Monday, January 16, 2012

Our Peace Basket




The girls (especially O) love our peace basket.  It sits on the floor behind a chair (O chose the location), and they enjoy going back there for some peaceful moments.

When I put together the peace basket, my goal was to include items that would reach a variety of their senses.  So, we have a whelk shell for the girls to hold up to their ears to hear the ocean (they have to be very still and quiet to hear the sounds of the "waves"), a finger labyrinth to trace, a cinnamon stick to smell, a book to read (When I Make Silence by Jennifer Howard), and our Starry Night Bottle to shake and then watch the "stars" settle to the bottom.



I decided to remake our Starry Night Jar after E(2) was shaking it and slammed it into her face (she was ok).  I decided that a plastic bottle may hit with a little less force when shaking than a glass jar!  Also, I LOVE the round Christmas Coke bottles.  (I also love Coke...it's an addiction that I'm trying to break...I haven't had one in more than a week!) So, before Christmas, I bought many round Coke bottles to use for various Discovery bottles.  The round bottle works perfectly for our Starry Night bottle.  I just poured the contents from the jar into the bottle and added extra water to fill it up.

I know that most people glue the tops of their discovery bottles so that the kids don't open them with disastrous consequences, but I've never done this.  So far (going on 4 years), the girls have never opened a bottle.  I like to have the option of pouring out the contents and using the bottles for something else, which is why I don't glue them.

7 comments:

  1. Wow! I love this idea! Definitely going to make one for our family and maybe for a little friend with an upcoming birthday!

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  2. What a lovely way to give the opportunity for a peaceful moment to a child.

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  3. I'm so glad you posted these pictures- I've wanted a finger labyrinth for years for my classroom but they cost too much for me to justify buying one. I can't believe I never thought of just printing one like you did! Thanks for the idea!

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  4. How very beautiful! I just made one with my 3 year old son. He announced that we need one for the day time too and that we forgot the moon. I added a tin foil circle to the bottle to satisfy the need for a moon in the night sky and we are going to do a day time one next. Thanks for the inspiration.

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  5. What a lovely peace basket, Melissa! I added your peace basket photo and post link to my Peace Education post at http://livingmontessorinow.com/2012/01/19/montessori-inspired-peace-education-activities/

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  6. where do you get the coke bottles from?

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  7. Where do u get the bottles from ??

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