Smelling bottles

I have been searching for amber bottles to make this Montessori activity for a while and when i finally found them i was excited to get it prepared. So much of our life is about what we see it really makes me strive to use our other senses to explore the world.
To make these you need an even amount of amber bottles and some essences or flavours. We used peppermint,chocolate,lemon,strawberry and vanilla. Each smell was dabbed onto a cotton wool ball and pushed into the bottle and then a second was made to match it. Under the glass bottles i placed a coloured coded sticker to match the pair and allow Tara to self correct .
To start take one bottle from the left side tub.....
Twist off lid and smell keeping the lid off in case you need to smell again, take a bottle from the right side tub and twist off lid and smell. If they don't smell the same put the lid back on and put it back in the tub and pick a new one

Smell the next one and if they do smell the same

Check under to see if you were correct and keep them to the side in their pairs

Put away the activity by ensuring each pair of bottles are in separate tubs

Matching-herb gardening

With spring here we have made the most of it by getting into the sunshine. We decided to this year add a herb garden to our vegetable patch so i labeled the pots and Tara matched the packet of herbs to their pots. Great for letter and word recognition.

Its amazing how the outdoors can bring out so many more learning opportunities and the simple things like filling up pots can turn into lessons about "empty" "half" and "full"

Painting-Spray bottles

These spray bottles were filled with 1/2 water 1/2 poster paint to make a lovely runny consistency perfect for spraying from bottles. Great for little hand muscles and so much fun!
Great to store for gift wrapping paper. For older children using a white wax candle you can write a secret message or picture before starting and as you spray your paper the hidden message will appear

Number bridge

This was an activity i thought up after many days of constant rain and being stuck inside. It was done in our kitchen but it could be adapted to anywhere using cardboard squares inside or some chalk outside.
Using a whiteboard marker to mark out numbers 1 to 10 length ways in order but in a scattered pattern and then used extra numbers on either side of them. Sorry the photo didnt pick up numbers very well..

Tara started at one side of the "bridge" and had to find her way across the bridge by stepping on the correct number order. She found 1 on the first row then found 2 on the second row etc

Made it all the way across the bridge to 10 to finish off crossing it. She then asked me to help her do it backwards like a countdown.It stayed on our kitchen floor for a few days and got a good work out. Easy to wipe off and got us out from behind the desk. Lots of fun!

Sorting-eye sizes

After Tara realised some of her pet rocks were in need of repairs we got out our stash of googly eyes and were looking at the different sizes.
It was Tara that surprised me with her knowledge of "medium" so we went on to sort "small "medium" and "large" eyes into little cups. It goes to show that our children really are listening to every word we speak. Though i have never explained to her what medium was she had heard it and worked it out herself.

Calming Dough

At 30 months Tara had given up her afternoon nap and was struggling through the afternoon only to liven up when daddy arrived home at 5pm so i found we needed a relaxing playtime with daddy after dinner to wind down before bedtime.
I made our usual batch of play dough but added a calming blend of oils instead of vegetable oil in the mix. I used a specially made children's calming mix that i used in our oil burner when Tara was a newborn, its found at
http://http://shop.newdirections.com.au/epages/newdirections.sf/en_AU/?ObjectPath=/Shops/newdirections/Categories/12/118/1310

Relaxing, educational and even daddy can wind down after a hard day with this activity!

Spring suncatcher

With some clear contact and some cellophane cut out into shapes Tara arranged a collage of colour
Until all the contact is covered in colour leaving the edges clear to stick to the window

Smooth it out on your window

And see the lovely rainbows it makes

We added our weather chart from "Confessions of a Homeschooler" that i laminated and Tara checks her weather everyday now.

Tissue paper bowls

We had a very special person's birthday coming up and wanted to make a handmade pressie that she could keep and use forever so we decided on a handmade bowl.
Firstly Tara practiced her ripping with some different coloured tissue paper and we made up a batch of watered down PVA glue.
We tried using two bowls, one plastic and one glass and both seemed to work fine so just choose a nicely shaped bowl and spray with cooking oil and cover with cling wrap.

Use the paper and the glue to paper mache around the bowl.Keep layering to make the bowl nice and strong. Allow it to dry overnight.

And in the morning just slide your finger between the cling wrap and the bowl to lift out the masterpiece

You can either peel the cling wrap off for a more matt look and use scissors to even out the edge (see bigger bowl in pic) or just trim the cling wrap around the edge for a more rustic look (see smaller bowl)

Great for storing treats or treasures!

Spring 2010

It's finally Spring here in Sydney and we are enjoying it, Making mud cakes in the sandpit......
Some sunshine and rain make for beautiful skies....

And our house is surrounded by new life, a plover nest and rabbits right outside Tara's bedroom.

We are hoping this spring to learn more about our 5 senses,weather and of course new baby animals!

Fathers Day-digger

We have been spending the week on a few Father's day activities......
As daddy is in construction i found this cute digger printable on
http://kidscraftweekly.com/printables.html
Painting,cutting and constructing it using split pins to make it moveable
We added photo's in the window of Tara driving with her little brother due later in the year in the back seat lol

Fathers Day-tape measure

Couldn't resist this little craft activity as Tara loves to "help" daddy fix things with a tape measure so we followed the instructions from
http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/holiday-seasonal-crafts/fathers-day-crafts/fathers-day-cards/how-dad-measures-up-904176/
The yellow tape moves in and out and has "You rule, Dad!" written on it.
Not sure if i will be able to get Tara to give it to daddy on the weekend, she is having too much fun using it herself but it is a real hit!

Fathers Day-cut and paste

This cut and paste activity was perfect for Tara's age. She needed little help and really enjoyed finishing it. The squares are easy for toddlers to try and cut out and the letters just need to be matched to the shadows on the template-great letter recognition.
Finished it off with a little colour and ready to give to daddy. The templates are found here and you can choose a boy or a girl design.
http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/FathersDayCutandGlue.htm

Father's Day-award

Tara made this award for daddy and it was a great learning lesson. Talking about shapes and counting, she really enjoyed the cutting and pasting activity. You can find it at
http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/FathersDayTrapezoidCutandPaste.htm

Fathers day-grape card

This beautiful card is downloaded from Danielle's place
http://www.daniellesplace.com/Images2/grapeleafdadpat.gif
Once the vine and leaf is coloured in and cut out it can be stuck on card stock and then with a bingo marker start dobbing your grapes in a triangle pattern
To make it easier for Tara i drew a triangle and asked her to dob circles inside the triangle. Finish off with "i love you a bunch!"

Fathers Day-nut card

This is a gorgeous card Tara made for her Poppy who loves eating peanuts! First she painted her peanut in a brown shade-we didnt have any so we mixed red and green
After i cut out the nuts, Tara stuck it all together on some card stock and added some googly eyes to her nut.

She made some baby ones to add to the card and i added the tittle "I'm nuts about you Poppy!"

We added a little treat inside...a pack of nuts to eat!

Thanks to Danielles place http://www.daniellesplace.com/html/mengifts.html for the idea!