It seems like we had too many school activities every week but I found that everything can be well organized on our school corner mixing the Montessori trays with the Workboxes system. This mix really suits us because:

• We don’t have a comfortable prepared school room (rented apartment)
• Just have one child always besides mommy looking for what I am doing
• Pinky loves to have different options available
• Mommy doesn’t have to think to much in order to come up with an activity
• Mommy can have a better idea with what Pinky worked already
• Better organization and more space available
• Sanity for mommy: Don’t see her beautiful trays are over the place

Here is an idea of how we mixed some kind of Montessori activities with the Workboxes:

Montessori-inspired activities, worksheets, art, Education cubes 

Those big activities that doesn’t fit inside the boxes can stay on trays!!!

Close-up to our workboxes. To keep Pinky interested on completing an activity or clean up after finishing, she can select a princess prize (I printed and laminated some princesses pics and hold them to the boxes with Velcro)

There you can see our homeschool corner (excellent for the two of us; doesn’t take too much space and everything is in its place)

So far, it is great!!!!

Pinky really loves her Education cubes! She can roll them, she can jump over them and, sometimes, I find she trying to stand on them. So here is another activity we found: I spy game!

I just printed out a Christmas-related page from here plus some pictures to make the cards. The game consisted of roll the cubes and find that picture on the Christmas page! Simple and fun! We also took turns whenever the picture was repeated. A good tool to teach a toddler about taking turns, wait and have patience!

Moreover, I will try it with other pictures and cards like Valentines, Seasons, colors, etc.

She found the Gingerbread house!- too easy! : )

Looking for the stocking! We also has Santa, star, presents, Christmas tree and candy cane.

Bonus: Here she is modeling! Soooo cute….

She is taking it very serious! jajaja

Have fun and I spy…..

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Update: If you really want to try those, or better, WIN them..here is a giveaway going on right now on Mama Jenn blog.

Giveaway Info:

The winner will receive everything they need to get started with their Education Cubes {photo blocks AND an Education Cubes Membership}. There are several EASY ways to enter to win.
The giveaway ends at 9pm on Saturday, January 8, 2011. So, hurry!!!

Just a few weeks ago, I read a post about a new educational and fun way to learn.

Who came with the idea?…Mama Jenn!!!

What is it about? …The education Cubes are just photos blocks which you can insert whatever educational picture you want and have fun learning, playing and using your imagination. (You can find a BETTER description at the Education Cubes Blog)

How can I start? Join the Education Cubes members only site to have access to lots of insert cards.

So I decided to try them with Pinky, since she loves to learn in a fun way. I filled out the membership and ordered my blocks….Everything was fast!!!

I printed out some activities from the Education Cubes website and let my daughter discover them…..Here is her face when she saw them:

“Oh, wao!!!

I started with matching numbers and counting….We read The Nutcracker, I found those here at The activity mom but Education cubes have different counters like Christmas trees, Santas, etc. Also, printed the number until 12. Therefore, we have two blocks with numbers and two blocks with counters.

And after a little bit of time inspecting her new toy, the action began!!

Throw them!!! High, low, higher, to the left, to the right, up, down

(Don’t worry they are safe! No bobos, at least for mommy)

    

Count!!!- One nutcracker

 

Match! Pinky is just 25 months old- How I used them?: She threw the block with the pictures and then count how many were….after that I asked her if she could find that number in the other block…Finally, she matched them!

As you can see: One Nutcracker with number one…..6 nutcrackers with number 6!

I tried the other way (get a number first and count the pictures second) but it was too difficult for her. Maybe in a few more months!

       

Also, you can have a free playtime….under mommy’s desk!

We had so much fun! Lets see what is our next adventure???

Blessings!

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Para mis paisanos hispanos!!!

Esta idea de aprender y jugar a la vez con estos bloques ha sido idea de Mama Jenn (visita su blog para muchas mas). Los ha llamado Education Cubes, los cuales constan de bloques suaves para insertar fotografias, sin embargo, puedes colocar tarjetas con temas que quieras ensenarle a tu nino. En su sitio para miembros solamente puedes encontrar tarjetas ya hechas, las cuales solo tienes que imprimir y colocar dentro de cada compartimiento. Yo lo use con mi nena de 2 a~os y le encanto….practicamos los numeros y a contar ademas de que jugamos en cantidad! Ya tengo varias ideas mas para experimentar como: practicar palabras en ingles, espanol y frances, colores, estaciones, etc.