Don’t you love when you can get lots of learning and fun from one simple activity? I really do….it makes my life so easy! (lol, just kidding).

This is an idea I wanted to try with Pinky for a long time now but I didn’t want to pay for the cards and I was so lazy to make them, so searching around I found ones for free. Thanks to Walking by the way for sharing them!

Pinky liked and tried many of the cards before she decided to make a mess have more fun with the sand.

First, she tried with a stick (we need lots of practice with the correct pencil grasp), but then she got tired and decided to use her finger, much easier and the right excuse to start the sand mess fun sensorial time later one. Mommy is ok with that now ,since she can implement some practical life practice sweeping the sand from the table and then cleaning it with a wet towel. Thumbs up for practical life experience!!!

Have a great week!!!!

Pinky really, really LOVES to play with shaving cream….I never go wrong with it!!!

 

I just added food coloring and paint, and a paper to create a master piece….(in MY mommy dreams). If you ask about Pinky’s dreams, they would be: shaving cream all over the place. However, I was really lucky this time when she just covered her arms. After the fun, there’s always a great bath time.

Beginning! (Mommy’s perfect dream)

Look at my hands!!! (Between dreams)

Going wild! (Pinky’s dream)

Did I say she LOVES shaving cream???

Ok, this is our first: I saw it on Pinterest and I tried!!!

This come from Modern Parents Messy Kids. It is such a great blog with lots of fun activities to try with your kiddo.

• You’ll need:
  • milk (we used 2%)
  • food coloring
  • dish soap (we used Dawn)
  • toothpick 
  • lid

 

• Instructions:
  • Pour milk into the lid.
  • Add a few color drops of food coloring
  • Dip the toothpick into the dish soap.
  • Put the toothpick into the milk.
  • Watch how the colors radiate away from the toothpick.

 

As you can see, it was really fun!!!

Here are some places to learn more about this fun experiment:

1. Steve Spangler Science (you can make it into an Science fair project)
2. Cool Science (such a great, complete and easy explanation about the science behind this cool activity)

Check out these other places:

Everyday, after her traditional preschool classes, Pinky comes home to “learn” more. Yes! This little girl loves to learn. (Of course, she plays, too!)

This week we have been using our Phonetic Boxes, which are getting FULL! Here’s an example of 3 of our boxes and what’s inside them:

Wipes Box plus small objects and toys around the house.

Objects:

• X: xylophone (I made it with a craft stick, toothpicks and beads) X-rays (skeleton sticker),
• Z: zipper, zebra, zero, zig-zag (pinecleaner),
• K: kaleidoscope, knife (a mistake when you’re teaching NOT your first language…this is NOT good for phonics so it’s OUT of our box), kettle (eraser), kite (I made it with toothpicks, felt and a ribbon), koala (eraser), key
• V: van, vulture
• Y: yellow (eraser), yarn, yo-yo (it’s include it now)

Objects:

• O: octagon (felt) otter, ostrich, ox, olive, orange (included now),
• C: castle, cow, car (eraser), cake (eraser), cup (eraser), crab, camel, cabbage (eraser), cat, crayon,
• H: horse, helicopter (eraser), heart, happy face, hand, hippopotamus, hotdog (eraser, included now), hamburger (eraser, included now),
• P: peanut (eraser), pencil, polar bear, puppy, pacifier, pin, penny,

Objects:

• S: seal, shoe (I just took it out since it was hard for her…ok, I know…mommy has to learn more English lol), spoon, spider (it’s black, that’s why you can’t see it), shark (another hard one), seahorse, starfish, seal
• M: monkeys, man, mushroom, motorcycle (eraser), manta ray, mat (it’s black), microscope
• T: truck (eraser), tiger, tomato (eraser), turtle, tree
• A: airplane(eraser, I know this is NOT for a short sound but she knows it starts with A and wanted to included in the box), apple, alligator, ambulance (eraser)

Here’s Pinky working very hard!!! lol….she’s just having fun and loving her beginning sound boxes!

Linking to:

This is how my little princess practices her dance moves with a mat to roll and un-roll the mat. Maybe, such a serious task needs some Pinky’s UNIQUE style….also…she is just celebrating her accomplishment.

We are practicing these first Montessori’s tasks because we are applying to a Montessori school starting next September, which means that Pinky will be in a 3-6 years old group but starting one year later (at 4 yrs old). I think this put her in a disadvantage way, since she will have to learn about a new type of environment, materials, etc.(she has been going to a traditional pre-school –BTW….it is a great school but you know we are more into the Montessori method.) Or maybe she is not behind???

Furthermore, we are still waiting for her acceptance letter (until March), so pray for our spot!!! 

Ever since after she went to her interview (an hour in a Montessori classroom with the teacher just exploring around), she has been asking me to take her to her Montessori school….my little one really loves it!!!

So, to you all my Montessori method fans;

Which other task we need to be practicing before starting in a Montessori classroom???

p.s. please look at the cute little princess and not to her surroundings…lol….we have been sick and mommy couldn’t organize the house…

If you love Montessori already or want to learn more about this amazing method, here’s your opportunity to win a spot on Karen Tyler’s Montessori Training Program.

You just have to visit our great bloggy friend Ewa’s blog @ Wczesna Edukacja Antka I Kuby blog.

The entire course runs for 24 months and covers 12 albums. You will cover the 4 major subject areas :Practical Life, Sensorial, Language and Mathematics within the first 8 months. You may take an option called FAST TRACK. This is the same as the 24 month course but it is completed within 12 months.

The giveaway is worldwide and will be open until February 19th 2012 (12 pm GMT+01:00). Winner will be chosen at random an announced on 20th February 2012 in a separate blog post. The winner will be notified by email.

Read more: http://wczesnaedukacjaantkaikuby.blogspot.com/2012/02/win-karen-tylers-montessori-training.html#ixzz1lcQGSZrd

you will find new ideas for that unused material!

Here’s the story: At the time I was “homeschooling” Pinky, I got so excited about all the amazing things I found at the dollar spot at Target or Dollar Tree. Oh My!!!! I was like a kid in a toy store.

However, sometimes things got accumulated in my already crowded closet and got forgotten with time. For my surprise, Pinky was not interested in that theme anymore….for example the ABCs. Hello! there’re too many things to do with the ABCs that you can get tired of it, as: recognizing upper/lowercase letters, match it, sing it, jump it, skip it, recite it, color it, paint it, cut it or whatever “innovative strange” idea a mommy’s brain could come up with it.

Yes, there’s too much to do with the ABCs…..So, trying to get my hand into my closet, this is what I found:

ABCS upper/lowercase letters matching puzzles from Target.

I know, repetition is good for kids but I really get bored and Pinky, too!

Therefore, before getting rid of these (Mommy’s sentimental issues) here’s what we came up with: Big girls' ABCs puzzles memory game………very grown up!

Don’t you see how happy and excited she gets whenever she finds a match, and then she uses her tiny fingers to put the pieces together, line them up carefully, and use a lot of concentration during the task. Don’t you love multi-task activities???

When the game was finished, we decided to kind of measure who won the game.: the tallest column won (almost as taller as Pinky)……of course Mommy won!!! lol……

No no no…..Pinky won, she is getting really good at those games….and are helping her to stay focus for a long period of time…even when she is not concentrated in the game: I don’t know how she does it to match the cards so easily…

That’s how I follow my child interest into board games to re-use old materials!