biscuits please

For two days M. have been having fun making biscuits with home made play dough (which she made herself).


You can do this by adding some flour, salt and water (enought to make a dough that doesn't stick to the hands), then you can add some ingredients for texture (peanuts, cake decoration, ice-cream toppers)
She also had pretend tea parties with the play dough biscuits and water as tea, all on plates and cups of course!

EGGY HAIR

This is a nice gardening activity to make even without garden. It takes really little space e doesn't need lots of materials.
What you will get at the end will be cress...but it will look like hair on a face painted on a egg shell.

Materials:

- egg shell
- cress seeds
- cotton wool
- eggs cartoon

1. draw or paint a simple face on each of the broken egg shells
2. dips ball of cotton in a bowl of water so that they are completely soaked




3. fill the egg shell with the wet cotton wool and put it back in his cartoon
sprinkle cress seeds over the cotton wool




4. put some dirt on top of the seeds
5. put the eggs on a window sill and wait for a few days
6. remember to keep the cotton wool wet

MONTESSORI MATHS

SPINDLE BOXES


It has been a while M. is getting to know her numbers. Many children at her age should know how to count to ten, but who really knows what 1 or 5 means. As usual I found it silly to just teach notions without the child's knowing the meaning of it.
I found it useful to teach M. her numbers via a home made Montessori material for number and quantity recognition called spindle box. The spindles clarify the idea that the symbols represent a certain quantity of separate objects, it also introduce the concept of zero and its symbol and reinforce the natural sequence of the numerals. This activity is also self-corrective: if the counting has been incorrect, at the end there will be either an insufficient number of spindles or some left over.

This is the original spindle box




This is my spindle box





I bought separate plastic baskets (probably they are meant to contain forks and spoons...) from 99p shop.
I drew a number in each of them. They must be put next to each other in order before commencing the activity.
For the spindle I bought same colour pencils from the 99p shop


How to use it:
Point out the compartments and the numerals the child knows. Point to them all, one at a time, and have the child give the number’s names.
Tell the child that these numbers will tell us how many spindles to put in the box.
Point to the number 1. Have the child read it and then say, “We will put 1 spindle in this box.”
Place one spindle in the compartment.
Repeat for 2, counting the spindles as you place them, “One, two.” Continue this up to 4.



Have the child place the correct spindles in the remaining compartments.
Once all of the spindles have been placed, look at compartment 0 and notice that there is nothing in it.
Say, “This is zero. Zero means nothing. That is why there is nothing in this spot.
Have the child take out the two spindles from container 2. Have him do this one by one and count as he does so.
Have the child tie a rubber band around the two spindles and replace them in the 2 slot.
Repeat for the other spindles.
Then take out the 1 spindle and place it gently back into the basket.
Take out the other spindles group by group, and after taking off the rubber bands, place them one by one (counting as the child does this) back into the basket.
Ask the child why there was no spindle in the 0 container.



SANDPAPER NUMBERS

Almost everyone would have heard of sandpaper numbers and letters. They are commonly used in Montessori nurseries, but I have became more wide spread nowadays.
If you will ever want to buy a set be prepared because they are very pricey, this is not quite right, since the materials costs are quite reasonable.
Home made ones while be cheap to make and will be just the same. The numbers are cut out of fine sandpaper and glued onto wooden tablets.

To make my sandpaper numbers tablets I bought cheap MDF picture frames to hung on the wall, the ones without frame. (the cost came to around 3 pounds for 10 tablets)
Bought 4 sandpaper sheet (cost 1pound)
You can print numbers templates to cut out the sandpaper, I just drew the numbers on it and cut them out
I then glued the numbers onto the tablets
I bought a nice box to put them in

The child is asked to trace the numbers with his two fingers passing on the sandpaper (the sandpaper guides the child’s fingertips). This activity is useful to teach the child the symbols for the numbers he knows, and to provide him with the keys to the world of written numbers.
Indirectly is a preparation for the writing of numerals.


Do not teach all the numbers at once, start with a group of 3 numbers:
Take out 1, trace three times and say its name: “one”
Give to the child to repeat.
Place the board at the top of the table.
Repeat for numbers 2 and 3.
Do a Three Period Lesson with numbers 1, 2, and 3.
Repeat for numbers 4, 5, and 6.
Then repeat for numbers 7, 8, and 9.
Depending on the child, this may be taught over a few days

DAYS OUT

As part of our world project I took M. to visit the British Museum for the Africa and South America sections, and to the Victoria and Albert Museum for the Asian section.
It seems a bit hazardous taking children to big museum, full of staff that they can't touch,there are no toys, and do not know what it is for. But for M. is different. I was observing her in front of the museums windows boxes, observing Japanese kimonos and samurai armors, African musical instrument and Native American clothes, and she didn't look at all out of place in that big hall full of adults. M. was very interested in what she was seeing, she asked many questions and I could see that she was digging in her memory and fishing out all the information I gave her about how people around the world dress, and live. The things she was observing behind that glass had meaning for her and she highly enjoyed the experience.








GARDENING

We tryed again to plat some bulbs. Last winter we didn't succeed much, only one flower bloomed in our pot kept indoors, so this time I wanted to try to plant daffodils outside in the common green area.
This time was a real bloom!
now all our daffodils are in bloom and I want to make cards with their photos to keep as a life cycle experience. M. helped me through all the phases of planting and kept on going and observing every little change during the flowers' cycle.