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Monday, June 3, 2013

Bugs for Preschoolers - Part 3

Can you believe it is already June? Where has this school year gone? Adrian is almost done with preschool in "school with mama" as he affectionately calls it and then it will be off to our Summer Enrichment Program. I am still working on that "program" by the way. The units are not set in stone yet and I know the units themselves will be lighter in content and involving more games this time. Something to look forward to! :)

Counting Ladybug Dots

The control of error is a very important aspect of Montessori education yet I never really showed how I include it in my activities. Here, I am showing you how it was done with this ladybug math task. Adrian's job was quite simple; count the dots on the back of my homemade ladybugs. Once he was done counting, he could verify his answer by gently pulling back the wings of the insect. If his answer differed, he had to count the dots again; if his answer matched the numerical number, he could put the ladybug aside and move on to the next one. Please note that my ladybug counting activity was grandly inspired by Mari-Ann's at Counting Coconuts.

Counting and Peeling Ladybug Stickers

Peeling stickers, as small as these were, is considered in my house, a fine motor skills activity. I purchased these, made by Sticko, especially for a numerals and counters going from 1 to 10, knowing I had enough to do so (the sheet had 57 ladybugs so I peeled off 2 so Adrian wouldn't think he had made a mistake along the way). Adrian, like most kids, loves stickers so this was very fun for him to do. It could be done with any insect of course. Trilium Montessori kids, where I got this idea from, did it with all kinds of bugs confetti and glue and it looked beautiful.

Ladybugs Chewing a Leaf

After linking up one of my posts one week, a super cute printable caught my eye. Couldn't resist downloading my own copy (Thanks Measured Mom!) and happily used it this week. Adrian was very excited to use it as well. Anything involving stickers is a winner of course but I think he liked the concept of stickers, ladybugs, AND counting gathered together in one. He happily counted the dots on each sticker and then stuck it on the leaf. I will tell you, it wasn't always easy. I picked the leaf going from 1 to 20 so counting 20 small dots on a red sticker is straining for the eyeballs but he did it and was so proud of himself.

The Measured Mom is sure very helpful lately. Here's another printable I got from her: Ladybug Count & Clip Cards. There were a lot more than what you see here but I put only six out that day having already done a lot of math. I also chose to put out the plastic ladybugs for markers instead of the usual clothespins. A little variety is always fun, right?

Observing REAL Bugs

Observing real bugs outside is fun but not always easy. First of all, we had a very rainy week so going outside last week was very difficult (besides, bugs were all hidden...even the worms!). Thankfully, a few months ago, I ordered this real bug kit from Lakeshore Learning Materials. It came with quite a few bugs. At first, I kind of wished it provided us with more common insects (a fly, mosquito, butterfly...) because these are the ones kids encounter most often and know well and are most curious about but then again, I guess that's the reason why we were sent more "mysterious" ones; because the common ones are easier to find. Anyhow, equipped with a magnifier, Adrian looked at each bug and we talked about each as well. For some reason, he really likes the dung beetle now. Must have something to do with the fact that it rolls "poop" around and sometimes eats it. :)

Insect 3 Part Cards

How can you forgo nomenclature when you study insects with a nearly 5 years old? I got these for free from Montessori Helper.

Butterfly "blot"

Blot painting is "easy". I've been wanting to introduce Adrian to this "technique" for a while now but decided that the perfect timing for this introduction would be when we'd talk about butterfly since these creatures are so symmetrical. I pre-cut a drawn butterfly and then Adrian chose to paint with a paintbrush on one half instead of dropping paint with a spoon/squeezing paint from the bottle on the paper. Of course, the top had time to dry a bit but that's ok. It's a learning process and there's nothing wrong with wanting to paint with brushes. Adrian just likes to use brushes when he paints. "We paint with paintbrushes", he said. :)

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Friday, May 31, 2013

Bugs for Preschoolers - Part 2

I have a confession to make: my bugs unit was not nearly as hands on and Montessori-inspired as I would have liked it to be. In fact, most of this school year was not as Montessori-inclined as I thought it would be. A big part of it comes from my last minute planning and lack of "props". For example, I had no access to any rubber bugs for this unit which made it very frustrating in trying to create fun trays for Adrian. Resources being limited here, I often have to shop online and thus have to order very much in advance and often pay much higher prices than if I were, say, to shop at bargain stores of thrift stores. Anyhow, to avoid feeling this dissatisfaction next year, I am already planning what we will be doing next year in "tot school" and "Kindergarten". Here's to learning! :)

Coffee Filter Butterfly

Who hasn't done one of those? It's one of the first craft that comes to mind when I think of coffee filter art. To make the butterfly more "symmetric", circles were drawn from the middle and outward on two coffee filters. Hey, butterflies have four wings after all! :) When Adrian felt happy with the circles and colors, he sprayed some water and left them to dry on paper towels set on our radiators (yes... they are still on at the end of May!) In a matter of minutes, they were dry and ready to be gathered together with a pipe cleaner. Adrian chose a dark green color and had much fun making his insect fly through the air.

Butterfly Craft in Progress

Counting butterflies

Although this was their first outing, these butterfly gems were picked up two yeas ago at Michael's craft store in the bargain section. They're officially stickers if you take the time to put the glue dot on the back which I didn't. I purchased several boxes of various colors and took them out this week for a counting activity. I wrote down several random numbers and Adrian proceeded to put the butterflies under. Notice how he chose to use a single color for each number? Made it look so pretty.

Butterfly bath applique, marbles and toast tongs

I finally got to have Adrian try a more "challenging" version of the marbles and suction cups! The spacing of the cups was good so I set out marbles, toast tongs and a butterfly bath applique and he set to work. I think he did this as fast as he would have with his fingers...Hmm. So much for a challenge. After this year is over, so will the bath appliques! :)

Tonging Marbles onto Butterfly Suction Cups

Adrian carefully setting marbles down

Insect Lore's Butterfly Life Cycle

To change things up, I purchased this Butterfly Life Cycle kit instead of printing cards. I like to use props over cards and Adrian was quite happy to see "the real thing". Prior to bringing this tray out, we watched a short video showing the life cycle of butterflies. Then Adrian had to re-create the life cycle using these props.

Watercolor - Butterfly

A little while ago, I discovered Trilium Montesori School through one of their blog links. I was hooked. Trilium Montessori is actually a real physical school which also happens to blog every so often about what they do when class is in session. A few weeks ago, they shared a great post about Insects. I so wished my son could have been there and attended. It looked so fun. From that post I gathered the link to download this beautiful butterfly to watercolor. Adrian usually colors all over without much organization or care but this time, I asked him to try to respect boundaries a bit more (aka stay within the lines). I told him he could for example choose a different color for each section and even try to do a symmetric butterfly. These were all suggestions of course but I was happy when he showed me the finished butterfly. I could tell he had been careful.

Butterfly Matching

Thanks to PreKinders, I didn't have to create my own butterfly matching game although, if I had more time, I might have. PreKinders' isn't bad by any means but I would have loved to know the names and provenance of all these beautiful "creatures". (One day, when time abounds (yeah right?), I'd like to make a small set of butterfly cards per continent.)

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Thursday, May 30, 2013

Bugs for Preschoolers - Part 1

Well it certainly has been a few days (a week maybe?) since my last "mini-unit" post. Don't think for a minute that Sorting Sprinkles is shutting down...Far from it. In fact, I've got several more mini-units that will be coming to you throughout the summer but this week was for us sort of a mini-vacation. School was out (except for today) so we could enjoy the beautiful city of Dresden, Germany. As a result, I completely unplugged from the blog but am now back telling you in details what Adrian and I were up to last week.

Kinder Surprise Bees and their Elastic Stripes

Adrian and Zahavah's favorite treats now that they live in Germany are Kinder Surprise eggs. I'm not sure what they fancy the most; the chocolate or the toy inside. Either way, every time one of these is consumed, we are left with an empty yellow shell. Over time, we've accumulated quite a few and I've kept about eight just in case I'd find something to do with them. While brainstorming about bugs, I focused on bees for a while and thought about the shells and how they could become bee so I drew faces on the shells. For stripes, I thought we could use elastics because they are such a great finger strengthener. To add more fun, I added a die to determine the quantity of stripes each bee would sport. Adrian was so excited to see the Kinder Surprise shells and turn them into something else. He played with the bees for a while after.

Transferring Bee Nectar

Here's another excellent activity for little fingers in need of more fine motor work; the famous eye dropper task. I colored some water yellow and Adrian had to transfer it all using the medicine dropper. If a spill happened, he used the sponge provided but not pictured.

Pouring Bee Pollen

Ever seen real pollen collected by bees? Apparently it looks a bit like yellow split peas! It is even sold for its health property and supposedly great when consumed by people who have seasonal allergies. Who knew? In any case, for the purpose of this activity, I did not purchase any real bee pollen but went ahead and used the yellow split peas we had on hand, poured one cup in the measuring cup, provided am empty honey bear bottle and funnel (with a hole big enough to let peas go through at a decent rate). Although simple looking enough, it wasn't all that simple when the pouring began. Adrian soon realized he had to hold the funnel and go rather slow so as to not clog the funnel. He quickly learned how to unclog it when it happened though.

Move like an insect!

Get your kids moving with these cards from Oopsey Daisy! We had a rough week weather-wise here so I thought I'd print these cards to get Adrian moving and get him laughing at the same time! Get bonus points if you dare move with your kid! ;)

Cutting Strips and Classification

Another week, another cutting strip. We're getting good at these and more confident. I feel like we'll be able to move up another notch. Adrian can now very well cut strips that require him to open the scissors twice to get through a strip so it's time to make it more challenging. This week, his cutting strip was provided by the Gift of Curiosity's Free Insects Package. When I first saw this package, I fell in love. It was a huge pack of printables with beautiful graphics but of course, we don't use a lot of printables in "mama's school" so I sifted through the pages to see what we'd use. This page is the one I finally went with. Adrian cut the insects strips one day and the "not insects" on another day. Later during the week, I brought out all the cut pictures and had him sort and glue them in their proper places.

Math - Butterfly Symmetry

I knew I wanted to do a butterfly symmetry activity with Adrian but didn't know how to introduce it to make it fun. I happened to stumble upon All Our Days' Busy Bag. With no time to order, I decided to make my own. Of course, mine don't look nearly as perfect as their kit but they did the job. If you really want yours to look like theirs, they can though...apparently, someone (aka me) was very tired when first planning this activity and did not notice the free PDF to that symmetry busy bag! Don't I feel dumb, now? *sigh* Anyhow...understanding the symmetry aspect wasn't easy. We looked at butterflies before but having no mirroring glass to shadow the proper symmetry, it was sometimes too advanced to Adrian. Still a good intro to symmetry though.

Giant Bugs Puzzle

Unless you are new to my blog, you already know that I love Melissa & Doug products, especially their puzzles. Adrian being old enough for floor puzzles, we got him (or someone did get him) this bugs puzzle for his last birthday. The pieces are huge but it's not that easy to put together...

Rescuing ladybugs from a water reservoir

I happened to have bought a pack of plastic ladybugs from Birthday Direct last winter for Zahavah's birthday party. I re-used them here in this flower planter filled with water and provided Adrian with a small mesh strainer usually used for decorating cakes with sugar icing. Let's be honest: the rescue was easy but nothing will ever beat the fun of the activity. I originally had set it up for outside but transferred it inside as the rain started before Adrian and I headed out.

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