An Invitation to draw

Most children LOVE to draw but i do find Tara will 9/10 draw a bird or a house and Mason will draw a face or a digger but how do i encourage variety?

I left an invitation to draw on the table on morning and they jumped at completing them!

I flicked through magazines to find some interesting pictures, then cut them out leaving out half of the picture. Tara had half a butterfly and Mason had half a duck.

They then had to use their imagination to complete the picture and surrounding environment. These would be great to keep up your sleeve for long car rides, plane trips or when you just need that five minutes to make a phone call!

Silky Smooth Dough

Sometimes plain playdough can get boring....mix it up a bit!!! This recipe is for silky smooth playdough

Mix 3/4 cup of conditioner to 1 and 1/2 cups of cornflour and mix with a spoon until blended. take into your hands and knead until smooth adding more conditioner or cornflour as needed-will depend on the room temperature.

The right consistency will be smooth yet break in half if pulled apart. Add food colouring last if required. Just a few drops in the center of dough and knead till evenly tinted.

Animal pet rocks

 This was an inviation to play that i set one this morning for both kids to create Animal Pet Rocks, keeping with our letter of the week A.

Paint,glue,pom poms,eyes,gems,crepe paper and plenty of rocks. Needless to say our house is now FULL of families of pet rocks :)

Cheerio Abacus

A is for Abacus

As Mason has started on his letter of the week program we made this Abacus from a cardboard box, cheerios and fishing wire. Very simple to make. I attached the wire and let him thread the Cheerios and we counted them as we put them on. He seems to love it, regularly going to his Montessori shelves and laying on his tummy and counting them across.

Coloured cloud dough

                                                          Coloured Cloud Dough!

This dough is fluffy and light and lots of fun. I had made it with Tara a few years ago but this time we added colour!

Recipe is: 4 cups of flour

1/2 cup of baby oil

finely grated chalk pastels

We used a kitchen grater on the finer side to firstly shave our chalk into separate containers first. Then we made a big batch of the flour/oil mix and added the colours after just mixing with a spoon till combined.

Consistency should be crumbly but hold when compacted.

Please be aware baby oil is toxic if eaten so this activity must be supervised at all times.Sandpit moulds, bento moulds and ice cream scoops work well with this dough



Letter of the week (round 2) A

Mason is turning 2.5 this week and lately he has been showing a real interest in sitting still and exploring written work. He often follows Tara around at home he will sit along side her and do his own work. It is funny that this is the exact same age Tara showed an interest in Montessori.

That willingness to listen and watch while lessons are demonstrated really takes focus and i feel Mason is showing he is ready for this.

As many home teachers follow their child's interests, i thought it only fitting to use Masons favourite food as a starting point for our lessons

APPLES!

I used the worksheets kindly provided by Carissa and her wonderful LETTER OF THE WEEK PROGRAM.

I placed these worksheets into a plastic sleeve and handed Mason the whiteboard marker and dobber to use. I do this to not only save the paper but at this age half the fun is rubbing out and trying again.

http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.net/2011/03/tot-school-printables/

So today we traced focusing on circle shapes and the letter A.  This week we will be learning all things A, names of our fruits and colours and this little man is loving it already!

Picture blocks

Mason is forever playing with his Duplo/Megabloks so to add a little challenge for him i found some photos and images that i cut in half and sticky taped over to secure onto the blocks.
He was thrilled to see faces he knew and animals he could make the sound of. i showed him how to pull them apart and then mix them up and find the correct match.
I decided to use the same colours to help him find the correct match but for older children different coloured pairs would make it even more challenging.
Stack away!!!

Celery flower stamping

How beautiful is this celery stalk? We just couldn't throw it out before Tara got her hands onto it with some paint and made some lovely celery flower stamps

It was still dark outside and we were having our morning juice with celery but hey never too early to get the paint out in our house!

Lovely celery flower stamping to start off the day!

Clear contact collage

Want an easy home activity that you may already have in the house? Clear contact attached to the wall with tape makes a great collage base. use whatever you have around to decorate your contact.
The sky is the limit, use coloured paper,newspaper,magazines,feathers, or stickers. Tara enjoyed cutting out her items from magazines first then puttng them on while i made a box ull of coloured shapes that mason stuck on himself. Tara's was of course a little higher than Mason's so he couldnt "help" work on hers. Who needs famous paintings up in their house when we have budding artists willing to do the job!

Upside down drawing

Ever tried drawing from a different perspective?
Tara was getting frustrated by her little brother who loves to be into anything she is doing so she grabbed her paper and used some blu-tak to stick it to the underneath of her train table.
She was "hiding" under there for hours without the distraction of her little shadow.
Crayons are best to use for this as most pens will not work from that angle.

Glitter Dough

"Would you like to make play dough today?" ......"Yes, please! Can it be lilac and sparkly?".....
Not the answer i thought i would get but i shouldn't be surprised this little fairy loves anything girly.
Tara made her average play dough recipe then added a slight purple colour and some purple glitter. It looked quite pretty in the end. I forgot to get another photo but there were plenty of stars, wands and butterflies made.

Peg and Bottle

The parts needed to make this simple activity may already be in home! A small plastic bottle with a lid and a peg(the old fashioned dolly shaped ones are best)
I first showed Mason how to twist off the lid of the bottle,put it aside, pick up the peg and place it through the hole in the bottle, then pick up the lid and twist back on.
Breaking down the process is vital for Masons age, sometimes as adults we rush things and forget to explain the process of how to do things step by step but this activity shows how a simple activity has a process and needs to be done in order.

I love activities like this that help with focus and process, not only does mason learn life skills but it also teaches mummy to slow down and enjoy these special years of our children's lives.

Strainer/Pipecleaner Activity

What can you do with a strainer and some pipecleaners? Keep two children interested for hours!
I set this up one night before i went to bed and when they woke up they both sat down and happily threaded,pushed,pulled and picked all morning. Tara had the red one as it was light and she was able to pick it up and thread through both sides with her full length pipecleaners while Mason had a solid one that he used half length pipecleaners to poke through the holes and pull back out.

Fruit Cars

How adorable are these little fruit cars?? Great morning tea for any little one on the go.
Just slice up an apple or pear into narrow pieces and use toothpicks to add grape or cherry wheels
Remind your little mechanic to take off the toothpick axles before they start munching!

Stacking

This wooden stacking activity was Tara's favourite when she was around 18 months and it seems Mason enjoys it to. It is the first thing he gravitates to on the Montessori shelves.
So while Mason worked on his stacking and matching Tara got to work on an older version of he stacking activity.
All you need is a ball of play dough, one stick of uncooked spaghetti and a bowl of cheerios

The aim was to keep stacking to the very top while being gentle enough not to snap the pasta.

Caterpillar Frankfurts

After a big day of Hungry Caterpillar fun partying, Tara was able to choose what we had for dinner. Her decision was "Caterpillar franks" of course! We thought we would share with you our meal...
First you hold a long Frankfurt steady while you pierce lengths of uncooked spaghetti in it and pull through the other side.Continue this all the way down the Frankfurt. Place the Frankfurt into water and boil until for a few minutes or until pasta is cookedCaterpillars franks ready for the birthday girl....

Object permanence

Object Permanence is a Montessori principle that is often shown in the 9-12 month age group. Working in child care you often find around this age children become "clingy" or not wanting their caregiver to leave their sight.
Giving Mason the opportunity to explore these Object permanence boxes reinforces that even though you may not see something it is still there.

As he drops the ball into the hole, he looses sight of it and has to open the draw to find it. This focus' on his hand eye coordination,fine motor skills and starts the process of his memory understanding object permanence.

Montessori Almond Meal Tray

I found some almond meal in the pantry that was out of date by just a month so i decided instead of throwing it out we would use it in our activities. This was a Montessori sand tray which i made with a baking tray and plain almond meal. I put a pack of flashcards next to Tara and she copied the letter using her finger to move the almond meal.
Almond meal is also known as almond flour or ground almond. It has a similar consistency to sand so works well for this activity.

Rainbow fruit snack

We were having some guests over for a play date so decided to make a healthy snack to enjoy. Tara cut up all the fruit herself, peeled some mandarins and added some mini marshmellow treats to make....
A stunning fruit rainbow! Great for St Patrick's day or a rainbow party. For a healthier option exchange the marshmellow "pot of gold" for dipping yogurt.

Sponge Tower Jenga

What can you do with a bunch of sponges?????

Sponge towers!! This tower turned into a game of "Colour Jenga". We both had a colour of our choice and the aim was to take out our own colour piece without the tower falling over. Great for hand eye co ordination, fine motor skills and taking turns.