume, but real fruit would work, too! ^^

^^ matching familiar items to laminated photos ^^

^^ matching farm animal figurines to Moo ^^

^^ matching North American mammal figurines to postcards ^^

^^ story props - matching percussion instruments to My Family Plays Music ^^

^^ matching rings to their color-coordinated silhouettes 

- I made the cards by tracing each ring on paper and filling in the outlines with colored pencil ^^

^^matching dishes and utensils to a Montessori-inspired placemat

- I made the placemat by tracing Elise's dishes and utensils on construction paper and aluminum foil.  After cutting them out, I glued them to poster board and attached contact paper. ^^

^^ matching miscellaneous items to the silhouettes in Black & White ^^

 ^^ Black & White is an accordion-style book, so after matching the first side, Elise flipped it over and scavenged around the house for items to match the other side! ^^

^^ matching the pieces of a shape puzzle to their color-coordinated outlines ^^

^^ matching cooking utensils to their outlines ^^

^^ Elise found this matching activity on her Language shelf before I had the chance to present it to her, 

but she knew exactly what to do!  :) ^^

Still looking for more matching objects to pictures inspiration???  

• This was one of my favorite diy materials from my teaching days: a matching objects to pictures collage!
• I think this matching objects to pictures idea from Chasing Cheerios is really clever:  Black Bean Bowl of "B" Objects.
• If you are handy with a camera and printer, How we Montessori has a great tutorial for making your own cards:  Matching with more and DIY cards.

a montessori-inspired placemat

A place for my plate

my napkin,

my glass,

and my fork, knife and spoon?!

Brilliant!

Yes, Elise, my little love, I think so, too...

Not only does this placemat appeal to your sense of order,

it reinforces your vocabulary as you name each item,

it provides a control of error as you set your place at the table,

and it offers you an opportunity to match objects to pictures -

which is helping you to develop visual discrimination.

Wow.  :)

For more matching objects to pictures,

come back on Tuesday!

We're matching the whole dang house!!!!

(Well, not really, but almost.)

sssssssssssssssssssss........

For a little Friday afternoon fun, I thought I'd share a few photos of our diy Halloween decor this year - giant snakes!!!  I know, I know!  Halloween was a week ago, but - gah!  I can't get enough of these two slithery fellows...

I made them from flat, twin-sized sheets I found at the thrift store.  Elise and I stuffed them with leaves, and the rest is history!  Well, it was actually a lot more work than that, but they did come together in the end - and they were a huge hit with all our trick-or-treaters!  ;)

Happy weekend, friends!

busy hands - toddler edition

A quick glimpse at all the fun things Elise has been up to the past couple months...

posting coins

building bears

 investigating a bear trunk

stacking blocks

 reading with G-Bob

 crafting with friends

spraying rocks

swinging on the big swings

pasting pictures

 experimenting with cornstarch and water

 slicing cheese with a knife

dreaming about winter

happy halloween!

Happy Halloween!!!

We've already been cruising around the neighborhood, 

checking out decorations - in full-costume, of course.  

I don't know who's more excited for trick-or-treating tonight... 

me or Elise!  Ha! 

If you celebrate Halloween, I hope your day is "bear-y" sweet and spooky!  ;)

guest post at Grow Grow Grow today!

Hello, friends!  I'm guest posting today at Grow Grow Grow!  Please head over to check out my simple, autumn craft idea:  pressed leaf place mats.  If you're not already a Grow Grow Grow reader, you're in for a treat - this is one of my all-time favorite Montessori parenting blogs!  :)

muffin tin tuesday

In honor of Halloween (which is only next week - eeeek!!!), Elise and I filled a muffin tin with orange-colored foods for our afternoon snack.  It'd been awhile since we'd had a special-themed snack in a muffin tin, and Elise LOVED it.  Food is such a fun and meaningful way to explore colors, textures, and shapes - I need to remember to do this more often with her!

from the top left:  

chipotle tortilla wedges, sweet mini pepper, goldfish crackers, orange juice
shredded golden beet, rotini pasta, sesame stick crackers, mandarin oranges
cheddar cheese cubes, garden carrots, dried apricots, sun gold tomatoes

Did I mention Elise LOVED this snack?!  She really did.  While she's usually an eat-and-run kind of girl, this snack captured her attention for awhile.  Maybe all those little muffin tin compartments appealed to her sense of order?  ;)

Do you ever make special-themed muffin tin snacks for your little ones?  I'd love to hear your suggestions!

spooky spooning

What's spookier than a bowlful of spiders?!

A bowlful of hidden spiders, of course!!!!

EEEEEEEK!!!!!!!!!

This past week, Elise has enjoyed using her wire strainer 

to sift plastic spiders out of a bowl of red lentils.

If you don't have a wire strainer, try using a slotted spoon or just your hands.

It's quite thrilling to sink your fingers right into the lentils, and feel around for the spiders...  

that is - if you dare!!!!!

Happy weekend, friends!

pumpkin scrubbing

On a recent trip to the grocery store, we were delighted to discover 

the pumpkins had arrived!  Yipee!

Better yet, they weren't your typical, shiny grocery store sugar pumpkins...

Oh, no - these little gems were cheerfully coated in a layer of pumpkin patch grime,

just begging to be scrubbed!

As soon as we got home, Elise gathered her supplies and went to work:

This activity should more appropriately be titled "pumpkin spraying" 

because that is without a doubt the part that two-year-old Elise likes best  

- after the pumpkin, of course.  ;)

My girl is completely enamored with that little, orange squash,

greeting it each morning with a kiss 

and calling out a "Good bye, pumpkin!" every time we leave the house!

Spray, scrub, dry

repeat!

Even though out little sugar pumpkin has been quite clean for several days now, 

Elise continues to enjoy the whole process.  

That makes this Montessori mama happy because

nothing beats scrubbing for strengthening little fingers!

If you're uncomfortable about all that soap and water inside, 

try pumpkin scrubbing al fresco.

That's what we did last year, and it was a HUGE hit!

Happy 1st day of October, friends!