Candy Week for Preschoolers - Part 1

Candy Week? What was I thinking? Oh wait! I remember! Candy is something so easy to find here in Germany and thus, I have access to so many more manipulatives for my trays! Or do I? I think I might have overlooked one great detail this week: we don't eat much candy at all in this household. As such: what manipulatives was I thinking about? Sure candy is available at the store but what a shame to buy pounds of candy to play with and not eat later! In the end, my idea wasn't so bright after all but the week sure was fun and Adrian loved candy week because let's face it: what's sweeter than tasting a new kind of candy every school day?

Counting gum balls

Would obviously have been much cooler done with real gum balls. I later found some in our local grocery store but then again, I'd have to chew them all later, right? (Gum in my book is not safe for the under 6) Also, I would have had to somehow raise the edge of my "machine" so as to not have the balls roll around. For this exercise, I was practicing counting and oral memory. I would call a number in between 0 and 30 and Adrian then had to count the right amount of pompoms and  fill the gum ball machine. I'd repeat the number only once. The graphic (which can be printed in a HUGE size according to the author) was a freebie found on Plum Adorable. Like her, I used pompoms but we didn't glue ours! :)

Lacing - Making a "Life Savers" Bracelet

Lacing a great activity many preschools practice. This one is  nice variation with a pipe cleaners...and Life Savers. I did take the candy out of the wrappers for Adrian by the way.

"Life Savers" Bracelet Modeled by Adrian

Marshmallow Magic - Turning a Mini Marshmallow into a Regular Marshmallow

So I was all out of the regular sized of marshmallows! How sad is that? I asked Adrian if he thought we could turn the mini marshmallows into bigger ones? With a puzzled but most certain look, he blurted out a "no". Needless to say, it was the answer I was looking for. Exploratorium (and many other resources as well I'm sure) will guide you through a very neat experiment quadrupling the size of marshmallows! Being that it was candy week, I just had to pull this one. Adrian could not believe his eyes. The mini marshmallows were turning into "jumbo" ones right in front of him. Not only that, but poking the freshly microwaved white "things" and then waiting a minute to poke them again made a huge difference in their textures. Hey, Easter is coming..you guys can also try it with Peeps! ;)

Pretend Play? Candy Store involving scooping, tweezing, weighing and more

Adrian is very well grounded in reality. He has never liked dressing up and actually has a hard time making up stories. Pretend play is just not his thing. When I prepared this activity, I was very well aware that this would look like pretend play to him so I had to make a conscious effort of having specific tasks! :) As such, Adrian had a "shopping list" on which he found a list of 4 candy listed. Next to each of them was written a number and that number corresponded to the amount of grams needed for each type of candy. Adrian then had to use the utensil found in the candy dish to fill a candy bag and weigh that bag on the scale until he had the right amount of candy noted on the shopping list. I did have to prompt him for the first bag as to how to get a bigger number of grams on the scale and then how to reduce it after he had put too many M&M. After that, it was all pure fun to him to see the numbers go and down.

Shopping List

M&M...50g

Smarties...38g

Gummies...10g

Life Savers...60g 

Candyland Board Game

Now you may think that playing a board game such as Candyland is not exactly the best way to teach anything but board games are actually pretty good at teaching a child to take turns, especially when they have no siblings and/or are being homeschooled. They can also teach a child to be a good sport and well, a game such as Candyland will teach a younger child quite a bit about colors and about counting from 1-6. When Adrian was "little" and I "taught" him Pre-Pre-K, we played a different board game every week to get his social skills developed. Candyland was his favorite. Now we didn't get to play this week but it would have fitted right in.

Painting with M & Ms

Didn't do much art this week. I don't think Adrian noticed. Not his cup of tea. :) He did enjoy the above paint though! Mind you: Not this actual painting, but the paint! :) We made it with M&Ms after completing a "science" activity I'll be blogging about tomorrow...So stay tuned so learn all about how this paint came to be...

Today, I'm happily linking up to:

Living Life Intentionally, Sugar Aunts, Teach Beside Me, Golden Grasses,  True Aim Education, Hey Mommy Chocolate Milk, Chicken Babies, Life with Moore Babies, Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas, Here Comes the Girls, Inspiration Laboratories, The Iowa Farmer's Wife, and Train Up a Child.   

If you would like me to link up with you, please don't hesitate to ask, it might take me a week or two, but I generally do!

Zoo Week for Preschoolers - Part 3

Well it is not in my habits to post on a Saturday as I usually use this time to work on curriculum development but I really wanted to get this last Zoo Part out before next week...So here it is!

Zoo Animal Cracker Patterns

Who doesn't like animal crackers? I don't tend to keep them around the house that much but I bought a bag for this week to the delight of my kids (We used Leibniz's zoo crackers). I quickly explained that before eating them, Adrian would need them for school. :) Needless to say, this activity HAD to be done on Monday. :) Using animal zoo animal crackers, I started a pattern and asked Adrian "What comes next?"  A fun and yummy activity.

Making a  Zoo Cage thru - Fine Motor Skills

Well this one can be both an art piece and a fine motor activity I guess. I really wanted to focus on the fine motor aspect of the activity so I personally prepared the "scene" for the zebra. I printed, cut and glued the zebra, cut and glued the green construction paper mountain behind it and made the indents on the cardboard (a cereal box). "All" Adrian had to do was to insert the flax yarn into each indent (not easy at all to him since it was as tight as floss and teeth) and wrap around the box with the yarn before inserting into the next indent. It took a while but it turned out to be a beautiful cage. I guess looking back I could have spaced the indents more...a lot more  Also, the indents could be done by a child if you draw them on the box prior to the cuts being made so they can align well. I know "A" still has trouble with scissor work so I decided to do the indents myself. Idea and zebra: DLTK Kids.

How Many Spots on this Giraffe?

Eights giraffes, eight markers colors and a different amount of spots of each of these mammals.  Adrian's work? To count the spot on each of these giraffe and then tally that number on the main sheet with number cards. This idea came from Mrs. Lee's Kindergarten. There were so many more good ideas for a zoo unit there. Wish my kid could attend sometimes! :) Anyhow, I made my own giraffe cards and sheets by using Corvus Tristis's pattern. You can always e-mail me to get the tallying sheet if you wish.

Zoo Animal Cards and Beginning Sounds

As mentioned in a prior post on our Zoo Unit, I made these beautiful zoo cards myself by using pictures provided by National Geographic. For this activity, I set them out with a tray of LeapFrog magnetic letters. Adrian then had to match pictures with beginning letters. Easy peasy literacy to him. We've progressed to the moveable alphabet but we're still waiting on it. KidAdvance seems to have lost our package... :(

Zoo Schedule of Events and Their Daily Times

Adrian has been telling time for a while now. I never really had to "teach" him. He kind of just absorbed it here and there by asking questions. Certain times are important to him and that's how he learned. He would stare at our clock and tell me the time. He especially loves the "o'clock". Now, digital time is easy to him so I grabbed an old fashioned clock to show him how the arms and hands work and all. He got it pretty quickly. The activity was to look at the zoo schedule I prepared and to indicate the time written on the schedule on that Roman clock. 

Close-Up of my Zoo Schedule 

Zoo schedules are so cool nowadays. When I was little, going to the zoo was it. There was very little else to do but to see the animals and believe me, that was plenty. Now, there are chats, shows, feeding times and so much more. When creating this schedule, I looked at several zoos around the world to get a pulse of what they have to offer. This schedule was based on my findings. That's right. These things happen for real, not in an imaginary world. Thus, if you want to feed the penguins, head to ZSL London Zoo in London, England, if you would rather see how a bear is trained, fly to Louisville, KY, U.S.A. In the mood for orangutan crossing? The Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington DC, U.S.A. has it! Sea Lion show? Well now, that's pretty pretty much anywhere with sea lions, right? How about seeing an elephant take a bath? Could be funny, right? Then you'll need to go to Houston, TX, U.S.A. Finally, as you may have guessed, to hold a cuddly koala and get a picture taken with it, you'll need to arrange a trip to Taronga Zoo, in Sydney, Australia! There, you have it!

Zoo Feeding Stations - Feeding an Elephant and Giraffe - Fine Motor

Before we had kids, I was the kid. I was the one asking to feed the animals. Yep. I did the giraffe feeding, the dolphin feeding and all. :) For this activity, Adrian, who never got to feed any zoo animals yet (goats don't really count now, do they?), got to finally feed an elephant some peanuts with a nutcracker and a giraffe some lettuce with some tongs. 

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Today, I'm happily linking up to:

I can Teach my Child, Sugar Aunts, Teach Beside Me, Golden Grasses, No Time for Flashcards, True Aim Education, Hey Mommy Chocolate Milk, Chicken Babies, Life with Moore Babies, Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas, Here Comes the Girls, Inspiration Laboratories, The Iowa Farmer's Wife, Artsy Play Wednesday , Discover and Explore, and Train Up a Child.   

If you would like me to link up with you, please don't hesitate to ask, it might take me a week or two, but I generally do!

Zoo Week for Preschoolers - Part 2

I've always been a big fan of zoos. Even before I had kids, I visited zoos on a somewhat regular basis. Seeing such "exotic" animals out of books and so close is something rather special. I'm still hoping to see some of these zoo animals in their real habitat while we're so close to Africa. We've been talking about going to either Tanzania or Kenya (South Africa is a LONG flight away) but these countries have both been a bit unstable lately. Hopefully, it will all get better soon, both for these countries and for my safari wishes! :)

Lion Paper Plate Craft - Fine Motor Skills & Art

Fine Motor Skills? Where, you may ask? Well, if you look closer, the mane of the lion has been scissor cut. Yes! Adrian is finally "making the cut"! :) I found a perfect pair of scissors that makes it manageable for him to cut. I still have to hold the material he is cutting but he is now able to cut instead of simply crease/fold the paper. I used a dinner plate to make this lion so cutting all around was long but he managed. The cutting was the first step. We then painted the face in yellow and then the mane in orange. Our plate had a slight bevel so I showed Adrian to use that as a "face" guideline to know when face and mane started/stopped. Once everything was dried, Adrian glued on the goggly eyes and the pre-cut nose/mouth. Idea credit: Preschool Corner.

I spy on this Zoo Map - A Literacy Adventure

Curiously, we do not play a lot of "I Spy" games over here. I guess it's one of those "too obvious" games that gets forgotten. I know some people have done versions with bottles, others with booklets and here I am presenting you a version with a zoo map. A San Diego Zoo Map to be precise. I downloaded it straight from their website. It is busy enough to make it challenging for a 4.5 years old yet not too difficult for one to give up depending on which animals you are looking for. Here are the ones my little eye was spying on...

-a panda

-an elephant

-a tiger

-a gorilla

-a lion

Adrian had no trouble finding them. I'm not saying it didn't take him a few seconds but he found them without needing any hints and without losing too much time/patience. As a bonus, I also asked him to find a white arctic fox and that was definitely a good bonus. It took him a long time but he finally did. Will you find it?

Water basin temperature matching aka Thermic "bottles"

Sometime during the primary years, the thermic bottles are presented to the children attending Montessori schools. I still hadn't done any thermic activities with Adrian and thought I might just be able to slip the "thermic bottles" in the zoo unit with a little variation: instead of using the bottles, I'd used budget-friendly glasses. As this was our first time doing this type of activity, I also decided to do only three different temperatures instead of the usual four. It also worked better for my zoo scenario. One cup was 37 degrees, one was 17 degrees and the last one was about 7 degrees (all Celsius). 

I explained to Adrian that each of these cups contained the perfect water temperature for an animal living at the zoo except for one that would be perfect for the people visiting the zoo instead. I told him his first job was to match the water cups by temperature and so he did with no problem. I then asked him to organize them from coldest to warmest. We discussed which felt most comfortable to him; which cup he'd rather take a bath in. He pointed to the 37 degree cup and I told him it was the water basin for the visitors of the zoo. I then showed him a picture of the penguins and asked him which water he thought they might prefer. He pointed to the coldest saying penguins like snow and ice. And that left us with the middle cup which is I explained was the perfect temperature for the dolphins. 

How Many Fleas on the Back of this Monkey?

Have you ever noticed monkeys at the zoo? They spent quite a bit of time looking for parasites into each other's fur. My son thought it was funny, especially when they'd find one and would eat it. I therefore dedicate this activity to him! :) I printed pictures of various monkeys and drew tiny specks with a black pen to represent "fleas". I tried to put them in the darker areas of the monkeys to make it more difficult. I then added a magnifying glass to the tray (first time using one for Adrian) and we were off to find and count fleas. It was indeed very fun. Adrian loved the magnifying glass and I am planning on including it some more later.

Magnifying Fleas

Sweeping a Zebra Enclosure

Adrian is, generally speaking, no fond of the sweeping activities. They are quite traditional in the Montessori schools and I try to make them fun but until now, they had never been caught Adrian's interest. I am so glad he liked this one. I used Panko bread crumbs, a paintbrush and put a zebra figure in the crumbs. I explained that the zookeeper was quite busy that day at the zoo and that it would be helpful as assistant-zookeeper if he could clean the enclosure himself by sweeping all the crumbs to one side. He would also have to move the zebra to make sure no crumbs remained under the animal. Mission accomplished!

In the Process of Getting Mr. Zebra's Enclosure Clean

Matching Labels to Zoo Fur Samples

When I thought about the zoo unit curriculum, I immediately knew I'd want to have Adrian match a picture of the zoo animal and a part of their fur/feathers and such. Unfortunately for me, the only place I could remember having these patterns on "paper" were Michael's stores (which is nowhere around here) Thankfully for me, TPTB had the same idea and I guess didn't have access to these sheets either! :) So I printed her work and used those instead with the labels as a literacy practice (Adrian can "read" by first letter and from then on can match to the fur card). Needless to say, I'm still wanting my "real" furry sheets for when little Zahavah gets to his activity but for now, I settled... *sigh*

Zoo Quiz

Every so often I prepare a little quiz for Adrian. I think last time I did one was in the fall and was about farm animals. This time, I made one about zoo animals. Only five questions with three hints, each getting easier. Adrian got all the answers and loved the quiz overall. 

Question 1. 

Hint 1. I have a blue-purple tongue.

Hint 2. I am the tallest zoo animal.

Hint 3. I am yellow and brown like a ripe banana.

Question 2.

 Hint 1. I cannot walk backwards.

Hint 2. I carry my joey baby in my front pouch.

Hint 3. I'm from Australia and love to hop (hop).

Question 3.

Hint 1. I am a bird but have no wings; instead I have flippers and love to swim.

Hint 2. I live in Antarctica.

Hint 3. I am mostly black and white and waddle like this (waddle).

Question 4.

Hint 1. I stand up to sleep.

Hint 2. My name was Marty in the movie Madagascar.

Hint 3. I look like a black and white striped horse.

Question 5.

Hint 1. I am the biggest zoo animal.

Hint 2. I use my tusks to find food and water.

Hint 3. My long trunk helps me pick up food.

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Sequence for Kids

What? No picture? Nope! We did not get to play. But we will on one of these rainy days! :) If you haven't yet, you should get your own board. Sequence for Kids is GREAT. Adrian and I both love it and it features zoo animals. It fitted this week's theme perfectly but time was short and this was obviously not a priority on my list.

Zoo Enclosures with Blocks & Tape Measure

No way! Yet another thing we did not get to do! What is going on? Well, little Zahavah is growing up. As such, her nap time is being cut back and it is eating away at our school time. I guess I also had planned more activities than less or maybe we just took more time than I thought we would on certain activities. Anyhow, I had planned on having Adrian build zoo enclosures with wooden blocks. These enclosures would have been for our Jumbo Zoo Animals made by Learning Resources and I would have provided "dimensions" and a measuring tape for the activity. Let's see if we can recycle this activity in another weekly theme... 

Zoo Map continents

Hmm. Well, this one stayed "off the map" as well. I had originally planned on "making" a sandpaper globe and have a guessing game of where the zoo animals originally came from. I had planned on having 1-2 animals representing each continent.  Maybe I'll just get to it later, like over the summer or something. Here are the animals I had picked :

Asia: Tiger & Panda
Australia: Kangaroo & Koala
Europe: Chamois
Africa: Giraffe & Gorilla
North America: American Buffalo
South America: Llama
Antarctica: Penguins

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Today, I'm happily linking up to:

Living Montessori Now, B-Inspired Mama, I can Teach my Child, Sugar Aunts, Teach Beside Me, Golden Grasses, No Time for Flashcards, True Aim Education, Hey Mommy Chocolate Milk, Chicken Babies, Life with Moore Babies, Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas, Here Comes the Girls, Inspiration Laboratories, The Iowa Farmer's Wife, Discover and Explore, Train Up a Child and

If you would like me to link up with you, please don't hesitate to ask, it might take me a week or two, but I generally do!

Zoo Week for Preschoolers - Part 1

When planning a zoo week for Adrian, I knew it would involve more science than usual. I guess it's ok in a way. He loves science and in other units, we don't get to incorporate it as much. One thing is sure zoo week was well liked and a trip to the zoo is now pending! :)

Homemade Zoo Cards & Fun Facts

I actually made these cards last summer in anticipation for our annual zoo visit. I wanted to make sure Adrian would be able to identify most zoo animals he'd encounter and I also wanted to get him excited about this outing. It worked and I am glad I got to re-use these beautiful picture cards in school. I made them mostly using National Geographic pictures. I find they always provide such beautiful photographs on their website. For facts, I also relied on National Geographic as well as Encyclopedias we have here. I tried to stick to what the animals eat, what continent they originate from as well as a fun tidbit that would make the animal memorable to Adrian. For example, I put down that the giraffe had a bluish-purple tongue. He thought it was so strange! :)

Sorting : Farm or Zoo Animals?

Let's face it: there are lots of animals out there and it can get confusing for children, especially now that zoo have petting zoos. Are there really "proper" zoo animals? I guess not. A zoo is really just a place where animals are kept in an enclosure and shown off to visitors. Sure zoos tend to have more wild species than farm / domestic animals but nothing prevents zoo owners from adopting ducklings and kitty cats for their next exhibits. :) Now, our activity was to sort the Jumbo Animals from Learning Resources into two groups; Farm and Zoo Animals. Adrian did an excellent job and had no trouble spotting who went where. I tried my best to explain why farm animals were considered "farm animals" and why zoo animals had become "zoo animals". This activity was adapted from My Montessori Journey's.

How Monkeys Remain Off the Grounds

Some monkeys rarely hit the grounds running. They'd rather stay up in the trees. Now, monkeys have hands and feet like we do but clearly, there is no path in between trees. How do they get around? How do they go from branch to branch? From tree to tree? Our "monkey" helped us demonstrate how it's done. He slid on a branch that went from tree one to tree two that had an incline. He used his hands alternatively to grab the branch. He used his feet. He swung as well when he wanted to go faster. He even jumped from one branch to another when he couldn't reach with his long arms. Overall, Adrian thought it was an interesting lesson and enjoyed moving the monkey around and trying to figure out how to make monkey reach its destinations.

Stacking Monkeys

These stacking monkeys are a bit basic for Adrian but still fun. (They're actually Zahavah's monkeys).  I thought he may make more complex stacking structures today but....I was wrong. He put the monkeys in the holes and that was it. I showed him a more complex building of monkeys (see above) and thought it might inspire him to build something more advanced or higher but nope. Next! :) By the way, these are made by Lauri, one of my favorite toy companies. I had eyed them for Adrian but never bought them for him. Bought him the toddler tote instead a few years ago (what a hit that was...is). Baby Z got these for Christmas though and I was so happy! 

Fine Motor & Art: Striping a Zebra with a Q-Tip

Drawing lines is very basic. It's something your child will do around their what? 2nd birthday or something like that? Anyhow, we're still working on making beautiful lines here, both vertical and horizontal (as well as staying within the lines) so I thought a good way to practice would be to paint some stripes on a zebra! I even brought out our zebra figure as a model so the stripes could be painted in the "right" direction. I think it looks awesome, what do you think? Want to try it? Get a blank zebra at Mithmeoi.

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This post was shared at Discover and Explore.

Knights, castles and dragons for Preschoolers - Part 2

Living in Europe does have its advantages when it comes to teaching a child about medieval times. If Adrian were any older, he'd probably be delighted by the jousting tournaments Germany offers (yes, they are back!), the history found in various museums and be surprised to hear that the plague completely wiped the human race from the area we currently live in. For now, he simply enjoys the festival with the "costumes" and the beautiful castles.

Hohenschwangau Castle, Germany - A Medieval Castle we visited last fall



Building a wood castle for our knight

Most families have wooden blocks of some kind. We were gifted these beautiful natural wood blocks made by Melissa & Doug one or two years ago. They do not get that much playtime but if I bring them out along with ideas, then they do. The task that day was to build a castle for a knight and a "cave" for a dragon. Adrian quite enjoyed having our Fisher-Price plastic knight visit the wooden castle after.

Counting & Poking Swords

Jolanthe, at Homeschool Creations, makes beautiful FREE preschool packs I use once in a while. I don't like worksheets per se but I'll use bits here and there. The numbers and knight cards you see above were part of her Knights package. I taped the numbers and knights together and taped them to a toothpick I then inserted into a styrofoam board. I also put plastic sword toothpicks into a bowl and let Adrian poke them in a row in front of each number. They represented, I said, the quantity of swords the knights needed in their castle.

A knight in shining armor - Tin foil knight craft

This picture does not make it justice but it truly was a nice craft to make for a preschooler. I personally pre-cut the shapes since foil is so easily torn but I let Adrian crumple the foil for the feet, hands, knees and elbows. He's also the one who glued all the parts in place, including the sword (pipe cleaner), feather and eyes (pink construction paper with two black dots). Wanna make one as well? Check out the template at Busy Bee Crafts! That is where we got ours and where the idea for the craft came from. By the way, Busy Bee Crafts has a few more medieval crafts your kids might enjoy. We thought about building our own catapult for the activity listed next but in the end, ran out of time and used the one we already had...

Catapult testing - how far, how high, and adjusting to reach targets

I pretty much knew this would be well loved.  I did not want it to be simple catapulting though. I did want to involve more physics and understanding of how catapults were used back in the Middles Ages. Our first test involved calculating the distance our pompoms were going and how to make it go far and how to keep it close (see masking tape pieced on the grounds?). Then we tried to make it go high and then tried to keep it low. Finally, I asked Adrian if he could figure out how to hit our targets (the mixing bowls on the grounds). It didn't take him long to figure out the catapult should be aligned  with the targets to be effective! Now we own a catapult thanks to a Fisher-Price Little People Play 'N Go Castle set but I initially intended to build a catapult with Adrian following the instructions given on Busy Bee Crafts. See link above.

Making a "medieval" stained glass window

Stained glass became quite popular during the Middle Ages and I thought it would be kind of fun to do a "kid" version of stained glass. That usually means using "contact" paper or waxed paper but we had just done that for Valentine's Day so I decided to let Adrian paint the windows. Yep. I wasn't sure I wasn't gonna regret my decision but I had read that writing on a vertical surface might help his pencil grip so the incentive was there. Turns out, Adrian LOVED painting the windows.  He wasn't sure he should at first and hesitated knowing I'd normally say this wasn't allowed. I made sure I explained this was a one-time thing. We used liquid washable tempera paint mixed with dish soap. Once it was dried, I washed it off with water and had no trouble getting it off at all. I encouraged Adrian to draw but he really just wanted to paint and spread colors all over.

Sponge-printed castle - Art & Fine Motor

Fine motor skills and art? Absolutely. Other than a good pencil grasp, there is also the tiny sponges that can get involved! Today I cut a tiny sponge from a much bigger kitchen sponge for Adrian to use on this white crayon castle (pre-drawn by...me! No laughing!). The idea was to make "brick prints". Of course, with a preschooler, bricks might not look so much like bricks because they like to dip their sponges into A LOT of paint but if you can convince your child to dip lightly and to print often instead of dipping every time, you may have beautiful bricks on your castle, especially if they are spaced instead of all stacked on top of one another. I tend to emphasize the process over the product with my kids so to me, Adrian's castle was great. I love that he finished it (not a small task with a tiny sponge and that he printed instead of smeared the paper like he could have). The idea for this castle was adapted from  Deep Space Sparkle who did the project with older kids and included more steps.

Knights, Castles and Dragons for Preschoolers - Part 1

Dragons? Yes, I hesitated grandly before coming up with a mini-unit that would include a fantasy component. After all, Dr. Montessori was not exactly known to make room for these. Part of me understands why but part of me also thinks it's sad. I find fairy tales somewhat traditional and feel like my son should at least be aware of what a dragon is. Now that he is nearing 5 years old, I feel like he is well grounded in reality and that he knows certain creatures were made up by someone else's imagination. Sure he can create his own "monsters" and most certainly the real world is big enough for a 4.5 year old to discover but I still liked the idea of incorporating a tiny bit of dragon into this thematic. Hey, doesn't the Komodo Dragon exist after all? ;)

Making old pennies can shine like new

The background story given to Adrian was that a knight wanted his shining armor to be shiny again but before handing it to us, he wanted to make sure we could make it shine. As such, we would practice on cents. Being that we are in the E.U., we used Euros but American and Canadians pennies (did you guys keep some?) will work as well and other high content copper coins from other countries would as well. You'll need some salt and vinegar. I was out of regular vinegar so I used apple-cider vinegar (thus the yellowish color in the glass) and it worked just fine. The pennies don't need to soak long at all and Adrian liked to dip for 5 seconds and check the line the solution had made on the penny before sending the coin to the bottom of the glass. For full instructions, check out the link under the 2 pictures.

Can you guess which cents were cleaned and which weren't?

Can you guess which cents were rinsed and which weren't?

Ok. So the rinsed cents did not leave any residue on the paper towel and the ones that were no rinsed sadly didn't leave much behind either. It just remained on the coins themselves...which is still cool since the cents were quite colorful when we flipped them over. Adrian thought the rinsing versus non-rinsing changed nothing at first but when he turned the coins over, THERE was a different after all! 

Instructions and extensions to this activity can be found on Exploratorium's Website. 

"Metal" working - Hammering textures in aluminum foil

Is texture rubbing popular in your house? We haven't done it here except with leaves but I thought we could do something similar with aluminum foil and a toy hammer and pretend we were working metal like in the Middle Ages. It was actually not very easy to find textures that would hammer well. We either have a very smooth home or hammering textures is much harder than rubbing them with crayons. The activity itself was still fun but I felt like I was looking for textures more than Adrian was.

Close-up of our results

"Castle and Sun" by Paul Klee

Being that we were doing a unit about the Middle Ages, I thought I'd sneak in our first Artist. About time, right? We've been doing art a lot but not appreciating it much. I am now aiming to do it once a month. For this month, I picked Paul Klee and his "Castle and Sun" painting. Adrian and I first looked at Klee's work through a slideshow at Wikipaintings.org. We discussed how he liked to use shapes and looked at the colors he liked. We talked about Klee himself and how he lived in Germany like we do. I then showed Adrian the "Castle and Sun" painting. I had printed that one. I made sure not to mention the name of the painting to Adrian and then asked him to tell me what he thought it was about. We talked about the shapes Klee used, the colors, the sizes, how he filled the frame of the picture and so on. In the end, I presented a black sheet and tray filled with pre-cut shapes. Adrian was then asked to make his own "Castle and Sun". I first saw this idea of My Montessori Journey. I saw it done with chalk too and the results are always beautiful.

Crown Jewels - Counting Gems

A little counting activity I saw on Our Montessori Home. Really easy and basic for Adrian but I didn't have enough gems to make it more challenging. The size of certain jewels made it difficult though! :) Off to buy more gems! :)

"Pin" pushing / "Slaying the Dragon"

Hmm. I didn't tell Adrian we'd be slaying the dragon actually. It sounded too violent to me so I actually told him we'd pierce the dragon's heart with a sword to turn him into a nice dragon because there was a "nice dragon" serum on the tip of the sword. :) He made sure not to miss and inserted the tip of the sword into the heart of every dragon. I found this clipart on Best Clipart Blog and the sword toothpicks at a dollar store back in the U.S.

Sharpening Jousting Lances...aka pencils

Well this was the first time Adrian sharpened a pencil. I quickly realized that 3 was way too many! :) 1 was enough and it took a while and lots of encouragement. I found it was a GREAT hand strengthening exercise though. Will have to do it again. I pretended these pencils were jousting lances in need of sharpening for the jousting tournament. Cute, eh?

Stay tuned for another post on knights, castles and dragons later this week!

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Discover and Explore, and No Time for Flashcards

Valentine's Day for Preschoolers - Part 3

And here are the last activities the Valentine's Day Week brought us. Thankfully, there were no complaints that it was too pink or girly that week. :)

Love Potion - Filling with an eye dropper

"Oh why not?", I thought. Kids love potions, right? Adrian colored the water red himself by squeezing a few drops of food coloring and then proceeded to squeeze the eye dropper until all the water from the bowl had been transferred to the potion bottle. I initially had fancied a test tube but as usual, could not find the desired object in time for the activity (ugh!) No biggie as I had no stand for my tubes anyway. After the red water transfer, Adrian was invited to sprinkle some glitter and a drop of perfume from a tiny sample tube I was given at a store. 

Adrian preparing the love potion...with love!

Arranging a bouquet of roses - inserting roses into punched holes

This one is more of a toddler activity I guess but I thought it may still be a tad bit challenging for Adrian considering these silk roses have thorns (making insertion more difficult). On top of that, the stems are so long that Adrian had to take care where he was putting the roses as the short vase (a cottage cheese container) might topple over. So basically, the vase had to be held tightly as Adrian chose carefully where the next flower would go so as to not upset the arrangement. In the end, it was a success!

Making a Valentine

Now it may not look like much but making this Valentine took quite a bit of fine motor effort. Adrian had to crumple all the pink strips of tissue paper I had prepared and then he had to dip them in the liquid glue and press them inside the pre-drawn heart I had crayoned on the card. I guess we lost of bit of the shape as we went along but it's probably because I didn't make my heart "deep" enough.

Pink Tower and extensions

One of the first materials I purchased after deciding to homeschool my then 3 year old Adrian was the Pink Tower. It seemed like it was a symbol of the Montessori education; a must-have in our home. Fast-forward a year and a half later and the Pink Tower has not been touched much. Let's just say so far, I haven't gotten my money out of it! :) Being that it's Valentine's Day and that Valentine's Day is usually associated with red AND pink, I figured I would  dust it off and try to make it worth my investment... I'll be honest, Adrian tried hard but had very limited success in making these pink tower extensions. We'll try it again but with less blocks next time and when he is not sick. I proceeded to show him the pattern to reproduce with my own pink tower (pink construction paper cut the same size as the blocks of the pink tower) and asked him to make his next to mine but in the end, he had to do it on top of mine...

The "crane" extension

The "diamond" extension

The "diamonds and squares" extension

The "shelf" extension

Many more extensions of the Pink Tower are possible. These are just a few we tried. Eventually, I'd love to get the brown stairs and make even more designs. Adrian is just not into "blocks" so I'm not sure it's worth buying but we'll see...

This post was shared at Montessori Monday, Tuesday Tots, Mom's Library, We Made That Wednesday, the Weekly's Kids Coop, Show-and-Share Saturday, Sunday Showcase, Link & Learn, Share it Saturday and Preschool &Kindergarten Community.