May Flowers Craft

Posted on May 22, 2013 by

Flower CraftThis is a very simple arts & craft project we used in preschool when we studied flowers.  It also costs literally nothing to make.  I had all of these items on hand.  I bet a lot of you do too.

Materials:
1 solid piece of colored cardstock for every 2 children
1 patterned piece of paper for every 2 children
1 cupcake liner per child
glue stick
safety scissors

Instructions:

  1. Cut each piece of colored & patterned paper in half.
  2. Draw dashed lines dividing the paper into fourths for the children to cut along.
  3. Ask the children to cut along the dashed lines.
  4. Show the children how to lay the paper in a radial pattern, gluing the center of the paper rectangles together. We placed the solid paper in the back and the patterned paper on top.  Hint – This is a great time to teach them about radial symmetry.
  5. Glue the cupcake liner in the center.
  6. Voila! A May Flower!
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Montessori-Inspired Preschool Flower Unit

Posted on May 20, 2013 by

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We had a short preschool mini-unit at our house the other week.  It was only one day, but we had just enough time to learn a little bit about flowers.  I made a practical life tray where the kids threaded flower petals onto a string.  This tray was prepared by taking apart a dollar store lei.  (They have lots of leis in the stores right now for summer parties.)  I tied one of the flower petals onto the end of the string to prevent the child from pulling it all the way through the string and off the other side.

I also made a counting circle from a paper plate, which the kids loved.  I think I’ll be making many more of these.  I divided the paper plate to where it looks like pizza slices and then drew various numbers of flowers on each slice.  Next, I wrote the corresponding numbers on the clothes pins and the kids pin the correct number on the correlating slice.  This helps the child with coordination, pincer grasp and counting.

We also read a lot of books about flowers.  Ava’s Poppy, Planting a Rainbow and my personal favorite: One Little Seed.  I also have a really cute and easy arts & crafts project that I’ll try to share with you tomorrow.

If you want to take your flower education even further, here are some other great ideas:

  1. Discovery Days and Montessori Moments has two wonderful Botany posts:  Stem Week and Flowers.
  2. Montessori Print Shop has Parts of a Flower 3-Part Cards, a Flower Nomenclature Book, Pollination & Seed Dispersal Cards and FREE Seed & Plant Matching Cards.
  3. Living Montessori NOW has Montessori-Inspired Flower Activities and Free Flower Printables and Montessori-Inspired Flower Math Activities.

I hope you guys are having a great week.  It’s been a little crazy over here, but I’m really working on simplifying my life and letting go of some of my high expectations.  I’m vowing to take care of myself a little bit more.  I think as moms, we get so caught up in caring for everyone else that we forget to care for ourselves.  Or at least I do.  I hope you’ll take a MOMent for yourself this week.  You deserve it.

Posted in Math, Montessori, Practical Life, Science | Tagged , | 3 Comments

hey you…

Posted on May 13, 2013 by

I’m taking a little blog break to re-fuel my soul. I’ll be back on Friday with a Montessori-Inspired Preschool Flower Unit. And just in case you need reminding too…

enough

Posted in Sanity | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Fish Themed Snacks

Posted on May 9, 2013 by

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In addition to some fun “water themed” trays during preschool, we also had “fish themed” snacks.  It was funny to see the kids’ personalities come out during our “fishing for snack” time.  Some kids worked really hard to dip their pretzel fishing rods into the cream cheese and then pick up a fish, bubble or shell.  Others gave up on the “fishing” technique and shoveled as many fish in their mouths as they could.

The second picture shows a rice cake smeared with blue-dyed cream cheese with goldfish crackers and broccoli coral.  It also has an orange boat with a cheese sail.  The kids weren’t too crazy about the rice cake so I would say that one was pretty much a fail, but they really liked everything else.

p.s.  The plate on the right was mine when I was little.  I love seeing my kids use them too!

Posted in Healthy Meals | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Ocean Treasure Sensory Bin

Posted on May 8, 2013 by

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I’ve never been a mom that makes sensory bins, but I’ve recently been making them for Asher’s preschool group and I’m kind of kicking myself for not making them earlier. They are so much fun! This bin uses the glass floral rocks as the “water” and I added shells, a shark and a boat. In circle time we talked a lot about what lives in water and other things we can find in water. We focused a lot on fish, shells and boats. I also hid fish, starfish and sea turtle shaped erasers and gold coins under the water for them to “hunt” for.

I always thought these seemed like a lot of work for little educational purposes, but now I see how much they benefit the kids.  They love searching through the bin, learning and role-playing.  What do you think?  Do you like sensory bins?

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Shell Sorting

Posted on May 7, 2013 by

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The children absolutely loved this tray. They loved looking at the natural beauty of the shells, feeling the slick, shiny surface and observing their similarities and differences. In a way, I felt like this tray combined both nature and sorting trays into one. We introduced shells in circle time when we talked about things you find in the ocean.  We also used the shells in circle time to line them up in order from big to small and then small to big.

Collecting shells on the beach has always been one of my favorite vacation past-times.  There’s something so relaxing and peaceful about walking along the beach picking up shells.  Just looking at this tray brings it all back to me.  I hope it takes you there too.

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Counting Goldfish

Posted on May 6, 2013 by

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Okay, okay, I know. Where have I been!?!?!  I’ve actually been on a spiritual hiatus. I received a special blessing this past Sunday so I’ve been abstaining from tv entirely and the computer for the most part in order to prepare for it. Instead, I’ve been reading my scriptures, reading other religious texts & talks, praying and spending time with my family. It all paid off yesterday when I had a wonderfully spiritual moment between my Heavenly Father and me. One that moved me to tears and I’ll never forget it.

Now I’m back though and I have lots of fun “water” themed trays to share with you. Here’s the first one which is so easy to make. All you need is an egg carton and goldfish crackers.  These goldfish crackers played many different roles in my preschool week. We also did goldfish graphing and goldfish patterns (the book in this post is amazing too). We even had a “fishing” themed snack where the kids fished for goldfish crackers. You’ll see more of these little guys in the week to come.

I hope you are all having a great start to your week.  We had class outside today in our friend’s “secret garden.”  Teaching outside is one of my favorite things about homeschooling.  What’s your favorite thing?

Posted in Math | Tagged , , | 2 Comments