The Menu

If anyone is interested in a copy of the menu from this post, it is available to download.  I've never uploaded a file to share with 4shared before, so let me know if it doesn't work. 
Please link back to me if you post about it.
Thank you.

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Impromptu Math with Play dough

After months of never wanting to play play dough, Bear requested it today.  Our batch of play dough from January (our favorite recipe is from My Montessori Journey) was still okay so we got to work playing.

After making a few cakes,

Bear pulled out the container of all the play dough tools (I only usually have a few out, but she is welcome to go select what she wants from the box) and chose the Play-Doh fun factory.

She made a snake and she had such a long snake I suggested she lay it out on the kitchen floor.  This prompted her to ask for Daddy's tape measure. And this is how play dough became an impromptu math learning experience.

Measuring the longest snake.

(91 inches)

Comparing two shorter snakes and finding the difference in length.

And finally running out of play dough when we added a third. 

This kept her busy for over an hour. It was that fun. 
The reason - she had totally initiated the project. 
There was no Mommy agenda.

Has anyone else had a  neat impromptu learning experience with their child(ren) lately?

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We Play - Restaurant

One of Bear's favorite new past times is to play restaurant.

The first time we played, I quickly threw together a menu.

And Bear immediately started ordering.

But, I wanted something a little nicer.  Eventually, on a day when we couldn't find our menu, Bear and I sat at the computer and chose graphics together to make this much nicer menu, complete with prices (made up by Bear with some input from Mommy - "Well, Bear, $15 for a banana is a LOT of money.  I don't think people who came to your restaurant would want to pay that!")

The other really nice thing about this new menu is that it is laminated.  After everyone was posting about the incredible deal on the Scotch Thermal Laminator , I decided to go ahead and get it!

The beauty of the laminated menu is that we can circle what we want to order,

which makes filling the order that much easier!

Using those circled items to refresh my memory, I was able to ring up Bear's order.

Thank you!

Come over and play at the Childhood 101 We Play link up

Note: As soon as my wonderful husband helps me, I'll have the menu as a pdf for you to download!

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What's the Same? What's Different?

Bear and I are having fun playing "What's the Same?  What's Different?" at breakfast each morning.

Sometimes we use things already on the table. But as what's out on the table doesn't change much from day to day, I usually bring some things over from the playroom.

Here's what's typically on the table.

 Container of oatmeal and raisins: 

Bear said, "They're not the same Mommy.  One is big and the other has raisins."

Cups:

"They're all cups. One is plastic.  Yours is heavier and mine is lighter (of the two glasses) because I drank some of mine."

Pitchers:

"They're both pitchers!  One has milk, the other water.  One is smooth and the other bumpy."

Utensils:

"They're both for eating.  I use a spoon for oatmeal, not a fork."

Why this type of simple activity is important:

Classifying things into categories is an important skill for practically every aspect of life.  Recognizing similarities and differences is what helps the child decide if a letter is "b" or "d".  Sorting into categories is a key component of science.  It requires some higher level thinking to determine similarities and differences (especially as you present trickier items) and is a great brain exercise. 

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Montessori Monday - Washing a table

Bear and J-jo enjoyed some water play at the kitchen sink.  After J-jo almost fell off the chair, I am seriously considering getting a Learning Tower or Kitchen Helper.  I'm leaning more toward the Learning Tower because it looks sturdier and fits two children.  It also has adjustable levels.  It doesn't look like the Kitchen Helper does that, although the latter does fold up.

I digress....

Bear learned how to wash a table.  Our table gets very grimy during meals.  I just read how to "properly" wash a table the Montessori way and thought I present the lesson to Bear.

 First dip your sponge in soapy water and wring it out.

 Then wipe the table with circular arm motions.

The repeat with plain water.  Mommy followed up with a dry cloth.  Our table was sparkling.

Then she helped sweep the floor, a lesson that still needs much practice as she tends to flick a little too much!

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Teeny Tiny Tot School

J-jo is 10 months old

I love seeing what J-jo can do.  He has that sense of wonder that is just so amazing to watch.  He just wants to do everything his sister does!

He's already climbing up the slide.

And he figured out how to open the drawers of the alphabet drawers.

He spent time playing in the water in the sink.

He fingerpainted.

He rocks the baby and says "aaahh, ahhh, aaaahh" (a little tune we hum to babies in this household) and then puts the baby in its bed.

He loves to chase bubbles.

Bear and I collected blue items for him.

I got him the book First 100 Words and he watches me as I place the matching animals onto the pictures.  We have a lot of "first words" books, but I like this one more because the pictures are photographs of the real thing.  It's also a lot sturdier than some of the other "first word" books we have.

Check out other tot ideas at 1+1+1=1

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Growing Tree Toys Gift Certificate Giveaway

I love the educational toys at Growing Tree Toys.  They actually just featured me on their blog, but that isn't why I love their toys!  Growing Tree Toys carries all my favorite brands - Playmobil, Plan toys, and Melissa and Doug just to name a few.  The store offers free shipping if you spend over $75.

Growing Tree Toys has generously offered a $25 gift certificate to their store for one of my readers.  To

enter this give away, visit Growing Tree Toys and come back and leave me a comment.  Be sure to leave your email address so I can contact you.  Open to the US only.  I will pick a winner Thursday, July 1st, (in honor of Canada Day).


Additional Entries: Please leave a separate comment for each entry.

Become a fan of Growing Tree Toys on Facebook.
Follow Growing Tree Toys on Twitter.

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The Hundred Board

I had a hard time deciding whether to post this, but I wanted to share how cute she sounds as she says 70-70 instead of 73 and then 70-zero instead of 80(and how she's all sad about the zero part).  As I'm trying to follow Montessori principles, I think I should have held my tongue and not corrected her, but I really struggle with that!  She probably needs more work with the tens and teens board as she doesn't remember all the names for the tens yet.  I had left this on the table and she just went to it alone and started working on it while I was washing dishes.  I came over with the camera as I heard her counting, amazed because she was counting mostly correctly.

Click on the image to go to the video.

From 17 June 25 to June 26

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Penguin Splash

One of the books we have been reading for the past two weeks is Turtle Splash!: Countdown at the Pond
by Cathryn Falwell (who also wrote Word Wizard).  I think I first found out about the books on Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns.  

It's a beautifully illustrated rhyming countdown from 10.  Cathryn Falwell uses alliteration like "squirrels scamper,"and many sound verbs, like "rustles," and "crunch."  I love her specific choice of words like "turtles lounging," instead of "resting", or "startled by a bullfrog" rather than "frightened."  It's one beautiful and lyrical poem that sounds good to the ears.

After reading Turtle Splash!: Countdown at the Pond, Bear and I came up with our own countdown activity changing the words from Five Green and Speckled Frogs.

10 penguins, oh so small
sitting on an iceberg wall
eating the most delicious fish, yum yum
one penguin slid with glee
he shouted out Yippee!
Then there were 9 penguins, oh so small.
  

Of course, we acted this out with the penguins from the Penguin Toob.

To see what others are reading, visit  What My Child is Reading.

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A Reading Nook

What could be more fun than reading in the bathtub on over-sized pillows? 

What creative reading space have you created for your child?

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Another Baby Sensory Experience

(aka I let the baby fingerpaint)

I was feeling quite brave this afternoon, or perhaps just slightly insane, and decided I would let J-jo fingerpaint.  He's all of ten months.  I never let Bear fingerpaint until she was 13 months.  But there we were with nothing to do and time to spare before dinner.  Bear wanted to stamp with her $1 foam letters from Walmart.  She was working on stamping her name and had no interest in my attention for once.  

(I set her up with the letters on the left, the stamp pad in the middle and the wet sponge on the right for her to wash off the ink from the "stamps".  She'd already stamped her name, so I just covered it up with BEARS for the photo.)

I plunked J-jo into his booster seat and put a piece of paper on his tray.  I squirted a few colors of paint and let him explore.  He was tentative at first, but explored on his own.

But he kept wanting to crumple up the paper.  So I came up with a way better way to let a ten month old fingerpaint.


Put the paint directly on the tray.

This worked wonders...

...except that he decided, just as with the flour on the tray, to lean his whole face down on the tray to better experience it.

Of course, I needed to preserve his first masterpieces.
How?

We turned them into prints!

I pressed a piece of paper (which of course he tried to attack) onto the tray.

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Oh My!

Umm, J-jo.  You REALLY shouldn't be up there!

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We Play - Geography playscapes

We have been using playscapes so much these days. This playscape was special in that I was able to teach in the moment a bit and tell Bear about where rivers come from and where they end up.  On the left you see our brown mountain with a small stream and you can see the stream widening into a small river, a wider river and then opening up into the ocean at the right.  We also placed the animals in their respective environments as we played with them, so the mountain goats are on the mountain, the moose and elk in the grasslands, the river otter and beaver in the river and the whale and dolphin in the ocean.

Come over and play at the Childhood 101 We Play link up

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