Jack-O-Lantern Counting

We haven't done this activity in a long time so MD enjoyed it this week.  Especially the halloween theme.  He is getting really good at it and I love to see that he is learning.

Practical Life! Making Pizza..

Lots of fun for my guy....

 

And tasty too... it's like art he can eat for lunch!

 

Sorting Firemen and Policemen

I've had this post for a while now and had forgotten to post it! 

I got these firement and policemen at the dollar store.  Sorting them is lots of fun for a little boy obsessed with firemen.

Easy One to One Transfer

Summer's been a very busy time for us with outside activities and friends so we've been doing just a few very easy and quick montessori activities like this.

Sorting Buttons: Red, White, and Blue

Happy 4th of July!

Sensory Learning Fun for Two

S.E. has been much more mobile lately and he wants to be involved in everything.  So whenever possible, he is.  I love seeing the two of them play together.  Here they are both feeling the texture tablets.  MD worked on matching them, and SE just felt them and explored them with his mouth.

Texture Tablets

These are some texture tablets I made a while back for MD to match while blindfolded.  However, so far he is not liking the idea of being blindfolded and when I ask him to just close his eyes, he always peeks.  He does like to touch them and match them up with his eyes open though.  They are wood tablets with different materials glued on top including foam, silk, fur-like material, felt, and 2 different sandpaper textures. 

Letters in the Salt

MD  has started to have a bigger interest in "writing" letters in the salt tray.

He really enjoyed this activity lately and gets really excited when he makes a letter.

Sound Bottle Work

Even though I made these Sound Bottles a long time ago, MD had not been too interested in them for a long time.  His only interest in the past was trying to see what was inside and unscrewing the bottles.  However, recently he finally started to get the idea and now enjoys shaking them and matching the sound.

 

Animal Families

Working on the animal families activities from Montessori for Everyone.  I love giving him things like this to work on while I'm making dinner. 

Easy Easter Activities

Foam egg shaped stickers from Dollar Tree = lots of fun.

Sorting them by size.

And lining up a number sequence while practicing counting and number recognition. 

Easter Sound - No Sound

This activity was very easy to put together.  I added beans to the inside of half of these plastic eggs so MD can classify them depending on whether they make a sound when he shakes them.  He really likes this.   

St. Patrick's Day Activities

Spooning and pouring green beads.  The green beads were cut up from necklaces we recieved for free last year at our town's St. Patrick's Day parade. 

Using the green beads as counters.

Practicing patterns using printables from First School.  Patterns are very very hard for MD right now.

This shapes activity also from First School was very easy but fun.

Pouring Green Rice

Learning to pour colored rice from a pitcher to a cup.  This has gotten a lot easier.  The last time we tried it a few months ago, MD kept holding the pitcher with both hands and spilled way too much rice.

This time he spilt less and cooperated with cleaning it up.  I thought it would be good for his fine motor practice to pick it up with his fingers instead of a dustpan.

He was cooperative with the clean up part, but not too happy about it. :)

Sandpaper Letters

Our first attempt at tracing a couple of letters and making the letter sound. 

On an other occasion, MD practiced matching lower case to uppercase letters with the sandpaper letters.  It's still a bit difficult for him because so many lowercase letters look the same if you turn them around like, p, b, d, u, n, etc.  He's starting to get it though. 

Whole and Half

Matching pictures of whole and half fruits.  This one is a little difficult for MD if I don't have him use the control pictures to match.  The first time I presented I also brought out some fruits I had on hand (orange, lemon, apple) and sliced one of each leaving the other whole to show him the concept.  These printouts are from Montessori for Everyone. 

More Classification

More classification fun using pictures from Montessori for Everyone and toys or objects from around the house that I have collected in a case for MD to use.

Fruit or Vegatable?

Animal or Plant?

Zeros to Heroes

This was another fun learning activity for one to one correspondence.  First we talked about zero again and practiced clapping, 2 times, 0 times, etc. thanks to Montessori Moments for the idea.  MD is really getting the hang this now and he especially enjoyed using the firemen as counters. 

After this we also played around a little and counted the chocolate chips on the chocolate chip cookies I made out of construction paper which have the number symbol written on the back.  These quick cutouts were inspired by the wonderful and cute felt food counting cookies at Counting Coconuts which would have been much nicer to have around. 

His Own Spooning Work

Someone's been busy serving himself his own breakfast these days. 

When he chooses to have cereal for breakfast, he quickly grabs the box, a bowl, and spoon, and begins doing some serious spooning work from cereal bag to bowl.

When he's done I offer him to add milk to it but he's been turning it down lately and simply eats his dry cereal with his spoon.

Discrimination

This color discrimination activity using paint chips was a bit difficult.  MD was able to do it but with some help because some of the shades only have a slight difference.  However, it is very helpful to increase his concentration and to learn about various shades of the same color.