"It's almost Valentine's Day, so we spent the weekend having fun with lots of different activities inspired by this great holiday. You'll notice lots of pinks, I just can't help myself. I LOVE PINK.  This activity was fun and edible. I numbered 5 marshmallow hearts with icing writers (you can find these in the baking aisle), and then Little B counted out his hearts to go with the numbered Marshmallow... "Little B lined up the Marshmallow in numerical order, when he was done he ate a couple of them. (Smile.) "Here I set up a tray with a pitcher of water, his spoon, 2 bowls, and pink food color "Little B first added a few drops of food color "Then he mixed it up and watched it change color. "Still mixing... "Next, he began to practice pouring his colored water into his bowls. "Last he made sure the bowls were filled equally. "Little B loves to make anything in the kitchen, so what better for Valentine's Day than Valentine&#

The Montessori elementary zoology Animal Story Cards make a fun card game using cards that you can make or buy at a Montessori supplier (with the elementary materials and or earth sciences materials). One side of the card has a picture of an animal. The other side has a short description told like a little story. 1. Have all the cards in a pile with the pictures face down, (if you have many children, this can be done in a circle or small group with everyone taking a turn to read a card out loud). 2. Read the first card aloud (and do not peek at the picture)! 3. The other children try to guess which animal it is. If a child is doing this alone, she tries to guess what the animal is before turning the card over. Below are the Montessori animal stories (for the study of the First Knowledge of the Animal Kingdom). *** Has no leg, but many vertebrae which help it to slither along. It has a large mouth with which it gorges huge prey without masticating, and later it digests it slowly. Thos

"I love holidays and since we are living on one small income I'm always trying to come up with creative ways to make sure the children are able to enjoy them. The first thing I set out to do was to set up a space to decorate Valentine's day cards Montessori style. I used things I had in my art cabinet, colored construction paper in reds and pinks, Foam hearts and words, glitter glue, markers, and colored pencils. I also set out some of our favorite Valentine's Day books... "The kids had a great time decorating cards and eating Valentine's cookies... "I made a cute counting game for Little B. I cut up 10 hearts and numbered them. On his tray was also a small glass bowl filled with red hearts (I purchased a bag of 50 at the dollar store). He put the paper hearts in chronological order and then counted out his little red hearts on top. Perfect! "I wanted to put together something for Baby Bell, and since going out and spending a bunch of money wasn'

Gather several of your child's paintings to use for making homemade Valentine cards, or ask your child to choose, since the paintings will get cut up into hearts.   First, make a heart out of a cereal or oatmeal box (or any cardboard or old folders). Then cut it out. This is my heart-shape you see in the photo. You need a pencil and scissors. Depending on the age and ability of your child, you or your child can begin tracing the cardboard heart on the back of a painting.   You can also do one first, as a lesson, showing your child how to hold the heart with one hand and tracing it with the other from top to bottom, left to right--ideally.   You or your child can make several traces of the heart on the back of the painting(s). Here you see I was able to trace six hearts, respectively.   Now you or your child can begin cutting out the hearts. It's a little more challenging since there are several hearts! For younger children, you can cut the painting(s)

Hi, My name is Jennifer and usually, you can find me writing at  Naniheart , however today I am happy to be guest blogging for the first time ever, with the ladies from Montessori on a Budget!!!! Thank you for having me, it's quite an honor :)       My daughter, Princess (5), has been on a Mathematical  SPREE! I for one am thrilled with this. For the last month or so all I've been doing is coming up with Math games. She has recently mastered the Introduction to Addition game I created, so I decided to make these, to teach simple subtraction!  Material list: * Beads (or any other small object. Buttons, marbles, etc. would work as well) * Card stock (or just any kind of paper you have handy) * Small containers (I got these at the dollar store, but you could use anything else as long as it has a lid. Baby food jars were my first choice but I didn't have any available.) * Number stickers (or sharpie)  I placed number stickers on each lid and filled the corresponding tub with th

You know you have a Montessori child when... I posted this question on my Montessori Facebook page, and I received a lot of responses! Here are a few of my favorites: "My son was taking a REALLY long time in the children's library bathroom so I peeked in the door and he was wiping the sink and mirror dry with paper towels!" OK, that one was mine! " When your two-year-old says excuse me when she needs to interrupt your conversation!" Sophie eating snack! Copyrighted: Lianne " My daughter, 18 months, went to get a bib before a meal. When all the bibs fell on the floor she began to sing 'Clean up, clean up . . . ' while picking them up and putting them back." "Caught my son using his spoon, meant for his cereal, moving milk from his cup to his bowl." "A few months ago I realized I had a Montessori child in the making when after looking at a book she got up and put it back in the box where it had come from, without prompting!" A