Friday, March 5, 2010

Botany - Poor Man's Flower Puzzle

I'm probably going to be known for my Poor Man's versions of things such as the Mr. Potato Head,and the Spinny Speller.   My latest poor man's version is a felt version of the flower puzzle.


I drew a control card so Bear would know how to rebuild the flower until she remembered on her own.  I also made her labels to label the parts of the flower.  The labels are color-coded to match the part of the flower, but sometimes, like with the calyx and the stem, or the ovary and the pistil, the words are the same color, and then I help her to use letter sound clues.  
"Does the label you have start with /c/ or /s/?"

When she works on it, she talks to herself.
"This the ovary.  This where fruit grows.  Not all fruit for eating, Mommy."
"This the pistil, looks like stem."

I love to hear her talk things through :)

The Real Thing looks like this:
photo from Montessori Outlet.

11 comments:

  1. I love this! I'm going to have to make this soon!

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  2. Very creative! I like yours better than the original. You teach "big words" to Bear :)

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  3. This is awesome! I'm also into making my own stuff. Montessori materials could be so expensive. So, I'm constantly looking for alternatives. Does this flower come apart like a puzzle? What material did you use to make it?
    Please email me at evelyntoro.pr@gmail.com
    Thanks so much
    Evelyn
    http://2pequenostraviesos.blogspot.com

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  4. Great idea! I need more of your "poor man" activities since I have decided to stop teaching after this school year and homeschool the boys. We have started working on the garden and Diego has lots of questions. I think that I will make one of these for him to learn the parts of the plant. I may have to pull out the Spanish dictionary though. Not sure if I know all of those words. :)

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  5. I like yours better than the original. It seems like it'd get more use.....

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  6. @ Evelyn
    I used felt. I just looked at a picture of the puzzle and drew my version on a piece of paper first. Then I cut out the pieces of felt. It is kind of like a puzzle, but the pieces don't interfit; they stack on top of each other. Bear takes the flower apart and then rebuilds it like the control picture.

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  7. Another person who likes yours so much better that the original, it is a work of art! I love your simple adaptations!

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  8. I like your flower better! It's easier to store away and you can see the separate parts better.

    Your teaching inspires me to begin doing these things with my B

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  9. I've been googling around to find botany options, and this is my favorite! Great idea!

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