Here are works that remind us of a day in the woods discovering owls. My Montessori school offers Reggio Loose Parts activities as shown here.
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Friday, November 21, 2014
Friday, October 10, 2014
Decorating Halloween Place Mats
The addition of creepy crawlers, plastic leaves and tiny Halloween cupcake liners change this spider web place mat into a fun holiday activity that even two year old children love to do! The place mats all came from Goodwill. |
This is the time of year I get my skeleton unit out. Children learn not to fear Halloween but to name the parts of the skeleton. |
Decorating Halloween Flags
Have a holiday flag?
Have the children decorate it with appropriate items to jazz it up!
Have the children decorate it with appropriate items to jazz it up!
Objects were gotten from the dollar bins at Target. |
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Land, Air and Water. A Montessori/Reggio Hybrid Layout
A mix on classical Montessori geography and Reggio Loose Parts? Oh, no!
Oh, yes! It is way cool. In the past I have used the common three bottles filled with dirt, water and air and the matching animal cards. And with this I do give the traditional intro using the globe to describe the land, ocean and being surrounded by air.
But then I deviate using cut paper, a painted shell on canvas and a Lego cave ( horrors to a purist ) simply laid on a large floor mat
Then we lay out the land part which is rocks, the ocean part which are shells and the air part which is cotton ball clouds. Labels for land, air and water are added.
The animals come next.
Last the vehicles cards are talked about and added.
The old way is classic, but this way is so interactive and takes much thought and consideration in placing all the objects.
I love it.
Monday, August 11, 2014
Doily Prints
Paint them up,
flip them over and press them on paper.
Simple and so pretty! |
We thought that
the print would transfer easily by rolling with a brayer. We found the
children were not strong enough to do that well.
We found the best
way to transfer the print was to place newspaper on top and rub hard.
This would make
Grandma proud! Lovely prints bring new life to the old, unloved doily!
And we do appreciate the handmade labor of love from women of the
past who made these lovely doilies that once brightened their home.
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Trivet Nature Free Form Design
Cheap and Practical Montessori
Kids don’t need perfection, beauty or big bucks spent to place
a successful, intriguing work before them.
Stuff around the house can be put together in surprising
ways for small hands to use.
My staff says I need to go to estate sale rehab. Years of
bringing back random, strange objects has always paid off in the creation of a
huge variety of manipulatives that are truly unique.
My box of unmatched items grew empty so off I went
bargain hunting again. 25 cents an item or for the whole bag! I always pair
each activity up with a 50 cent tray and a 10 cent spoon and my imagination.
This week they are not so pretty, but I know the kids will love doing them.
My students inhale practical life works and I rotate them
often. The bargain works are created and then bagged up, often with the appropriate
50 cent tray, for quick finding and easy rotation. I know I have over 100
practical life works bagged to switch out. Almost all objects are discount
finds from Goodwill, Salvation Army, garage or estate sales.
See my other estate sale posts for more ideas!
http://inspiredmontessori.blogspot.com/search/label/Budget
http://inspiredmontessori.blogspot.com/search/label/Estate%20Sale%20Works
http://inspiredmontessori.blogspot.com/search/label/Budget
http://inspiredmontessori.blogspot.com/search/label/Estate%20Sale%20Works
Estate sale bonanza. The odd parts fall together
to make
this sweet activity for very young children.
this sweet activity for very young children.
I have been
saving juice lids and must come up with more ways to use them all!
Old flag poles find their mate!
These unloved
objects have been at the bottom of my unmatched items box for over 15 years. I
never thought I could find a use for them until I found wooden eggs at an
estate sale. Then, presto! Their hidden potential was finally made visible.
Our toddlers love
this and will do it over and over! Open ended free choice matching of
base to wooden eggs.
This tall bread
tin makes the perfect down the chute work with styrofoam balls.
This is so
elementary that I hesitated to put it out. The twos and threes did this
non-stop all afternoon!
This
would make a church grandma proud. Church bazaar craft of felt mittens
with a hair clip inside is a perfect pinch open and shut work for my
students.
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Fireworks Painting
Pipe cleaner stamps and whips make beautiful 4th of July art work!
This idea was
found on Pinterest.
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Geometric Solids Fractions
Bonanza!
I sorted two boxes of wooden fraction blocks found in the basement of an estate sale that match the Geometric Solids !
Oklahoma barite rose rocks and a weird ball were in the boxes!
Found dates in boxes from 1979.
I am sure the past owner, who was an early childhood educator,
is smiling down from heaven!
Cube Extension
Every which way to divide a cube.
It boggles my mind!
Rectangular Prism Extension
What a lesson this will be!
The rest of the family now have all wooden classification matches.
I had used a basket of found objects of various shapes before.
Mystery forms
Flat wooden shapes hold a future of design wonderful to behold!
I have bagged the rest of the shapes for exploration in math
and Reggio loose parts!
My old way of classification has been upgraded!