Dressing Frames

I planned on making dressing frames, but when I saw this set on Montessori n Such for only 9 dollars I HAD to buy them! I really can't resist a good deal : ) I'm sure I would have spent more even if I bought the frames and clothes to make them from the thrift store. I was very pleased with how well made they are, but the buttons will need to be reinforced. O isn't quite ready for these frames, but I can't wait until my 4 year old niece comes to visit because I think she'll love them!

Matching Fabric Swatches

My MIL gave O a big bag of fabric swatches several months ago, and I cut a few of them into matching squares. She was intrigued at 1st, but she lost interest quickly.

Sorting and Matching Shells and Rocks

A few days ago O brought me 2 conch shells, and she said "niney (tiny)" as she handed me the smaller one and "big" as she handed me the big one. I told her that was a great idea for a montessori work. I gathered several shells and rocks that were big and tiny and put them in a basket together. I showed O how to put the big shells and rock in one basket and the tiny ones in the other basket. She caught right on and enjoyed this sorting work.
After she finished sorting the shells and rocks, I showed O how to match the big shells/rock with the tiny shells. She matched them quickly and then she was "done." (she loves to announce when she is "done!")

Learning to Climb Stairs

O's cousin, Marg, loves to teach her how to do things, especially gross motor skills. Marg's mom (my sister) is a pediatric physical therapist, and Marg is often her "assistant" when she is treating patients. With each step, Marg said "like this." O loves this special attention from Marg, and she now says "ike this" every times she goes up and down these stairs.

Putting Marbles on a Frog

Don't you love my creative title?! I wasn't sure what to call this work so I just called it what it is. My mom brought a bath frog that's meant to stick to the bottom of the tub (O and Marg love to play with them in the bathtub at G & G's house), and I had a little glass dish of marbles. I showed O how to carefully pick up one marble and place it on the frog's suction cup. She was super excited and couldn't wait until it was her turn. She did a good job, although she needed prompting to pick up only one marble at a time. She was immediately ready to try it again, but after placing 2 marbles correctly she decided to throw the 3rd marble across the room. She clearly knew that was not acceptable (she was looking straight at me waiting on a reaction when she did it), so I calmly had her pick up the thrown marble and took the whole work away. She was very upset because she really wanted to "bay" (play) with the frog and marbles. Hopefully, she was upset enough to remember that we don't throw marbles! This is a work that she will do only under close supervision because there is a slight possibility that she may decide to taste a marble :)

Cleaning the Floor

I ordered this adjustable floor and carpet sweeper from Montessori n Such recently, and O is becoming a good little sweeper. She's also pretending to vacuum with her IKEA push toy. I love to see her clean the house!

Our Visit to a Local Montessori School

I found out that we have a Montessori school about 20 minutes from our house when O was about 3 months old, and I immediately called and put her on the waiting list. The lady at the school said that they were full for that year, but she would be on the list for the next year. There was a shocked silence when I told her that O was only 3 months old, and I wanted her on the list for 2009! She said she would create a list for 2009, and O would be the 1st one on it. I'm sure she thought I was a little crazy :) Last Tuesday I saw an ad in the paper stating that the Montessori school was having an open house for parents and children ages 3,4, and 5. I wasn't sure if we should go since O is not yet 2, but I called and left a message. The preacher (the school is run by an Episcopal Church) called Sunday morning and told us to come. Elliott and I were excited and a little nervous. We were VERY impressed with the school. The teacher and the preacher were very friendly, and I loved how everything was set up. It was great to see all of the Montessori materials "in real life" instead of just on the internet (I'm definitely planning on getting the sandpaper letters and metal insets very soon). O was shy at 1st, but then she was a little overstimulated and was into everything. I was a little nervous because she was grabbing everything, and I was afraid she would break something. I was also surprised because she is not normally like that at all. However, it was an unfamiliar environment, and her nap was cut short since we had to wake her up to go to the open house. O loved the live turtles and gerbil best of all. Good thing we have a lake FULL of turtles for her to love and observe (sadly we never found tadpoles, but we'll try again next year). The school currently has 10 students ages 3 to 6, and they will take up to 18 students. O MIGHT go to this school when she is 3, but I am not sure since its a 5 day a week program. We do not want her to go 5 days a week when she is 3. The teacher said they may work with me on setting it up for her to go just 3 days a week, but I'm thinking that I would like for her to start with just 2 days. I'm also hesitant about sending her because we are both loving homeschooling so much. I can't stand the thought of that ending. However, I know it will be good for her to go to a "real school" for a couple of years and make friends. She'll also have access to a lot of materials that we don't have at home. Then she'll be back home when she's 6 for more Montessori Homeschooling.

Learning to Sweep

O wasn't very excited about learning to sweep at first :)


But she got over her hesitation fairly quickly. She doesn't normally dress up so much to hang around the house, but our neighbor, Erb (Irv), is in town, and he was wearing a blue shirt today, so O HAD to wear "boo like Erb." She's quite a fan of "Erb" and his wife, "Bahb."

Phonics Pouch - m

My mom introduced the m phonics pouch to O yesterday, and we also did the work today. She seemed to enjoy it. I was a little hesitant to introduce her to phonics since she is so young, but she's shown such an interest in sounds and letters that I decided to give it a try. We'll stick with m for a while, then we'll try either a or t.

Sewing Block

I ordered this sewing block from Montessori N' Such, and O really loves it. This morning she said she was going to "sew like Duggie" (my mom). She's been watching my mom sew the knots on her I Spy quilt for the past month or so, so she's ready to sew by herself.

Pouring

We tried a new pouring work today. I found this pitcher (probably a creamer?) in my cabinet, and I thought it would work great for O to pour popcorn kernals back and forth. She thoroughly enjoyed herself. You can tell by her tongue sticking out that she was totally focused on this work :)

Color Sorting

O enjoyed color sorting today (it was a GREAT day in O's homeschool in case you couldn't tell!). I had a basket of fruit shaped plastic ice things that I got from the dollar store, and these cups that I bought last year to have for O's birthday parties (don't want to use disposables, of course!). I spread out the cups and showed her how to match the fruits to the colors and sort them. She was slightly confused at first, but she caught on quickly and had fun completing the work. I was worried that I'd given her too many colors at one time, but she did fine. She enjoyed this work, but she didn't want to do it again. I guess it just couldn't compare to the excitement of the Mystery Bag!
Update: O has chosen this work from the shelf a couple of time since I introduced it. She talks herself through the task, labeling the colors, and self-correcting as she goes. She dropped the orange cup as she walked to the mat, and once she set the cups up she said "orange" like she suddenly remembered that she'd dropped the cup. She got the cup and lined it up with the other cups. While sorting she put a green object in the red bowl, paused, said "no, green," then took it out of the red cup and put it in the green cup. I LOVE watching her work.

The Mystery Bag

We did the Mystery Bag game for the 1st time today, and O was just vibrating and squealing with excitement! I put several items in the bag- banana (fake), spoon, fork, toy car, and a bead. I showed her the items, and we labeled them. Then I put everything in the bag and put the blindfold on. I demonstrated how to pull out only one item and then feel it and then say what it is. Then it was O's turn. She guessed bananaa before taking off the blindfold, but she was so excited with the rest of the items that she pulled off the blindfold as soon as she had the object out of the bag. Then she decided that it was mommy's turn. She loved it when I guessed correctly, and if I took too long to guess or guessed wrong she called out the answer proudly. I think this is definitely O's most favorite montessori work EVER!

Shadow Matching Game

I found this shadow mathing game here, and I knew O would love it as soon as I saw it. I finally got everything cut out and laminated, so I introduced it to her this morning. She thorougly enjoyed it and asked for more after she finished. When she wakes up from her nap, I'll show her the shadow matching game that goes with Eric Carle's Very Busy Spider book. She's going to be so excited!

Drawing and Stickers Basket

I gathered a basket of drawing pads, a pencil, markers, and stickers for O last night and left it on the table for her to discover this morning. She was thrilled to see it, and she had lots of fun playing with the stickers (they were on her cheeks at one point before ending up on the floor and table) and drawing on the pads. This activity will stay at the table because I don't want her walking around with a pencil in her hand or drawing on the walls and floor. I realized what a packrat I am when I looked closely at the stickers and saw the date...1983! Yes, I saved them from when I was 6 years old probably with the intention of one day sharing them with my little girl :)

Feeding the Frog

Here's my thrift store frog! O fed him a basketful of bugs (from the dollar section at Target). She loved this work and repeated it 3 times immediately. When she a little older, I'll let her feed the frog using tongs or tweezers. I think this may be a daily work!

Open/Shut

I presented O with a basket of items to open and shut. She was very interested, and she liked the ring box the best. She said "ope, shut" the whole time she was doing this work. For some strange reason, she does not like to clean up after this work (she usually puts things back with no problem and actually enjoys putting things in their places). She'd rather leave the items scattered on her rug while she goes off to play with something else. Obviously, that's not acceptable. Hopefully, she'll do better with this tomorrow.

Crushing Cheerios

O used the mortar and pestle to crush Cheerios. Today was the 1st time, we've used it and she did a good job. She needed some help to crush the Cheerios, but she enjoyed trying to crush them:) I then poured them into her organic applesauce (the mortar and pestle is made of stone, and its too heavy for O to lift). She enjoyed mixing the Cheerios into her applesauce. She loves to mix and says "mix" all the time :)

Matching Art Cards

I ordered Child-size Master Pieces by Aline D. Wolf for myself for my birthday, and I finally finished cutting and laminating the cards last night. O matched the Step 1 cards today. She was very excited when I was laying the cards out, and she kept saying "match, match." We then talked about the different pictures- colors, objects, etc.

Our Busy Day

This is what we did today. It was a busy day despite the fact that this mama is sick! Bleh! I hate being sick. O keeps looking at me saying "sick" then she tells me to drink "tea" because she knows that hot tea makes me feel better. She is just getting over the same illness, and she's been quite a grouch lately :( I can't wait until we are both better. We are so rarely sick that we don't quite know how to handle it!
She loves this work and is always so focused while doing it.
Stringing beads
Putting rubber bands on the doorknob. This is a favorite activity which requires lots of concentration. I LOVE to see her totally focused on the task at hand. O's hair is in her 1st ponytail! After putting the rubber bands on the door knob, she took them off and put them on her wrist. She was proud of her bracelets. It also tooks lots of time and concentration to get the rubber bands on her wrist.