Sorting Body Parts...

... using Mr. Potato Head, of course! O loves Mr. Potato Head, so I thought she would love a sorting work with Mr. Potato Head parts :) I chose 3 sets of eyes, 3 arms, and 3 sets of teeth/lips. I showed O how to put the different body parts in the different openings in the tray.
She caught right on and had lots of fun! This work will definitely go on the new shelf once we start school!

An Impromptu Activity

While Ell and I put together O's adirondack chairs and table this morning (a birthday gift for O from my sister and niece), O had a great time taking the sockets out of the tool box. She lined them up according to size, but she got really frustrated when she tried to put them back into the box. I think this will make a great Montessori work when she is older. I'll take all of the tools out of the box, put them in a basket, and show her how to fit them into the correct places one by one. Fun!

Matching Cats Tray

The idea for this work came from the Montessori n Such catalog. I LOVE that catalog! When I was at my mom's house last weekend, I found this cat tray and tiny cats. I knew that I had to make a Montessori work out of them! 2 of the cats are sitting and 2 of the cats are standing, so I showed O how to match the sitting cats and match the standing cats.
She did a great job, and she loved it! I need to find a few more cats because 2 pairs is just not enough!

Matching Lids and Jars

This a simple activity you can do with jars from around your house. We have lots of jars since we can't recycle glass here. O was VERY excited when she saw me setting this up, and she couldn't wait to get started. I found as many different sized jars with lids as I could. I took the lids off and put them in a basket and put the basket to the left of the jars. O immediately got to work, and she did really well. I was afraid that I had too many jars, but it was the perfect number :)
After she finished matching the lids to the jars, she immediately starting taking the lids off and putting them back in the basket. She was ready for "more game" as she calls it! I think this girl is ready to start back with our school work!

Matching Scents

I was very excited when I found these salt and pepper shakers in the dollar section at JoAnn's. They are stainless steel and perfect for the scent matching work. I'll put matching scents (vanilla, almond, coffee, etc.) on cotton balls and put them into the shakers. There will be stickers on the bottom, so O can check to see if she has matched the shakers correctly. I can't wait to have my new Montessori shelf, so we can start school! I have VERY high hopes that this new shelf is going to be the answer to all of my organizational and storage problems :)

Phonics Pouch Swap

We received our package full of phonics swap goodies for our phonics pouches a few days ago! Our favorites are the tiny food (O and her cousin loved feeding the food to their tiny dolls!) and the paper ball. I also love the bag! Thanks, Jo and Olivia!
Here's the link to O's phonics bags, and these are the directions for introducing them to your child.

Homemade Sound Cylinders

I made these homemade sound cylinders using lotion containers that my mom, sister, and I have been saving for about a year (specifically for this purpose). Each container has a match, and I put lentils in 2, marbles in 2, and bells in 2. There are stickers on the bottoms of the containers, so that O can self check to see if she is correct. Here are directions for this work. We've done this work once, and it didn't go well. O was not at all interested in listening to the sound cylinders, and she only wanted to open the containers. We'll try it again once we start back with our Montessori school in a few weeks (or whenever the new shelf is built!).

Summer Matching Cards

I downloaded and printed these summer matching cards from Montessori for Everyone. The cards are beautiful, and O was excited to do this matching work!
I tried laying them in a row, so that she could match left to right, but then she ended up looking at them sideways because she wanted to sit beside the cards on the rug. I didn't like her looking at them sideways, so I turned them for her.
She had a great time, and we'll do this again soon.

Grinding Cheerios and Walnuts

I bought this grinder a few weeks ago because I thought it would be the perfect way for O to grind her cheerios and walnuts to put on her applesauce. She loved it! She had a little trouble holding it still, so I had to help her by holding it down a little. She was very proud, and she liked pouring the cheerio and walnut mixture onto her applesauce for her afternoon snack.

1-to-1 Correspondence

I'm not sure what to call this, so I'll just call it 1-to-1 correspondence since that is the concept we're working on. O enjoyed putting the babies in each bowl. She said she was putting them night-night. She loves babies and everything tiny, so this was the perfect activity for her. The babies are cake decorations and the bowl is a paint palette (I think). Lately, she's been asking to wear a bathing suit after her nap :)

Transferring Plastic Ice Cubes

Yesterday O wanted to "cook with ice," but when I opened the freezer to get the ice, I saw that we didn't have any :( Luckily, I remembered an activity that I saw on Montessori Mama's blog a few months ago, and I had all of the materials I needed to give it a try. For this activity, you need 2 bowls, water, plastic ice cubes, and a strainer or slotted spoon. I put all of the plastic ice cubes (we usually use them for a color sorting activity) in the bowl of water, and showed O how to scoop them using the mesh strainer and then drop them into the empty bowl. She LOVED this and was very focused. I gave her a slotted spoon, a mesh strainer, and another type of spoon, and she liked the mesh strainer the best. This was a great activity for a hot afternoon!

Shaking Lentils

The idea for this work came from this blog. For this activity you need an empty parmesan cheese shaker, a bag of lentils, a bowl, and a funnel. Pour the lentils (as much as you like) into the shaker, then present the work to your child. I showed O how to carefully and slowly shake the lentils into the bowl. She didn't quite get the "carefully and slowly" part of it! I learned on a lesson on the importance of being prepared...I forgot to take the funnel with me when I introduced the lesson, and while I went to get it, she had a great time shaking lentils everywhere!

Toddler Activity Bags

After reading Megret's post about Preschool Activity Bags, I started thinking about making toddler activity bags. Since we are going to the Bahamas on Friday in a small, 6 person plane I decided that I better go ahead and make a few bags to take with us. I got a little carried away! Once I started thinking of ideas, I just couldn't stop :) Here are the ones I've made so far:

Photo magnets
finger puppets
Sorting wacky macaroni

Putting miniature babies or smooth stones into individual boxes. This activity teaches 1-to-1 correspondence, and I think O will LOVE it since she loves babies and all things "niney."
Collage bag- glue stick, foam paper, note cards, stickers, paper punches, strips of construction paper
Stringing noodles to make a necklace. I added a pipe cleaner "needle" to the end of the shoe string to make it easier for O to use.
Mini containers of playdoh and a few playdoh tools
Miniature Mrs. Potato Head. O is going to be so excited to see a "niney" Potato Head!

Mini, reversible felt board
The other side of the felt board
Color sorting with bears
Open and close activity bag.
Puzzle activity bag. These puzzles came from a cutting book for children. I laminated the pictures then cut them out to make puzzles.
The last bag is not pictured. It contains a box of washable crayons (I don't want her coloring the plane walls!), notecards, and sticky notes.

Here's the hard part...which ones do I take with us on our trip? Clearly, 13 is too many. The flight lasts anywhere from 3 hours to 4 and a half hours depending on who I ask, and O will probably sleep at least an hour or two. I'm also taking books to read and snacks to eat. 5 or 6 activity bags shoud be more than enough. I just can't decide which ones. What do you think? Which bags do you think your child would enjoy?

Transferring Rice with a Small Spoon

My mom cleaned out her china cabinet and buffet this afternoon, and I hit the jackpot! The tray for this work is the bottom of an old butter dish, and the 2 small glass bowls are old ash trays. The tiny spoon is from the ice cream shop that we went to after our professional photo shoot. (I thought of this work when I saw the spoon, so I asked for few more samples so that I could have a few extra spoons!)

I was not sure that O would be successful, but I was sure that she would LOVE this work since she loves all things "niney" (tiny). She did MUCH better than I expected, and she thoroughly enjoyed herself. She was very excited that Guh-guh found an "ug" for her to work on. When she was finished working, she rolled the rug up by herself and took it to Guh-guh. I was so surprised and proud because it was the 1st time that she's rolled the rug completely independently. She LOVES working on a rug aka "ug."

Matching Magnetic Fruits and Vegetables

I found these vegetable and fruit magnets at the dollar store this afternoon. I bought 3 packs so O could sort & match them, and she seemed to enjoy this work. She was easily distracted, and I think I put out too many items at one time. I put one of each item on the cookie sheet, and I put the matching pairs in the basket. She was supposed to pick up one item at a time and match it to its pair on the cookie sheet. We'll try this again tomorrow with fewer items :)

Color Sorting

My sister found these martini glass things at the dollar section of Target yesterday. I was very proud of her when she immediately saw the potential for a color sorting activity. Yay, Melanie! O really enjoyed sorting the small animals by color. When she's a little older, I think she'll like sorting them by the animal type.

Transferring Water with a Dropper

I introduced this work to O today. I set out 2 small glasses with the glass on the left filled halfway with water. I showed her how to fill the dropper with water and then release the water into the 2nd glass. She was interested, but she didn't stick with the task for very long. She kept forgetting to let go of the bulb once she squeezed it, so she was not getting much water in the dropper. I hope she'll enjoy this work more when we try it tomorrow.

Touch Board

I finally made the touch boards using these directions. Thanks, Steph! I've been thinking about making them for a while, so I was glad to finally gather the materials and make them. Unfortunately, O was not interested in this work AT ALL. I think its probably too easy since she knows the difference between rough and smooth. I'll introduce Touch Board #2 when we get back from our vacations, and hopefully she'll be more interested.

Pipe Cleaner Letter Cards

My friend, Jennifer, had the great idea to make letters from pipe cleaners and glue them to flashcards. I'd made letters from pipe cleaners before, but I'd never thought of gluing them to notecards. This was a super easy and fast project. I ran out of red pipe cleaners before I finished making the alphabet. I plan on using these letters in conjunction with O's phonics bags. Thanks, Jennifer, for sharing this great idea!

Color Sorting

Thanks to the One Little, Two Little blog for posting the link to this great color sorting game! We started with blue, red, and yellow, and I think I'll add in orange next time. O was a little skeptical at 1st, but she had fun once she started. She didn't want to participate when I called the activity "color sorting," but she was ready to work when I changed my wording and said it was "color matching." The girl loves to match :)