Practical Life
A Clear View
Together with your child, gather the tools you need to clean your windows. A bucket of warm soapy water, a cloth/sponge for washing the window, a squeegee and drying cloths (or newspaper, if you’re old fashioned) are needed for this activity. Apparently, the best solution is a drop or two of Sunlight dish soap in a bucket of warm water! Have your child fill the bucket and add the soap while you watch. Show your child where all of the tools are and have them gather them for you. Then, show your child how to wash from the top of the window down, and how to use the squeegee to dry the window. Take your time, and demonstrate each step along the way.
Math Activity
And the Race is On
For this activity, you’ll watch seeds ‘race’ against each other. You’ll need a variety of seeds (beans, peas, grass, radish etc.). Make sure you have at least 3 contenders for this race. Plant each variety of seed in a different vessel. Plastic cups with a hole in the bottom work great, but you may have some small plant pots hanging around. Plant each seed according to its need, and then guess which seeds will germinate first. As the seeds germinate, track their progress on a chart. You can measure the height of the plants each day for a week or two, depending upon how long the race is going to be.
Language Activity
Parts of the Flower
This is a great time to learn new vocabulary! On your next trip to the grocery store, pick up a bunch of tulips. You and your child can take these flowers apart, while you learn the names of the different parts of the flower. Montessori always believed that it is important for children to learn the correct names of things.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV5wEQB7j6Q - Short video outlining parts of a flower.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=493WeySyf-8 - Video demonstrating dissecting a flower.
Sensorial
Mystery Bag
Go on a nature walk with your child in your neighbourhood. Gather small objects in a basket/bucket for this activity. When you get home, you can place these objects (pine cone, small pebble, small stick etc.) in a cloth bag. Don’t put all the objects in at once- 3 or 4 is good to start with. Ask your child to reach in and try to find the object you ask for. Have your child describe how it feels to the touch (prickly, smooth, rough). This activity helps your child to learn how to visualize- a great skill to apply to mathematics and language.
Creative Activity
Texture Rubbings
With your child, explore the textures available in nature. Take several pieces of paper and a few coloured crayons that have had their paper wrapper removed. Find an interesting object while you are out on your stroll (bark of a tree, for example). Place the paper on the tree and lightly rub over the paper with a crayon. It’s exciting to find all sort of visual texture! Some places to start would be the trunks of different trees, the sidewalk, a mark on the sidewalk, a rough fence board . . . any surface that intrigues you! After making several different rubbings, bring the pages back inside and make a collage or an Eric Carle-like picture. You can use watercolour paints to enhance your rubbings too.
Additional resources:
www.stevespanglerscience.com - Click on the Free at Home Experiments in the upper right-hand corner to access hundreds of at home science experiments.
https://www.seussville.com/ - Dr. Seuss themed printable pages, activities, crafts and more.
Learning at Montessori Week 8
Learning at Home Montessori Week 2
