Lily Tots

A little math game

2012-02-14T03:58:00.000-08:00

To help Lily to read in her head, to memorise and to practice counting from 0 to 9, I proposed to her this exercice:

Slips of paper folded in two with numbers from 0 to 9 and the corrects amount of beans.

She has to take one slip of paper, reads the number in her head, and takes the correct amount of beans. When it's finished, I check with her if it's correct.

Doing this game showed me that she's not always able to read numbers when it's handwritten and that it's more difficult for her to count 6, 7, 8, 9 (all the biggests numbers). We played the game together too, taking turn to take a slip of paper and counting.

Montessori Monday

2012-02-13T03:46:00.000-08:00

We had another great week!

A little bit of math, sensorial, and zoology, anatomy! Amongst other activities that I will post later on.

We have this abacus for a while now. Lily likes to match number to the pieces.

Counting game from Making learning fun

We used a little heart shape button to put on the correct number.

Working with the geometric solids. It's a hit! I made some extensions exercices. I will post about it in a separate post.

Number rods. She's well able to put them in order.

She didn't use that much the zoology jigsaws. Therefore I proposed to do them this time.

Fraction jigsaw.

We use this one a lot lately. She is very curious about the baby of course (I'm due in 3 weeks!)

It's another Beleduc material

I link this post to

at Living Montessori Now

Board Game and montessori extension!

2012-02-08T05:48:00.000-08:00

Here a new board game that we have tried and now, we play nearly every day!It's "Lucky ducky". It's an Orchard toy proudly made in UK! I'm a big fan of their games.

How do you play: You have to guess if you're going to pick a duck with a bigger or smaller number than the one you've pick with the wheel!

Lily, 4 years, grasped the concept very quickly!

Of course, as a Montessori teacher, I coudln't resist some nice extensions. At the end, to see who won, you have to count how many ducks you get. Then I suggested to sort the ducks, then to line up in order from 1 to 10.

Then, you can also use the ducks in a memory games (there are 4 of each), you can use them as number cards with counters of your choice. You can also use the plain colour ducks to do a color game!

With one game, you have plenty of activities!

Here the link for more Orchard toys!

http://www.orchardtoys.com/

Photo shoot!

2012-02-05T02:17:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, we went for a photo shoot at Natasha Wiening Photography. If you're a Londoner, go and check her website and like her facebook page too If you decide to go ahead with her, say that I recommended her to you!Enjoy!

Indoor play house

2012-01-31T08:40:00.000-08:00

3 chairs, a blanket, 2 cushions and lots of fun!

She took her baby and doll's buggy inside and had so much fun!

Have a look on The Imagination tree for more play ideas!

Valentine's craft - Day 1

2012-01-31T03:25:00.000-08:00

The best thing when I want my child to do art and craft by herself is to set-up a tray with collage materials. I provided 2 heart shape paper and loads of stuff to glue on. Et voilà!

Sensorial exploration again!

2012-01-30T03:07:00.000-08:00

Sorting bears by colour

Color box 3

Hard to be sure!

Geometric shapes

4 knobless cylinders boxes all together!

Happy Montessori Monday!

Go over

Chinese New Year crafts

2012-01-30T03:04:00.000-08:00

We did 2 simple craft activities last week to celebrate Chinese New Year.

I drew a dragon head and cut it for Lily. She coloured it the way she wanted. Then, we made a tail with little paper stapled together. Of course, we use glitter and glue!

This one is made with one egg carton, a piece of an egg carton for the eyes, tissue paper and some coloured cards...

Art with the insets for design

2011-11-14T03:33:00.000-08:00

We made some Puffy paint! Just mix together 1 cup of salt, 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of water.

Add some food colouring

And enjoy!

The little Montessori twist: I proposed to Lily to draw with the insets for design.

Then she painted the forms. When it's dry, it's textured! We still have to cut them!

Practical madness!

2011-11-14T02:26:00.000-08:00

Lately, Lily started to enjoy all the culinary activities! She was like that when she was little. At that time, it was more about repetition of a skill (mixing, pouring, playing with water, ...) that actually cooking something. Then, she lost interest totally for months! We were sad because we like to involve her in our daily routine.
And all of suden, she asks again to cook with us.

Here she uses a apple slicer.

And helps me to bake an apple cake.

she has a new vegetable peeler easy to use by a child and now she always wants to be the one who peels the vegetables.

She helps me cook every night now!

She also practices a lot with the dressing frames.

Here the buttons frame.

Zip frames.

Snap fastener.

Leather bell. This one is very hard and she doesn't master it yet!

To encourage her to cook more with me, I offered her a apron and hat. She loves them and runs to put them on when I ask her to help me.

This grater comes from Ikea and it's very easy to use by a child.

For more Montessori activities, check over
Living Montessori now
She has a post about "Food preparation"

And check over "one hook wonder"

A french giveaway

2011-11-07T15:35:00.000-08:00

Family and co is hosting a very nice giveaway. The pink serie in french to win!

Go over and check her very good shop and blog!

Family and co

Last Halloween crafts

2011-10-31T03:53:00.000-07:00

Orange play-dough with pipe cleaner and black beans

A bat with egg carton

Pumpkin with cut toilet rolls

Jack-oh-lantern of course

Happy Halloween!

I link this post with

And

Living Montessori Now

A few new Halloween activities

2011-10-25T15:28:00.000-07:00

A new sensory bin for this Halloween. More scary things compared to last year. She's nearly 4 years old and is so interested about skeletons right now (stay tuned, I will add skeleton's activities)

Sorting the little scary things from the sensory bin (good for language and counting too!)

Spooning little scary things from a bowl full of rice. More thricky than it looks!

Painting a pumpkin

2011-10-24T14:39:00.000-07:00

Taking inspiraton from The imagination tree, I proposed to Lily to decorate a pumpkin (2 for £1.50 at Tesco!). She painted it with Metallic paint and added some glitter. I really like the result!

Sensorial exploration

2011-10-09T02:15:00.000-07:00

Lately, Lily has started to explore her sensorial material in different ways.

Free exploration with the brown stairs.

Red rods and little animals...

Making a maze and walking in it

And here she tries different combination between broad stairs and pink towers.

She uses pictures that I found on the web to help her!

She also explores the 4 knobless cylinders all together.

Messy activities

2011-10-04T08:07:00.000-07:00

We had a funny and messy day in our friend house! First we painted with our hands and with black paint! And we added red split lentils!!!

Then, we had a blast with food colouring and flour.

Messy only Messy!

Give away!

2011-09-26T04:36:00.001-07:00

Go on

She's offering some Halloween books and craft materials!

Autumn's activities

2011-09-15T05:43:00.000-07:00

We gathered some chestnuts in the park and then I organised a few new activities for Lily.

Here, I print out a acorn colouring from Kidssoup. I bought a pin punching set in Belgium during our Holidays. In fact, I have fond memories of myself pin-punching during preschool. Lily liked it but not as much as I tough. She started it but it's now left unfinished on the shelf.

Here, she has to sort the chestnuts from smallest to biggest.

Cards and counters with chestnuts

Transferring chestnuts with tongs

Sounds and letters

2011-09-13T04:25:00.000-07:00

Lily seems to be in the mood for recognition of the letters. When she started in the Montessori classroom last year (around 2 years and a half), she watched the older children learning the sandpaper letters. She wanted to do the same very quickly. She learned most of them but she didn't have a clue about the sound of the letter. I did the "I spy game" with her a lot of time, she didn't seems to grap the concept until a few months ago. Now, she sound out a lot of word when she speaks. She even associate 2 words because they rhyme (like, she said, referring to a friend's name, "Josette va avec Chausette"). She likes to sound out her friends names (Olivia, it O L I via). So we do the I spy game regularly.

To reinforce the knowledge of the letter, we use magnetic letters and sandpaper letters that she has to match. She has also a letter jigsaw and I also write down the letter and she has to recognise them.

She is also into writing. She likes to have post it and write on it. She has a "home made sand tray" which is basically a shoe box lid with flour (I think salt would be better). She's able to write "m, s, t, o" and she pretends to write the rest.

Color box 2

2011-09-12T04:12:00.000-07:00

Here a game with do with the color box.
I ask Lily to pair the colour one at a time. Then, I ask her to go and find a object of the same colour.

I like the way she goes around the house to find each colour. The black one seems to be to most difficult to find for her.

Bloc de cylindres

2011-09-11T04:08:00.000-07:00

Lily loves the knobbed cylinders. For now, she works with 2 at a time (not pictured). The annoying thing is that she always pretends that the cylinders are "little people". First, I was strict and told her to "work with" and "not to play". That's there were "cylinders" to work with and not "little people" to play with. Then, I had a course at the Montessori Centre International (a course about Infant and Toddler) and the teacher reassures me about that behaviour. After all, Montessori advised us to observe the child and let him be free to use the material as he wishes (as long as he's not making any arm to himself, others or the environment - including the material itself). She reminds too that at 3 years old, my daughter is into "imaginative play" and obviously, the cylinders look like "people"!
So I let go! And since, she is so happy to work with any material on the shelf. And still pretends that the cylinders are little people going in the train. But she practices 3 fingers grip anyway.

Just to explain a little bit more: when I was strict about "not pretending with the material", she was very crossed and didn't want to work with any Montessori material anymore. Then, she went to the cylinders blocs again, each time I proposed a Montessori session. And again, she pretended it was "little people". I even put away the blocs telling her that she was not able to work with them properly. I have to say, all along, she always put them back in each hole and did the "work" while pretending it was train and people. So, she wasn't destroying any material at all. Then, a few week after, when I had discussed with my teacher, I put back the knobbed cylinders on the shelf. I didn't say a word and she went for it immediately.

We learn all the time, aren't we?

Hammering set

2011-09-10T09:05:00.000-07:00

This is a new addition to our Montessori shelves, a hammering set. Lily likes it a lot and uses it regurlary. She likes to do her own patterns but she's also able to follow the pictures provided with the set. We bought our set athttp://www.aborbentminds,co.uk

I'm back and I have some news!

2011-09-08T13:25:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time...

Well, we moved to London and we needed time to settle in.
Lily started a nursery without me! (Last year, she was in a "montessori" nursery with me) and she likes it. She is very happy to have new friends in UK. She is a very social little girl and I couldn't cope with her high demand of socialization.

Then, I decided to start my own business.
I'm about to offer some parent-toddler classes based on the Montessori principles. I always like the first 3 years of life and think the first 3 years of child are the foundations for the personality.
As a parent, I also loved to go to playgroups and toddlers groups but I find them totally chaotic. I wanted to offer more and something different.
If you live in West London or know anyone who might me interested, please, spread the word!
Here the link: www.montessori-family.co.uk

Finally, we have another big news!
We're expecting "baby number 2"! He or She will come in March 2012... We're all excited and Lily seems happy (for now) to become a big sister!

Of course, we did a lot of activities even if I didn't update the blog, so stay tuned as I will share them with you!

In London!

2011-06-08T02:02:00.000-07:00

Ah oui, j'oubliais: On est a Londres quand meme! Alors je vous mets des photos!

Outdoor easel

2011-04-12T12:55:00.000-07:00

We have this easel since Lily is 2 years old. She used it a lot for the first 6 months then she lost interest into it. The weather is so nice that I put the easel out (along other outdoor toys). And here she goes using it again!

Hot and Cold regions

2011-04-11T03:54:00.000-07:00

A while ago, I made these tubes for Lily: Cold and Hot regions (also you can say Polars regions/Jungle?). She was fascinated about jungle animals and as we have also a few polar animals, I though the contrast would be a good idea! I used felt and what I have on hands to make them! The plastic container are from Ikea!

Saint-Patrick day!

2011-03-10T13:58:00.000-08:00

Saint-Patrick day is coming!

As I live in Ireland, I had to post about it on my blog.
However, it means nothing to Lily so I thought, at first, I would pass!
Then, I had my cousin on vacation and we went to visit the Leprechaun Museum
And Lily was fascinated! So I bought a little Leprechaun in plaster of Paris to paint. Then, she asked for colorings and so on. So, we are in the middle of Irish folklore crafts and games.

Here a picture of her own drawing of a Leprechaun

So, if you want to share your craft, Montessori inspired ideas or whatever about Ireland and Saint-Patrick, feel free to use the link below!

Spring cards

2011-03-02T13:17:00.000-08:00

Spring is everywhere (but the weather still very cold!).
After we had a stroll in the wood, I proposed to Lily to make cards about flowers.
I used a template to draw flowers on colored paper, cut them and give them to Lily to glue. She had some gumed shapes too.
She did the stem and leaves by herself.
Here a sample of her "production"

I forgot to mention that she used a glue bottle for the first time and absolutly loved it!

Dinosaurs sensory tub

2011-02-08T13:51:00.000-08:00

In the tub, there are:

a wild republic dinosaurs tube, smooth stones, bunch of rice and black beans.

We had a few activities around "Dinosaurs" lately. We read "Dinosaur roar", we play with a Dinosaur domino (bought at Lidl for the European readers) and I printed some resources from Making learning fun

Car painting and other printings

2011-02-07T14:26:00.000-08:00

We painted with cars! It was very funny to race around the paper and leave marks! We tried different cars.

Then, Lily decided to try with other various objects, tea set, a toy piano, duplo.

Fun and easy!
Note that Lily wore make up. She patiently waited more than half an hour to be done at a fair in our local park!

Moving abroad...

2011-02-06T14:22:00.000-08:00

I own you an apology for the long weeks of silence.
Our little family is moving to Uk. So, we're very buy packing, sorting, cleaning...

However, I have a few posts coming up...

First board game

2011-01-20T13:47:00.000-08:00

Lily received this board game for her 3rd birthday.
The game is called "The game of Lady birds" and made by Orchard toys. Not only that it's designed in Uk, it's also Made In Uk!

As Lily is able to count from 1 to 10, she was ready to play with a dice! And we play a lot!

For more Orchard toys

Insets for design

2011-01-02T12:12:00.000-08:00

And other proper Montessori materials...

As Lily is in a Montessori preschool (with me indeed), I restrained myself of buying any Montessori material to use at home.

But, I work in a creche/playschool more than in a truly Montessori environment. I realised now that Lily doesn't have a chance to work as long as she wants the way she wants with the material.

I feels too Montessori for my work but I don't need to go into much details on this blog. It's not the purpose.

So, I decided to add a few Montessori material at home. The insets for design are widely available in school supplies shops so I bought them and Lily works with them everyday. I will also invest into the pink tower, broad stairs and knobbless cylinders. I think Lily could benefit of the many variations of the sensorial material.
And anyway, learning doesn't stop at 12.00?

A snowman

2010-12-20T13:55:00.000-08:00

Lily asked me to paint a snowman. I gave her some black paper and white paint and she covered all her page! Then, I gave her some other color and she did the eyes, nose (orange as it is a carrot), cheeks, mouth and buttons!

She really did it all by herself and I'm so impressed by her abilities to represent something!

Montessori monday

2010-12-19T13:49:00.000-08:00

2 new more "Christmas" activities:

Sorting Christmas decorations. I finally found a sorting plate! It makes the work more attractive for Lily.

A little activity that I found on this blog

Lily is really into numbers so, as we progress into learning the sandpaper numbers, I propose some variation as she knows nearly all of them.
Here, she matches the shapes from her pegboard to the sandpaper numbers.

And here, she places the number of her jigsaw on the sandpaper numbers.

Happy Montessor monday everyone!

Painting with...

2010-12-14T13:27:00.000-08:00

Lids, potatoes, cut of cardboard, fingers and so on!

I was inspired by an Usborne book about Christmas craft and I proposed to Lily to paint with lids, potatoes cut and pieces of cardboard to make "snow and snowflakes". I really like the effect of it!

You can see in the background the sample from the book.

After we painted this, Lily continued with her fingers:

Then with her hands:

So we ended with handprinted Christmas cards!

Let's your child lead you!

Christmas activities

2010-12-12T12:24:00.000-08:00

For Christmas, I set up two new activities for Lily at home:

Transfering glittery pompoms to a icecube tray.

And transfering big pompoms with tongues. I found the 2 santa baskets in a charity shop for 2€.

Check some other Montessori inspired activities

Pattern blocks

2010-12-11T15:12:00.000-08:00

I ordered a box of pattern blocks. It's a Christmas present for my best friend's son. Of course, Lily tried it (we have to buy a new one for her!). I printed some pattern pages from Prekinders
She really likes this new material and I'm sure her little friend Yannick (who will receive it for Christmas) will love it too!

Montessori Birthday ceremony

2010-12-06T14:12:00.000-08:00

Lily turned 3 last wednesday and we hosted her birthday party this week-end!
Here some pics of our birthday ceremony (I tried to avoid to show you the other kids for privacy!). She liked it, especially the candle and the pictures of her as a baby (she called herself "bebe Lily").
I used the book "how to raise an amasing child" by Tim Seldin to help me to set up the ceremony.
Strangely, we never do this ceremony in our classroom so I never practice it before my daughter birthday.
I will enjoy to do it over the years and see how she will react to it as she will grow older.

I still can believe my baby is 3 years old!

Winter craft

2010-12-05T14:17:00.000-08:00

Here some winter inspired winter craft we made.

Just to let you know, we live in Ireland and it is not supposed to snow. Well, it's snowing for a week now so we've get inspired...

On the first picture, she draw a snow man and painted with coton wool and white paint.

On the second picture, she glued coton wool and felt decoration to make a snow man.

On the third picture, we did a "snowflake" with glitter (it does look like a star!)

On the last picture, she just did what she wanted! White paint, white crayon and black paper!

Wonderful giveaway

2010-12-04T13:53:00.001-08:00

Nicole is hosting a wonderful give away for the Advent time on her blog!
Go and check over!

Here!

This moment

2010-12-03T06:05:00.000-08:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember

Go over soulemama to see other "this moment"

New on the shelf

2010-11-13T12:36:00.000-08:00

At home!

This is a new activity that I presented to Lily at home. These are 2 boxes of magnetic animals from Melissa and Doug. We do this activity all together (however, she could do it on her own whenever she wants), I take one animal in my box and she has to find the same one in her box. Then she picks one in a box and I find the second one in mine.
Ok, in another words, it's just a matching game! We didn't use the "magnetic" side of it yet!

November sensory tub

2010-11-12T12:32:00.000-08:00

Here our November sensory tub.
I used some leaves that I had laminated, 1 out of date pack of porridge oats flakes, silicone cup cakes (Lily loves them!), spoons and cats!
Lily pretends that she feeds each cat! Later on, I added more cats: she was laying all the leaves and putting one cat on each leaf! She constated that she didn't have enough cats and asked for more! One to one correspondance!

Sun catcher

2010-11-11T12:31:00.000-08:00

As the weather is so miserable here, we did a lovely craft to cheer us up!
I cut a circle out of contact paper and give it to Lily. She stick on some tissue paper and I stick on another circle of contact paper. Et voila! We did 3 of them and now our window is all decorated!

Award

2010-11-09T10:50:00.000-08:00

A long time ago...

Thanks to Leptir who send me this cute award

The rules:

- Give this award to 10 sweet bloggers.

- Make a post about the award including the picture and mention the person who gave it to you.

- Put the award on your blog.

- Let your nominated 10 know you’ve awarded them by leaving a comment on their blog.

I give this award to
tintinnabuleuse
the work plan
l'ecollogis
Au petit monde d'elisa
a la douce
Counting coconuts
My delicious ambiguity
One hook wonder
http://chasingcheerios.blogspot.com/
Montessori beginnings

Thank you again Leptir!

New on the shelf

2010-11-08T11:58:00.000-08:00

I would like to share with you what is new on our shelves at school.

So here is one of our new work and it's very popular!

Transfering apples with small tongs

Montessori monday

2010-11-07T11:50:00.000-08:00

I did a big revamp of our shelves at home and displayed a lot of new work.

Practical life:

Lately, Lily is not that much interested anymore by any classical practical life activities. Neither in our classroom. However, she is very involved into our daily chores. She always asks to help us if we cook, do the laundry, empty the dishwasher or clean the house! I think she practise enough real practical life!

Having saying that, I came accros a bunch of second hand Melissa and Dough toys. So I introduce the dressing bear:

She likes to do the jigsaw but she didn't try to manipulate any of the type of closing.

Math and Sensorial:

Here another Melissa and Doug new work on our shelf. Below, it's how I found it after she worked alone with it.

Above, it's how she did it after I presented it again. She needs my help to complete it. As much as I like the Melissa and Doug toys, I realise one again, that more than one quality in the material is too confusing (here, for example, there is the colours, the shapes and the numbers!).

We also started the sandpaper numbers. I was a little bit afraid that Lily was too young for it but she absorbs the concept of numbers very well. She counts in English and French for a while now. She loves to count everything around her. She sees the other children in the classroom learning the sandpaper numbers. So, of course, she wanted to do it too! So far, she knows 3 of them. She is also in a "tactile" sensitive period. She reads all her touch and feel books all the time so the sandpaper is quite attractive!

Here, a simple sorting colors game. The cards are part of a set of colored coded cards that you can sort by colour of course and also regarding other categories like animals, fruits, vegetables, locomotions and so on. For now, we just use the colours and we talk about what's on each picture.

Language: here a Dora jigsaw that I got free with a child's magazine. Lily loves it. For now, it's just a recognition with the pictures than recognition of the letter.

We also started the I spy game: I display a few animals starting with the same letter and I tell her that I spy an animal that begins with the sound "s". We did "s" and "c". I do this exercice in french.

Thanks for your comments!

Montessori goldmine

2010-10-24T02:20:00.000-07:00

I would bet that you all know already about it but as I have been featured several time on the Montessori Goldmine, I want to say a special thanks to Jo!

Halloween activities

2010-10-24T02:11:00.000-07:00

Here a few Halloween inspired activities we do at home this week.

Sorting halloween little shapes. I made the sorting tray out of a egg carton.

Pouring a spider in each pumpkin caudron. Just by hand! To practice the 3 fingers grip! It is not that easy to take them out!

Making halloween cookies of course!

You can see LOADS of Montessori inspired activities for Halloween on my favourite blogs!

Here at Counting coconuts

Or here at The work plan

Over Chasing cheerios

I also like the printables found on 2 teaching mommies

And of course, I link this post with 2 great Montessori blogs

Pumpkin activities

2010-10-11T13:22:00.000-07:00

Above, a variation of cards and counters I made for the classroom. I made the numbers with a bingo page found on Internet. The counters are little pompoms.

Here, the child has to sort the pumpkin counters by size. The plastic "sorting" tray come from a pack of biscuits.

These two activities are now on the shelf in the classroom.

Come and see other Montessori activities

Story+Art

2010-10-08T12:45:00.000-07:00

Aaaarrgghh, Spider!

We have been reading this book from Lydia Monks all the week. This is the story of a little spider who wants to become the pet of a lovely family. A one stage of the story, she makes a lot of shiny webs in the garden to impress the family.

That inspires me to propose the following craft to Lily.

First, I drew a spider web with white crayon on a black paper and I let Lily cover the drawing with glue. I was impressed that she was well able to follow the pattern.

Then, she shacked different glitter on the paper to make shiny spider webs!

She did another one all by herself, including the drawing!

I link this projet to a mommy adventures

Story + Art

Halloween sensory box

2010-10-05T12:57:00.000-07:00

This week, we changed Lily's sensory box.
You can find:
- a big bunch of black and orange pompoms of different sizes,
- a orange bucket,
- orange pipe cleaners and wooden sticks,
- plastic orange dishes,
- some felt halloween decoration (ghost and black cats)

I hope Lily will enjoy it!

Montessori monday

2010-10-04T02:47:00.000-07:00

Some of the activities we did last week.

Pouring, spooning red lentils: I was doing a lentil soup and Lily saw me pouring the lentils with the storing jug! She requested one! I gave the smaller one and some lentils and set up quickly this activity. She knows already how to pour through a funnel and how to spoon. It is a variation for her.

Here, she's sorting lids by color.

More Montessori activities on One hook wonder and Mommy Moment

Autumn's art

2010-10-02T14:05:00.000-07:00

After I read this article over here, I get inspired for some autumn's art.

Here, she's painting some leaves and we put another page on top to have some leaves printing (see below, second picture). Then, we painted the rest of the paper and removed the leaves (see below, second picture)

We also painted a tree (sorry, I thought I was able to rotate the picture under blogger!). I drawn the trunk and Lily painted it then I gave her a leaf shape sponge and she did the leaves.

Spider web

2010-10-01T11:35:00.000-07:00

As Lily wants to paint with marbles all the time, I proposed to make a spider web! I saw the idea somewhere on a blog and just can't remember which blog (please, if you posted about it already, feel free to link in the commentaries section! ).

So, she did the marble painting with a black paper and white paint then we did the spider! With a egg carton, orange paint, pipe cleaner and googly eyes!

It's a very funny art work for Halloween!

Post-it: Leptir did this actvity in her classroom last year Check here!

and you can see it too on my montessori journey

My spider is just so far bigger!

Goop

2010-09-24T12:14:00.000-07:00

Goop is a so easy recipe! Just mix corn flour with water (2 cup of flour for 1 cup of water but try more or less water, that doesn't matter!). It is a so funny activity! And not messy at all! The texture is so strange, solid and liquid at the same time! We used forks and knife to cut into the goop and played with our hands of course! The bucket is a tray from the ikea storage I use for Lily's toys.

Pour mes lecteurs francophones, corn flour est l'equivalent de la maizena ou semoule de mais!

Hands and feet painting

2010-09-22T12:17:00.000-07:00

A I want to offer more messy activities to Lily, I proposed her to paint with finger paint. We started gently just with our fingers, then we did hand prints and quickly, she asked to try with her feet!
Since the first day I introduced this kind of painting to her, she asks to do it every few days. I'm planning to use her piece of art as wrapping paper for this year Christmas gift.

Busy week-end

2010-09-21T12:14:00.000-07:00

Lily had a very busy week-end with her dad! I was sick, trying to get some rest in bed!
Meanwhile, Lily was mopping the floor, pressing some lemon, picking blackberries then did some muffins, washing the basil to do a pesto sauce, washing the dishes and so on!
She loves to be integrated in our daily tasks!

I link this post under the Toddler tuesday over "one hook wonder"

Marble painting

2010-09-20T12:05:00.000-07:00

You must have seen that everywhere around the blog world. We gave it a try too! And it was so much fun! We kept a Amazon box that is perfect in size for that craft. Lily enjoyed all the process and was very impressed by the results. You can see a few sample of her artwork...

Montessori monday

2010-09-14T07:22:00.000-07:00

Not a proper Montessori material of course! We have these nesting cups since Lily is like 1 year old if I remembered well. She found them hiding in a press and "worked" with it for a long time, stacking them up and down and she arranged the animals above too! This kind of toys is open-ended and that is what I like about it (despite it's plastic)

I link this post to One hook wonder under the toddler tuesday as Lily is still under 3!

Officialy in the Montessori classroom!

2010-09-06T13:47:00.000-07:00

So here it is!

Lily is in my classroom for a month now! In August, it was the summer program and she get used to the classroom, her friends, and the other teacher (well, she knows her for longer as we all take turn for the opening of the creche and the breakfast in the morning).
Last week, we started the Montessori program with a bunch of new children coming up from the toddler room (well, it's a small creche with 3 under 1 year old then a toddler room and our Montessori classroom).
Most of the children in our room are between 2 years and a half and 3 years and 3 months. Then we have a few in their second year who are around 3 and a half and 4 years old.

For now, Lily is not clingy at all and is very interested by the material. She enjoyed the presentations and like to work with my colleague (I try to encourage her to work with the other teacher to avoid any "mummy-daughter" conflicts in the classroom).

As she now works with Montessori material every morning in the creche, I think she might be overwhelmed if we do other Montessori activities at home. So, I'm planning to offer her activities that we don't do often in the creche.

However, as I'm a teacher too, I would like to keep you updated with all the Montessori activities I propose in the creche. Therefore, I will ask the permission to take picture of my own daughter at school and of the material we use at school.

And here what I'm planning for Lily at home: more messy play, more art and craft, more french language activities, more baking as she asks to bake all the time right now. If the weather's still good enough, you will more "nature" activities. I'm in need of walks into the forest, and connection to nature right now!

So happy new ("home") school year to everyone!

Games with lids

2010-09-05T12:06:00.000-07:00

I started to save any lids around the house: bottles lids and old felt pen lids, corks and so on. I let Lily play freely with them. Here you can see that she puts a cork on a lid. Kind of sensibility to order again.
I'm planning to organize several activities with the lids like: sorting the lids by colors, counting the lids then write a number or letter on the lids and use them in language or maths.

New sensory box

2010-09-02T07:50:00.000-07:00

In this sensory box, there is: rice and sunflower seeds, cork placemats and a porcelain tea set. You can see on the second picture that Lily likes to pretend to serve the coffee to everyone!
She really likes all the sensory boxes I proposed to far! She uses her teaset and any cups that she can find around the house to play with. She pretends to bake muffins, to serve tea and so on! It's messy and so creative.

Cleaning the house

2010-08-31T06:11:00.000-07:00

It becomes so easy to clean the house when Lily wants to give me a hand! I just give her a bottle spray filled with water and a cloth. Meanwhile, I do all the rest and let her ~~mess~~ clean her stuff!

Montessori monday

2010-08-24T12:13:00.000-07:00

Here a sample of some activities that we did over the past fee weeks.
We were also very busy with my mother in law visiting Ireland.

Here, she put a muffin case in the muffin tin. That could be a activity available on the shelf, here, it was to bake fairy cakes!

Playing with water: she is very demanding of water based activity. Most of the time, she plays at the sink. When I need the sink, I prepare a bucket of water with little container to play (mesuring cups, spice jars with lids and so on)

Helping to prepare the tortilla

Sensibility to order: She loves to arrange in line all the animals she haves.

Do you want to see more Montessori activities?

I spy canvas

2010-08-09T08:20:00.000-07:00

Idea found at Imaginosity Imaginosity.

It's the 12*12 canvas with miniatures objects of all sort glued on it. Then you invite the child to play "I spy with my little eyes...". I found the idea lovely! I started a collection of miniatures objects but I don't have enough to do the canvas and all the games that I could do with little objects (pink serie for example).

However, I wanted to share the idea.

So what can you spy on the picture? I saw dices, playcards, paintbrush, key, lock, paintbrush, coin, flower, marble, buttons...

Notice that there are a lot of different objects and not necessary 3 letters phonetic objects.

Summer sensory tub - Outdoor

2010-08-06T11:04:00.000-07:00

In addition to our "indoor" sensory tub, we have our new sandpit (well, we used it since june just forget to post this message!). Lily loves to play with sand!

Outdoor art

2010-08-04T00:38:00.000-07:00

We rent a house with a deck back garden and a fountain which is not working. The fountain is filled with pebbles. The other day, I used them to make some art with Lily. She loved the idea. In the afternoon, the babysitter came in and in the evening, I noticed a long line of pebbles in the garden (not pictured). She did more on her own!

August Sensory tub

2010-08-03T00:37:00.000-07:00

Here our "summer indoor" sensory box:

- A mix of porridge flakes, tapioca pearls and red lentils.

- Pines cones, snail's shell, and sea shells,

- some pompoms and hidden little erasers,

- silicone cupcakes

The tapioca pearls make a very interesting sound when falling on the pine cones. It sounds like rain drops!

To see more sensory tub, go over Our worldwide Classroom

Montessori monday

2010-08-02T02:13:00.000-07:00

Since we are back from our holidays (we spent one week at home relaxing and chill out with my family), Lily doesn't nap anymore again. And she is more "intellectualy" active when we come back from the nursery.
Therefore, we had very nice Montessori sessions.

Sponging: it has been off the shelf for a while. I presented to her again and she is now more able to squeeze the sponge and also I provided a little cloth that she used to dry and spillage.

Pouring water: She had practised for a while with beans but was not interested anymore. Time for water fun so! She did this one for a very long time (like 10 minutes!). She poured with both hands!

Pouring water through a funnel: as she was in the mood for more presentation, I showed her how to pour the water through a funnel! She was very attentive and did all the steps several times!

Transfering with tongues: there are big raphia bowl to transfer between two shoe boxe lids!

Spooning dry beans

Building tower: she will be soon presented to the pink tower as she will start in my classroom in september!

Do you want to see more Montessori activities?

Food preparation

2010-07-31T13:38:00.000-07:00

She never wants to help us when we propose to her. Well, at Grandad's house, that's another story!

This moment

2010-07-30T13:44:00.000-07:00

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Go on Soulemama to see other "this moment"

Scooping bottles lids

2010-07-29T13:35:00.000-07:00

A little activity that I have seen around on the web (not remembered the link).
I've been saving bottles lids for months now. Then, I put them into a big bowl of water and gave a big serving spoon to Lily to scoop them. Easy!

First People

2010-07-28T11:43:00.000-07:00

Ca y est, Lily dessine intentionnellement ses premiers bonhommes. Avant, il lui arrivait parfois de dessiner puis de dire qu'elle avait dessine une vache.

Here the first two intentionnaly drawn by Lily

Sur ce dessin: il y a le "bonhomme" (grand cercle bleu), le bebe du bonhomme (petit cercle bleu), le papa du bonhomme (petits cercles a gauche du dessin) qu'elle a recommence en plus grand a gauche (cercle blanc).

Ceci est son deuxieme dessin. Lily a d'abord dessine le petit a droite et a dit qu'il avait une moustache puis elle a ajoute le papa a gauche!

Lily s'est servie de pastels a l'huile sur du papier dit "sugar paper".

She used oil pastels on sugar paper for the first time too!

Award

2010-07-14T06:38:00.000-07:00

I received an award from Elle Belle! She has just discovered my blog and so I had a look on her blog! What a talented mum! She makes beautiful bows that she sells! Go and check her blog

Rules for the Versatile Blogger Award

Rule number 1:

Thank the person who gave you your award.

Thank you to Elle Belle! I'm happy that my blog inspired you!

Rule number 2:

Share seven things about yourself.

1. I recently became vegetarian. It's not that easy not because I miss meat but because it's hard to learn a different way of cooking.

2. I changed all my life when I moved abroad. Now, I speak another language, have a totally different job and became a mum too!

3. I'm totally passionate about Montessori education and I hope to open my own school in a near future.

4. I'm not able to tidy up. I leave things where I used them last. My house is totally clustered and my husband is happy that we move often like that we have to do a big cleaning!

5. I would like to go to Egypt. I always had the feeling that I was Egyptian in another life.

6. I love my husband very deeply and I can't imagine life without him.

7. I think Motherhood is not easy, it change everything and I don't regret it any second and love my daughter sooooooooo much!

Rule number 3:

Pass the award onto 15 bloggers whom you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic! I know that we are all busy. If you can pass it own great, but if not....I promise to not take it away and I will still think that you are all FABULOUS!

A blog about london life

Desperate housewife in London. Very funny!

Babybilingual

Shivayanaturals

The feminist housewife

Training happy hearts. A lot of ressources here!

Wee Waldorf

Vegetarian lunchbox

A lot of craft ideas for kids

The Magic Onions

Another Montessori teacher's blog

A french homeschooling family using the Montessori method

Spanish mum using Montessori with her kids

Another french blog with Montessori ideas

waldorf inspired life

Please, visit their blog and found your inspiration!

Thanks again for that award!

This moment

2010-07-09T10:25:00.000-07:00

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link here to your moment and join in at Soulemama.

Peg board

2010-07-08T11:34:00.000-07:00

Here is the first peg board for Lily. It's actually from a school supplier. We have the same in our Montessori school. She likes it instantly. She keeps focused on it but she does like to throw all the little pegs on the floor too!

Toddler yoga

2010-06-18T06:31:00.000-07:00

Lily and I love to use this toddler First book of yoga. She loves doing all the different poses with me. We tend to do it everyday. There are different drawing representing each pose with a child-friendly animal name, some advices and real pictures of children doing the poses.

I truly recommend it!

Sorting cats

2010-06-17T06:30:00.000-07:00

I use these little cats a lot. We did a sorting by pair exercice and now I found at the charity shop a ice cube tray in the shape of a cat. So cute! I proposed to Lily to put each cat in each little hole. She does it but she keeps asking where are the second cat of each pair!

Bottles and lids

2010-06-15T07:54:00.000-07:00

Lily has different little boxes and jars with lids in a basket for a little while now. There were all in plastic or cardboard so not breakable. Here, I gave her small glass bottles and jars with lids. She enjoyed them a lot and was very careful with. Then, she asked to play with them at the sink. She loves pouring water and drinks at the tap!

You can see that she poses for the camera. She likes that and says "cheese"!

Graduation

2010-05-24T11:32:00.000-07:00

2 weeks ago, I have been officially graduated as a Montessori teacher!

Now, I will be away in Belgium for a few days and I will be back soon with some new posts.

Montessori Monday

2010-04-12T06:41:00.000-07:00

Animals and their cubs: matching game.

Baby animals: as there are tiny pictures, you could use a magnifying glass with it.

(found here )

Baby animals jigsaws. Now, Lily is well able to do the 4 jigsaws at the same time.

Pictures and word lotto in French. For now, we just use the pictures.

You may have noticed a theme for this Montessori Monday post. As it's spring, we focuse on baby animals and on farm. Lily is quiet obsessed with babies and she talks about the farm all the time and sings "Old Mc Donald" all day long.

More Montessori activities on One hook wonder

Cleaning!

2010-04-09T13:37:00.000-07:00

We used that little spray bottle last week in a art project. Today, she took it at the kitchen sink and started to spray everywhere!
So quickly, I orientated her onto cleaning the door's windows! That was a great succes!

Montessori monday

2010-04-05T13:56:00.000-07:00

Some pics of one of our Montessori Moment!
- lacing beads. That is on the shelf for a long time but she doesn't take it spontaneously. Here, I proposed it and she did well. Actually that is the first time I saw her lacing the beads instead of playing with (there are a lion, a monkey and a crocodile, so tempting for her imagination),
- sorting wooden stick by colours,
- pouring beans,
- opening and clothing board,

Not pictured: she did also "matching animals and their pictures" and the body parts jigsaw.

And you? Do you have a Montessori moment to share?

Very Hungry Caterpillar...

2010-04-04T13:51:00.000-07:00

We love that book and any book of Eric Carle (who doesn't?)
Then, I found all these ideas on Tots School blog.
We did the size sorting activity and the story sequencing activity. There are many other activities available around that book, just Lily is not yet into counting and letters.
The day after, we did some craft related to the book (I will show you in another post).
She was very happy to do all these activities.

Easter sensory tub

2010-04-01T13:58:00.000-07:00

Here is our Easter sensory tub!
With
- porridge flakes,
- tapioca pearls (both lost and out of date in the cupboard!),
- 3 plastics Easter eggs
- pipe cleaners,
- foam stickers (various Easter shapes),
- 4 cup cakes (pastel colors) and a wooden spoon.

She spent a time making "gateau" ("cake") for us in the cup cakes!
Also, she loved to pour all around the floor just to use to sweeping brush and dustpan. I guess the cleaning is (for her at least) part of the fun!

Spring matching game

2010-03-27T15:18:00.000-07:00

Here a game that I made! I used some felt flower and butterflies that I displayed in table with names and colors. I did a copy to have the table with the objects printed on the paper. Then, I gave the board and the objects to the children to match.
I tried it today with the children in the classroom and they love it! The youngest are very attracted and they can do it by themselves very quickly!

Spring sorting activity

2010-03-26T13:38:00.000-07:00

I found these silicone cupcakes in a Charity shop and that cost me only 2€! There are 3 of each colors in the box!
I set up the tray with pompoms that has to be sorted by color. That could be a math game as well, just vary the number of pompom for each colour and add the corresponding number cards.
I add a small twizzer (not pictured) to transfer the pompoms.

Unplug Kid and Mum!

2010-03-25T12:02:00.000-07:00

Lately, I realised that we used too much the dvd player with Lily!
Despite I'm a Montessori teacher, child psychologist, despite I know the bad effect of such a passive activity on very young children, I used it clearly to baby-sit my child!
There are different reasons to that very bad habit!
First, Lily doesn't nap a lot, one or 2 times a week and mostly in the car! That means "no rest for mummy"!
Second, as a stay at home mum, the day can be very long!
Third, I am, my self, a internet addict! Then, when I turn on the computer, Lily asks for a dvd!

A friend of mine reminded me the bad influence of tv on children and I realised that I had to do something!
The first thing I did was to cut down my own addiction. No more computer for me during the day with Lily!
Then, I put out of view all Lily's dvds and I displayed all her books on the shelves around the tele.
When I had done that, Lily stopped asking for dvds and now, she asks me to read her stories instead! So much better!

Unplugging is not easy everyday. So here my tips (from a serious internet addict!):
- be kind with yourself, you can still using the dvd, tele if you think you need it! Just control yourself. In my case "no more than 20 minutes" or "only after 5pm"!
- be ready to play with your child! Have some nice activities ready in your head. Now, I try to do an art or a cooking activity everyday. I organize the stuff the day before.
- use the computer with your child in an active way. For example, I show to Lily pictures on the web, let her choose, then we print them and we do the activity.
- each time I feel that the day becomes too long, I propose to Lily a change of scenery: we go out, we go in her bedroom to play, we start the dinner, ... anything to keep going.

So far, since "my unplug resolution" 4 weeks ago, she had watched 4 times a dvd on her request and once when she was with her baby-sitter.
To keep me going, I visit this blog

And you? Do you try to stay away from the tele?

How to keep your child interested?

2010-03-24T11:58:00.000-07:00

Remember that animal sorting activity ?
It's available for a long time and Lily didn't show any interest in it anymore.
The other day, we were dancing and listening to some music and then it was "Old Mc Donald" song and I used the box of animals and pictures with the song.
Bingo! She did all the matching activity with delight!

Nuts and bolts

2010-03-23T13:42:00.000-07:00

Lily has a jar of wooden nuts and bolts. When she received it for Christmas, she didn't show any interest.
I decided to present just 4 of them. It is not a hit for now!
I will try in the classroom with the 3 to 6 years old children as a first introduction to the nuts and bolts activity.

Easter collage

2010-03-22T13:17:00.000-07:00

We did an Easter collage today!
I gave to Lily an Egg colouring and some glue in a jar with cotton buds. Then, she had to glue different collage materials as lentils and seeds, scrap paper, sequins, cotton wool and pompoms.

And the final result:

I liked the way that is non directive as she was able to glue by herself and chose what she wanted to glue and did her own piece of art!
You can find the egg colouring here
That's a french website with a lot of activities for children. You can print a lot of different egg pattern colourings! (and they do the same at Christmas time!)

Reminder - Give away!

2010-03-21T14:34:00.000-07:00

Don't forget my give-away
It's ending soon!
It's a cute easter decorations set and the give away is open to anybody anywhere!
Please, don't be shy!

Easter activity - Part III

2010-03-21T12:47:00.000-07:00

Another transferring activity with tongs.
Here the chicks are bigger and are transferring into a egg carton.

Easter activity - Part II

2010-03-20T02:42:00.000-07:00

Transferring chicks with tongue in an ice-cube tray.

Below, performed by Lily but with her hand!

Waldorf

2010-03-19T08:05:00.001-07:00

I discovered this blog today:

http://weewaldorf.blogspot.com/

Check it out and don't forget to enter for her giveaway!

Easter activity - Part 1

2010-03-19T07:25:00.000-07:00

Transfering chicks:

Here a fine motor skill activity with lovely chicks.

As we have a lot of very young children, I think that transferring with the hand is useful. The plate is a olive presentation tray. I love the shape!

I will present that activity on the shelf in our classroom for Easter!

First give away

2010-03-18T02:43:00.000-07:00

I found this lovely craft set at the hardstore just beside the creche where I work! There are 5 wooden Easter decoration, glitter and pen to decorate with!
So I thought about you!

Here is my first give away!

So here is the deal:

- leave a comment with your email
- give me a idea of Montessori, art & craft or cooking activity related to Easter,
- link this post on your blog if you have one,

Then I will put all your names in a hat and let Lily chooses!

It is open worldwide!
You have until the 25th of March ( to have the gift on time for Easter week!)

Easter craft

2010-03-17T02:03:00.000-07:00

I found the idea for this painting activity in my supermarket newsletter!

On the first picture, I directed a lot her craft. We use flat sponges that I had cut in shapes to print the bunnies and the chick. The background is made with her handprints and we glued cotton wool for the bunny tail.

This one is spontaneous work after the first we did. She was very into it and took great care of the way to apply the sponge to print the bunnies!