shop-counting game

M. is doing well with her couting but doesn't like to use the Montessori materials these days. I thought to let her doing other things until the interest is coming back, but a couple of months have passed by and she doesn't want to know about them. All well. working on mathematical and language materials, but There is so much more about Montessori, like creativity, the use of senses, contact with nature, all aspect that I see are missing....
I had to come up with some other ways to make M. like counting....
I devise this shop, where in the price tags are as maI Ppny circles as the coins needed to buy the item. M. likes pretend play and she starts following the rules during board games, so this would be a great way to play counting!
I kept it simple, putting the more expensive items at 5 coins. She did very well, and then she also had a change to be the shopping assistence, checking that I was giving her the right number of coins.

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

one step in the right direction

Today was a really grey and rainy day...it is the third day in a row that me and M are not going outside for some fresh air. It is also saturday and both of us felt like relaxing.

In the morning M. had lots of fun bathing her plastic dolly, while mummy was giving her a bath.
The we watched some Cbeebies and I explained the cartoons in my mother tongue
I use my mother tongue when I speak to her, I am really keen on her learning our mother language, but of course she is picking up lots of English words too from TV and children centres sections. We also jumped and danced to the Cbeebies songs which she enjoys very much.


After lunch we read some of the books in M's home library. She knows all of them by heart and sometimes she even "reads" them by herself. I started reading to her since she was two months
old, I don't know if it because of this early start or because I also enjoy reading so I injected this passion in her, but M. loves books more than TV: she can keep focus on the cartoons for 5 minutes, but she can read with me for 30-40 minutes and more.


M. had 3 hours nap (really unsual mind you), and I had time to exercise on my new mini stepper machine and cook dinner.

In the afternoon we did some activities.


WORDS


We looked at the flash cards. With this activity I show her a picture and I say out loud the word, slowly and divided into phonic sounds (su-n, ho-me) and she will try to repeat the world.
Aworld must be repeated lots and lots of times
before a child can say it, so this activity must be done a number of times before you can see (or better, hear) the results.

What I use are the "Usborne look and say First Words" which are 30 chunky, actractive flash cards. Under and at the back of each picture there is the written world, so that you can use them also when the child is learning to write and read.

Everytime M. try to say the world I give her lots of praises, clap hands, smile, so that she is encouraged to learn the sound of the world.



After this we learnt the names of the colours RED, YELLOW, GREEN, BLUE.







To do this I made her paint a white paper for each of the colours and kept on repeating the sound red, when she was paint the paper in red, yellow and so on. When they are dry these can also be used as flash cards for the child to say the name of the colour.



After this we had a bit of free drawing with all the colours.



NUMBERS:


M. sorted out a wooden peg puzzle that has numbers on it from 1 to 10. She took off all the pieces and I asked her to find the number 1 showing her how it looks like in the puzzle, when she found the piece and put it in the right place, I asked her to find the number 2 and so on.



SCIENCE:


This was not meant as an activity but M. started it by chance and I explained her what was happening.




M. wanted a mandarin to peel, she loves peeling this fruit. I draw a face on it as I always do to make it more fun.


when she finished she started squeezing the juice and making a mess everywhere. I was almost about to tell her off when I stopped and thought that this was a very good idea actually.



I explained to her that the mandarin was made of water, that's why this liquid was coming out, and that it was juice, like the one she loves drinking (and that she actually only sees coming out from a box). She was really excited and she asked for another mandarin to squeeze.





There you go, as I said every experience is learning for little kids: we, as parents, can't waste an apportunity like this one just because it makes a bit of mess and makes our home a little dirty.



















ART and CRAFT and FAMILY VALUE


We played with playdough. I made a small family made out of playdough: a little girl, mummy, daddy and a cat. While I was doing this she was trying to make shapes and tearing the dough to pieces (this help manual dexterity). each time Imade a piece for the body of our figurines I tell
her the name of the body-part (head, leg, arm, hair, tail etc).

We put all the figurines next to each other and we put their hands together: they all love each other like it should be in a family.




















































For dinner we all had chicken cous cous. I posted the recepit.
Good night