A Book Garland

O LOVES to read! She has known her letter sounds for a while (I give most of the credit for this to her watching the Letter Factory once or twice a week for a couple of months), and suddenly something clicked (while playing with the spinny speller, paint chip word game, trap door readers, and watching Talking Words) and she was reading. (It almost seemed like magic...I guess she was just ready). She quickly transferred that knowledge into reading books. She is so proud of herself, and I thought she'd like to hang up the books she has read.

I strung a piece of yarn from the mantle, and she puts each book that she has read on the yarn. She loves to add new books and then counts them all to annouce the total...she's up to 9 so far. In the past 2 weeks she has lost interest in reading books by herself. That's okay with me. As long as she doesn't lose interest in having us read books to her, I'll be happy. (When she read her first book, she said "Now you don't have to read books to me anymore." I told her that would never happen because I love to read to her. She'll be a grown woman, and I'll still be coming over to read aloud with her and her sister.)

Initial Consonants Practice

I downloaded and printed this initial consonants activity from Confessions of a Homeschooler. I laminated the cards, and joined the cards together with a book ring.

To do the activity, O labels the item on the card and then circles the correct initial consonant using a wipe off marker. She loves this simple and fun activity!

Fun with Knobbed Cylinders

Whenever O gets out the knobbed cylinders, she always pretends that the cylinders are people. On Friday morning, we took all of the cylinders out and pretended that the spaces were their beds. We had fun taking turns placing the cylinders in their correct spaces.

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:)