Here we are with more pond-related fun. This was such a great unit. There are many resources available  and ideas all over the internet. I tried to include a little bit of everything but mostly Montessori-inspired activities.

Practical life

Pouring water (this is the first time I set up on a tray this activity for Pinky. She is used to pour water while she helps me to cook, take a bath, or serve her own drinks. The outcome: She mastered, it was kind of easy for her, but fun. It was her favorite tray (you know: WATER!), repeating it multiple times. Self-explanatory (she loved to clean up the spills with the sponge) and independent.

Sharpening a pencil with a cute turtle sharpener from Target. She got really good at this one. Great concentration!

Scooping duck balls (and yellow pom-poms). Not a fav one. She did it twice, maybe.

Tweezing spiders (feeding the frog). I saw this idea featured at Living Montessori Now Leap Year activities post from The Preschool Experiment (she has such a great Pond unit post). This is an empty parmesan cheese container. I glued two green pom-poms, two googly eyes and a piece of red felt.

Motor

Pin pouching a duck silhouette. She loved it!!! Did the whole thing right away. I am thinking about using the duck for an art project.

Foam stickers for pincer grasp. This was a Math activity,too. She made her own patterns. Pinky is REALLY REALLY good at patterning. She can differentiate patterns taking into consideration their shape or color.

 

More stickers. I got this one last year, on sale aster Easter. I am never wrong with stickers!!!

 

Math

Counting lily pads (water beads) up the way ‘till 100. I got this idea from Starry Sky Ranch blog here. Of course, our mat was not that cute because I got a $1.00 bath tub mat at the dollar store which only had 8 rows on one of the sides, so I had to cut and paste pieces in order to get a 10 x 10 mat. Also, I had to paint the cups so she wouldn’t get confuse. Now you now: Make sure to get a bigger mat!!! Otherwise, we just used to practice our numbers and some pincer grasp. She loved it! So bad I didn’t get photos!   

Math game. I found this idea after reading this great Pond unit post. There you can find the link to the picture if you scroll all the way until the end…..believe me this is a HUGE all about frogs unit. I printed 2 copies and glued them on cardstock. Then, add two chips (we used 2 heart-shaped beads) and a dice. One player roll the dice, count how many dots she got and move the chip that many spaces starting at one corner (count how many dragonflies your froggy can eat). The first player to hop all the way until completing the square, wins! This was a hit with Pinky since she LOVES board games.

Sizes. Group by Large, Medium, Small. She wasn’t interested about this one. Maybe too easy for her.

I think this is everything for now! I still have lots of more stuff to post.

Can you guess the place????

Yes, you are right….The Pond!!! I’ll share more pics later! We had a fabulous time!

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!

We were practicing last week with lots of Sensorial activities using a Hawaii theme!

• Sorting by colors or by shapes. (I cut a necklace from the Dollar Store; got 3 for $1) I can use them as counters, too!

• Pincer grasp practice with marbles inside a Hawaiian dress.

• Sorting flamingoes with tongs. (Ok, flamingoes aren’t from Hawaii but found them in all the stuff I bought so why not to use them?)

 

• Inserting flowers on sticks. (These are from a Lei necklace that I broke in order to make Pinky’s flowers bracelets) She has to pass the stick thru the hole in the center of the flower.

• Matching sandpaper numbers with the corresponding amount of rocks.

• Clothespin and birds!

• Inserting wood beads on pipe cleaners. (This is suppose to be a palm tree with coconuts. I just took 2 sticks, put a brown pipe cleaner around and them 2 green ones.)

• Language- Tracing letters with crayons

• Art- Painting with yarn, bottle caps, toothpicks, etc. Also, painting a flower on canvas.

 

• Sensory box- Hawaiian style! With buttons I found at Michaels and the rocks are from our fish bowl (Yes, I washed them very well before using them).

Now that I am looking at the pictures, I think we did plenty of activities for our Hawaiian theme…..the truth is that we were having too much fun with it!

Therefore, we still have Hawaii part 3!!!

Linking to:

Just a few days ago, I went to do some shopping and found this cute little piggy for $1.19 (it was at the supermarket, so keep your eyes open while you’re shopping!). I loved it! It’s plastic, good for my toddler who throw everything on the floor, have a hole to put the money inside but doesn’t have any other to take the money outside. Since Pinky is just starting her toddler’s time, this aspect is great. I don’t want a little one taking the money outside while mommy is not near. The problem would be after the piggy gets full, but that’s fine for now, lol.

She loved her piggy! Now, she knows about money and coins which are needed to feed her friend; so sorry for Daddy and whoever comes to the house because she keeps asking: “money, please”!!! So cute! Also, is a good fine motor skills activity and is teaching her about patience….since she have to try several times before she can put the coin inside the piggy.

Where’s the money, mommy?

That's what we call: Concentration!!!

Enjoy your piggy time!!!!