Sound Cylinders

Our sound cylinders needed revamping, so I thought the yogurt smoothie containers would be great for this activity, too.

To make the cylinders, I filled each pair of cylinders with the following materials: rice, lentils, black beans, and sand. I glued red and blue cardstock circles to the tops of each cylinder. The cylinders have matching stickers on the bottoms for self checking.

Learning to Lace

O has been interested in lacing and tying her shoes lately. I don't think she's ready to learn to tie her shoes (she disagrees), but she's done well learning to lace.

After she had difficulty with a lacing board, I put these shoes in a basket on her shelf. I left one shoe laced so she would have it as a guide. O was excited to see this work on her Montessori shelf. However, we've recently been reading Fancy Nancy, and she thought she should lace the shoe right up her leg "just like Fancy Nancy." Silly girl!

Weighted Cylinders

I've been trying to figure out how to make weighted cylinders for a while, and I finally made a few. I recently started buying yogurt smoothies for O, and I realized the containers would be perfect for this. I hate buying individually packaged snacks, so this made me feel better about it :)

To make the weighted cylinders, I filled them with plaster of paris. The first pair have 1 tablespoon of plaster of paris (mixed with 2 tablespoons of water), and the 2nd pair of cylinders has 2 tablespoons of plaster of paris (mixed with 4 tablespoons of water). I glued red and blue cardstock circles to the top of the bottles.

To match the cylinders, you pick up one bottle and feel the weight of it. Then pick up a second to see if they match. (You match a blue topped bottle with a red topped bottle). I was surprised by how difficult this work is. There are stickers on the bottoms of the cylinders for self-checking.

I plan to make a few more pairs when I have more bottles. I'm not sure if the plaster of paris is the best material to use for making these cylinders, but it works for now. This activity was simple to put together and fun to do!

DIY Letter and Number Stamps

These stamps are simple, fast, and inexpensive to make. Here's how to do it...

To make these letter and number stamps you need 6 wooden blocks (1.5 inches square), foam letters and numbers (sold at WM for one dollar), and glue. O and my mom punched the letters and numbers out of the foam puzzle while I glued them (backwards)to the blocks. Simple, fast, and fun, and O was excited to have a new set of stamps to play with!

The inspiration for these stamps came from Ohdeedoh.

Embroidered Tulip Fairy Doll

Since O loved her Peppermint Fairy pillow doll so much (and I put it away with the Christmas stuff), I decided to make a Tulip Fairy pillow doll for her for Easter. The pattern came from Wee Wonderfuls. I love the sweet embroidered dolls from Wee Wonderfuls, and I'm looking forward to embroidering more of these sweet dolls for my sweet girls.

The Montessori Goldmine

If you are in need of Montessori inspiration head over to Jo's new blog, The Montessori Goldmine. You'll be glad you did!

Geometric Solids Extension

O has enjoyed working with the geometric solids lately. For this activity, I put out each geometric solid. O had a stack of cards with pictures of everyday objects that represented the different geometric solids. She matched the cards to the appropriate shape. She enjoyed this work, but I realized after she completed it that it would have been better if we had lined the geometric solids from top to bottom so that she would be placing the cards from left to right. I'll remember next time...

I downloaded and printed the geometric solids cards from Our Montessori Story.

Sensory Beanbags

I made E a set of sensory beanbags for Easter, and she LOVES them!!! (O has started choosing E's clothes in the mornings...just in case you were wondering :)

To make the beanbags, I chose several different types of materials...cotton, fleece, satin, corduroy, flannel, and velvet. On one side of each beanbag is a textured material and on the other side is a visually stimulating material. I cut 4 inch squares out of the material, sewed 2 squares back to back, trimmed the corners, and turned the beanbags. I filled 3 of the beanbags with stuffing, so they are actually mini pillows instead of beanbags...I didn't want to put beans in the fabrics with a looser weave because I was afraid that the beans would come out and be a choking hazard. Three of the beanbags are made from materials with a tighter weave, so we filled them with rice, lentils, and beans (1 material in each bag) so that she would have different sensory experiences with each bag. The beanbags were so easy to make, and I'm thankful to my mom for finishing them for me...I don't have the patience to sew the openings closed after flipping and filling the bags :)

Trap Door Readers

O LOVES these trap door reading cards! I was very excited when Arwen from Walk Beside Me emailed and asked me to try out these cards. I printed them on cardstock and followed the directions for cutting and folding them. They were easy to put together, and O has thoroughly enjoyed reading the words. These cards are a great way to make reading fun! Thanks, Arwen!

You can purchase the trap door reading cards for download from here or here.

Felt Bunny Finger Puppets

These sweet felt bunny finger puppets were a last minute addition to O and E's Easter baskets that I didn't finish making until after midnight on Easter morning. I used the pattern and followed the directions from the Purl Bee. These bunnies were quick and easy to make. I left the tail off of E's bunny since I knew she'd be spending a lot of time in E's mouth, and I didn't want to create a choking hazard for my baby.

That Explains It!

I tried scheduling a couple of posts and did not realize that they never actually posted (I really need to start reading my blog, I guess!). I was wondering why no one commented...usually there is at least one comment per post. Thanks to all of you who comment. I read every comment, and I try to answer the questions in the comments section. Although, I have gotten a little slack about doing that lately...sorry about that. I'm trying to do better :)

Spring Felt Crown

This Spring felt crown is my favorite handmade Easter gift for this year! O loved it, and I was surprised by how easy it was to make.

To make the crown, I cut a crown pattern out of paper. I laid it on a piece of wool blend felt and traced around the paper with disappearing ink. I cut 2 identical pieces from the wool felt, and then sewed the pieces together using a blanket stitch. (This is only my 2nd time doing the blanket stitch, so it doesn't look great, and I had to start over a couple of times). I left openings for the elastic at the base of the crown. After stitching around the crown, I cut the elastic to the appropriate size, pinned it into the holes left on the crown, and did a straight stitch to hold it in place. I made the felt flower from a Martha Stewart felt flower barrette kit and glued it to the front of the crown.

I'm pretty proud of how this crown turned out, especially since I did all of the sewing in a dark room in the middle of the night:)

Five in a Row...Make Way for Ducklings

I've been intrigued by the Five in a Row program for a while, and I finally decided to order the book. (since I had amazon credit...THANKS to everyone who clicks in to Amazon through the button in my sidebar!) I chose Volume 2 since I already had 4 of the books. We've only "rowed" 2 books, but so far we LOVE it! (click on the link to the Five in a Row homepage to read more about the program...because I am too lazy to explain it well :)

Our first Five in a Row book was Make Way for Ducklings. I am keeping this process as simple as possible, and we are reading the book and then having the discussions suggested in the book. I've decided against making lapbooks and ordering the Fold n Learns...for now. I love how this process has prompted me to look deeper at the books and to see things that I didn't notice before. I've been amazed by how perceptive O is as she has demonstrated in our discussions. On Art day, I gave O a brown pencil and her sketch book and encouraged her to draw a picture with just a brown crayon like the illustrations in the book. I was very surprised when she showed me her drawing of a duck. She did a great job and was proud of herself!



We are "rowing" Peter Rabbit this week. O loves the book, and she was excited to learn about onomatopoeia today :) She has also had fun acting out the book, but she insists that Mr. MacGregor is out of town, and she doesn't want anyone to act out his part. We've also been planting our garden this week which which coincides perfectly with the reading of this book.

I am looking forward to "rowing" more books and plan to continue this even after O begins school in the fall. I'd love input on the Fold n Learns...are they worth the money? They seem a bit pricey to me. I'm also interested in the Five in a Row Nature Studies books. If anyone has any experience with either of these products, I'd love to hear more about them. Thanks!

EC Update

EC is going GREAT with Baby E!!! I haven't changed a poopy diaper in almost a month, and that is so wonderful! Using cloth diapers is a great motivator for doing EC :)

I planned to do EC with E from the beginning, and it was really easy to read her pottying signals when she was brand new. However, I was busy and got slack about cuing her and paying attention to her signals. Once the weather got colder, I left her diaper free less often. I continued to cue her when I changed her diaper, but that was about it.

Fast forward to E at 6 months old...I realized that if I wanted EC to work, I was going to have to be diligent about reading her signals. After one day of diligence and catching all poops and some pees, she TOTALLY got it! It was amazing! She'd signal that she needed to potty (facial expression), I'd say "do you need to potty?" while signing "potty," and she'd smile, wave her arms, and kick her legs. I'd take her to the potty, and she'd go. She seems SO proud and happy to be using the potty, and her diaper rash that developed when she started eating solids is completely gone. Since my one day of diligence, I've caught every poop since she knows to wait until I get her on the potty to go. I'm still keeping her in diapers and actually have no plans to put her in panties since I'm not very good at catching her pees. Although, I may try having her wear thick training pants with a cover because they would be much easier to remove than a snapped diaper.

I take her to the potty when she wakes up and when I change her diaper, and I can almost always tell when she is wetting, but I haven't gotten good at reading her signals before she goes. I have to admit that I'm not trying that hard...I'm just happy that she's pooping on the potty. It makes my life SO much easier, and she is so happy and proud of herself. I encourage all mamas to give this a try. When it works, it makes life so much easier and it's good for the environment :)

Easy Embroidery...Maybe an IKEA Hack :)

I'm not sure if this project would qualify as an IKEA hack, but maybe...

I love the simple animals on the IKEA burp cloths, and I thought they would make cute embroidery patterns.

To make E's shirt, I photocopied the burp cloth, cut out the pictures that I liked, traced over the lines with an iron on pencil, and ironed the design onto a t-shirt. I embroidered over the pattern using the backstitch. This was fast and simple to do. I've embroidered several bibs and a couple of onesies with the different IKEA animals, but the monkey is my favorite. I plan to embroider several more t-shirts for E to wear...they are so much easier than onesies now that she is using the potty often (more on that in an EC post!).