We haven't transferred rice with a spoon in a LONG time, so I added that back to the shelf. O was interested at first, but then decided she wanted to pour the rice. She wasn't thrilled when I explained that the purpose was to practice transferring with a spoon. I told her that transferring with a spoon would help strengthen her hand muscles to help her with writing. She quickly assured me that she could write, and she wanted to show me right then!
O loves the sandpaper letters! She is REALLY into letters and sounds now, so we are having a lot of fun with these :)
She also enjoyed the squeeze and match balloon activity and pouring water. We spent the majority of our time on the letters.
How wonderful that she is excited about letters! I'm itching to buy a set for our house and watching the budget to see when I can splurge. Thanks for your wonderful blog!
ReplyDeletetwo questions...
ReplyDelete1. what is shelf work?
2. where do you get those letters? I have heard about them before...sounds interesting! Thanks
Found cheap letters like the black ones here. Though most hard core Montessori sites and books encourage the larger cards and the more cursive style letters.
ReplyDeleteOther questions:
What age are the kids able to do this? My 24-month-old enjoys it but does not actually trace the letters the right way.
It sounds like you did more than the usual 3 or so letters. What is working for you as far as order and quantity?
Are you also using the sand at this point?
Thanks for the great post!
I love that she wanted to play school! I'm hoping mine always has the idea that school is fun...
ReplyDeleteHolly- Shelf work is just O's Montessori work that is on her shelf. I think the sandpaper letters came from Montessori Outlet...O's grandmother gave them to her for her 2nd birthday :)
ReplyDeleteSurviving by Grace- O doesn't trace the letters exactly right every time, but she's getting better. We have about 5 letters out right now. We don't have a sand tray yet, but I found the perfect tray when I was cleaning out our game cabinet, so I'm planning on starting that soon. I think I'm going to use salt instead of sand...