Here you’ll find educational philosophy as well as ideas for activities that focus on education
I have exciting news! Prehistoric Creatures: Montessori Inspired Activities for 2-6-Year-Olds will be published very soon.
In this book, I share Montessori inspired activities that you can enjoy with your children. Of course, there’s a whole section on dinosaurs. In addition, you and your kids can learn about prehistoric mammals, birds, sea animals, flying reptiles, and lots more!
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Montessori homeschooling looks different for everyone. But one popular and common goal among Montessori homeschoolers is teaching reading. It’s a beloved part of the primary or 3-6-year-old curriculum and one area that I, like many other Montessori teachers, cherish. The beautiful sound pouches, the sandpaper letters, the moveable alphabet, the Montessori language curriculum for kindergarten aged children is amazing.
But, beyond the materials, as guides and parents, we must remember a few key Montessori ingredients. In my personal journey to teaching my kids to read, I’ve been reminded of them quite acutely. In this post, I’ll share how you can teach reading easily using the Montessori method and also share some of those key often forgotten nuggets of Montessori wisdom we mustn’t forget.
“Do you want to try writing some words with the letters?” I asked eagerly. Peanut had been working on letter sounds since the age of 3 and he could easily write a few words like “sam,” “sat”, and “cat”. But, it seemed he NEVER wanted to.
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Little faces lit up by the glow of a screen. Chubby fingers adeptly swipe this way and that, choosing emojis, selecting videos, or maneuvering through apps.
Today’s world, full of devices in just about every home, is vastly different from what Maria Montessori knew over 100 years ago when she developed her education philosophy.
So, what would she have to say about this new addition to many children’s lives?
Many Montessorians swear off screens, claiming that they don’t fit in with the philosophy at all. Others welcome screens for children with open arms, believing that children must interact with technology from an early age in order to succeed in today’s world. Yet others take a more moderate approach, allowing some screen time for certain purposes, but limiting its use.
But, what would Montessori herself say?
Before she became a teacher, Montessori was a doctor who followed the scientific method. In fact, that’s how she developed her philosophy in the first place: by carefully observing children.
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Montessori sound pouches have to be at the top of my list of favorite Montessori materials. Why? Because kids love them too! In my experience, sound pouches can be a game changer in building interest in learning phonics, or the sounds that letters of the alphabet make.
Really, this material is like 26 bags of surprises, just waiting to be opened and explored! No wonder kids like it.
On the other hand, this material is so versatile and useful long beyond learning the letter sounds. So, if you’re wondering if you should bother taking the time to make Montessori sound pouches, I say go for it.
In this post, I’ll show you how I’ve made my sound pouches, what sort of items I’ve included in them and a few ways you can use them.
There are many ways to do sound pouches. Some people go for a set of drawers, but I’m partial to the excitement and interest a bag adds. It’s not the same to pull items out of a pouch as pull out a drawer. Somehow the pouch seems more mysterious to me. But, I must say a set of drawers is also very practical.
I made my sound pouches out of old jeans. Yay for recycling! I just eyeballed the cuts, glued the sides with silicon glue (I don’t have a sewing machine – otherwise that would be a more secure option) and added a small loop of yarn to the top left-hand side. I wrote each letter in lowercase on the front of the bag.
This is a quick and practical post about a fun activity we enjoyed recently on our trip to the USA (we live full-time in Guatemala). Hope you get some artsy inspiration!
In rummaging through things I still have at my parent’s house, I came across a large canvas. Years ago I had good intentions of painting it. But, with two little ones, I haven’t had time to dedicate to painting. So, I thought, “let’s paint together!”
Here’s how you can easily and successfully paint a canvas, even with young kids!
Hello dear readers! Many of you visiting this post may have found it after reading Montessori On the GoĀ which is a guide for Montessori inspired travel activities specially designed for 2-6-year-olds. This post includes the information about the Freebies mentioned in the book.
If you haven’t read the book, you’re still welcome to the Freebies, although I do encourage you to head over to Amazon and pick up your copy š The information in the book will help give you a fuller understanding of the activities included in the Freebie.
What’s in the Freebie? There are 6Ā travel-friendly/related activities included in the Freebie document. Activities cover a range of topics including reading and language, counting, nature, and geography. See a preview of a few of the activities below:
Peanut has become very interested in math and numbers, so I decided to begin addition. To get started, I decided to make my own DIY Montessori Addition Strip Board.
First, let’s start with why? How did I arrive at the conclusion that this would be a good material for Peanut? There are many ways to do addition with Montessori math materials. Up to this point, Peanut hasn’t shown a whole lot of interest in the bead stair or beads in general. “Mama that’s boring,” he says. So…much to my dismay, no beads. But it’s not about me! It’s about him.
Volcanoes! They’re so exciting. Any kindergartener will be instantly interested and motivated in studying this natural phenomenon.
I’ve begun a volcano unit with Peanut this week, so I thought I’d share what I have planned so far with you.
Ready for the worksheet? Click here to skip ahead.
First, you have to know that we live surrounded by volcanoes. There are 3 of them easily visible from our house, here in Guatemala, a country home to over 30 volcanoes. So, they are part of the landscape. Peanut enjoys watching volcanic eruptions from our house, whether they are just puffs of smoke and ash or fiery night-time displays.
So, what can you do to study volcanoes?
There are a few ways to do this, and it makes a great opener to your unit. You’ll inspire your little one for sure.
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Preschool science experiments are a joy. I’ve never met a child who doesn’t enjoy experiments…there’s something about moving things around and often getting a bit messy that awakens curiosity, excitement, and wonder.
Well, it’s been a few months since we did this, but Peanut really enjoyed a common preschool science experiment called “Sink or Float.” It’s about as simple as it sounds!
Here’s what we did:
I gathered some materials that sink and float such as: a coin, a plastic medicine cup, a twig, two rocks, and a lemon. There ended up being 3 items that floated and 3 items that sank. I suggest you look for items that are made out of different materials such as wood, plastic, food items, metal and nature items. We’re lucky to live near a volcano, so one of the rocks was pumice, and so it floated!
Montessori math for kindergarteners is an exciting world of impressive, well-developed manipulatives. This is a material intensive area of the curriculumĀ and one that is often a bit intimidating for those who aren’t familiar with the materials.
We started out with very few of these materials in math, and so far are doing just fine. But, if my Peanut made this subject area his favorite, then I’d have a lot of work to do making more materials!
What did we start with?
The traditional Montessori math spindle boxes lay flat and use rounded sticks. But, with a lack of resources, we went ahead and made our very own set featuring toilet paper rolls and popsicle sticks! Simple, yet effective.
