I used a single row ice-cube tray, pompoms, and a clothespin. I always put a dot on the ends of the clothespin which helps the child with finger placement.
I usually don't decorate the clothespins. In this case, I thought it would be a fun way to encourage opening it wide enough to grasp the pompom and for promoting the actual use of the lesson. She loved it and thought it was fun!
We recently made one of these for a grandparent's birthday. They were very easy and quick and lots of fun to make.
I started with a golf ball size of Sculpey oven bake clay. Use the bottom of a cup to flatten the ball. Help the child press one thumb into the clay and then rotated the clay and to make another print. Follow the directions for baking (about 15 min). I then glued on small magnets using craft glue (I have since used the hot glue gun which I think bonds stronger).
When it has cooled, it can be painted. After the child has painted it, I found that leaving the paint in the impression to dry, but wiping off excess paint around the rest of the circle creates a nice contrast.
We also made these nature print magnets, inspired by this blog, (sorry, link isn't working just type "sculpey" in search box when you get there)
All that is needed for this activity is a used soap pump, a tub or large bowl and a towel for under the tub. Fill the pump container with water and place it in the bowl for the toddler to practice pumping with.
It took a little practice for my daughter to learn the pumping motion but she was successful. She used it for a few minutes, but not as long as the pouring activities, I think because it takes a lot of arm strength. Despite this, it's a keeper for her activity shelf, and I think as she develops more she will really enjoy it.
The Mystery Bag. A set of 5 pairs of objects (geometric shapes). One set goes in the bag, the other set is left out. The child chooses a shape and holds it in her hand while the other hand feels for the match from the bag.
Color Tablets: Color Box #3 Grading Colors After the child can match colors and knows all the names of the the colors (Purple, blue, red... from box 1 & 2) the child grades one color at a time from darkest to lightest. We are still practicing this, as you can see =)
Knobbed Cylinders: There are four of these blocks, each contains 10 cylinders. They vary in dimension including height, width, depth. After the child is successful with one at a time, he can use two at a time, then three at a time, then four at a time and then work on them blindfolded!
My youngest daughter is now 18 months. With both my children I found it challenging to find engaging toys for this age. To provide her with a new activity, I put this together. The wooden pieces came from a stringing beads activity we have. She has been using it often and since it cost me nothing to make, I consider it a success!
The bowl is filled to the line. One dropper full of soap is added to the water. The sponge is placed in the bowl and squeezed repeatedly to make the bubbles. The cloth is used for wiping up spills and drying the bowl when finished.
An apron is used because of the large amount of water used. It didn't take long for the bubbles to appear and my daughter thought this was lots of fun. This activity is great for strengthening the hand muscles*.
The pants are taken out and unfolded one at a time.
Then they are folded one at a time and put back into the suitcase.
After success with the pants, I will keep one pair of pants and add socks. Eventually, this lesson will be "Packing an Overnight Bag for Grandparent's House" and will also include a shirt, pajamas, undergarments, teddy bear and toothbrush.
This activity uses bean bags and a spatula. Because my beanbags are the same on both sides, I did a quick few stitches on one side of each as a control of error so that the child can tell if the bean bag has been flipped over. When I put this together, I couldn't helping thinking it would have been fun to have circular beanbags that look like pancakes.
The beanbags provide a nice weight which really exercise the wrist and hand muscles.
The daily interest in the geography materials continues. We made up this game recently. As we sing the continents' song, my daughter spins the painted globe. When the song ends she points to a continent on the painted globe and names it. She then finds that continent on the sandpaper globe.
Matching Birds to Their Native Continent: I have changed out the animals for these birds. We sing the continents song and because the map is so large my daughter enjoys hopping onto the continent as we sing it's name.
These birds came from a Big Lots a few years ago, before I even had any children. Surprisingly, they are realistic and accurate and the package included birds from almost every continent.
I looked up the birds on the internet for information and typed up a few sentences on each bird. We read the information and take a moment to study the bird. Then it is put on it's native continent.
I am introducing the seasons and we are starting with spring. I found a great seasons song to use from the Montessori Mama blog. I laid out the four seasons cards and we point as we sing these lyrics to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.
I printed these cards out free from Montessori for Everyone. They also have cards for the rest of the seasons. Because my daughter has never been introduced to the seasons I am introducing them one at a time before turning it into a sorting activity. After we sing the song, she lays out the cards and we talk about each picture.
Loud and Quiet Shakers: I put these together to offer an exercise in discriminating between sounds and tried to gear them towards loud and quiet. I have them out on a tray and my daughter shakes them one at a time.
Water Transfer With a Sponge: This is a traditional lesson for a 3-6 year old class. My oldest daughter used it early on and so we don't use it in our Montessori room anymore. I was interested to see how my youngest daughter would do with it. I use a sponge cut in half for her smaller hands and she wears an apron for this work. I began by filling the bowl on the left with water about 1/4 full.
I demonstrated by placing the sponge in the water and carefully lifting it and moving it to the other bowl. Holding my hand about level with the edge of the bowl, I slowly squeezed the sponge and waited for the last drop to fall. I then returned the sponge to the bowl on the left and repeated. My daughter transferred the water from one bowl to the other and back using the sponge. Of course, it all ended with her picking up a bowl and beginning to pour. We cleaned up together (as best she could) using the towel provided. Initially, I thought about putting the bowls in a plastic tub, which would contain any pouring that goes on.
