More March Montessori-Inspired Fun

It's March again here at Seedlings and it's time to share a few more fun activities we have lined up for the month.

Here is a look at the invitations that were offered to the children last year.

I've brought back a few of last year's activities, with a few small changes and additions:

Our book selections include a few Dr. Seuss favorites as well as some theme-related choices.

The shamrock and penny counting activity is back - this was a huge hit last year!

Our Peter Rabbit floor puzzle is also back, along with a fun rainbow puzzle donated by a parent earlier this year.

Our Montessori-Inspired Sound Bottles are also making a comeback.  Monkey was thrilled to see these returned to the classroom and he immediately taught Bear how to use them!

Bear is finally old enough to understand when I ask him not to put everything in his mouth (though he still tries), so I've added a fun St. Patrick's Day transfer activity to the classroom.  I found a few shamrock necklaces at the Dollar Tree and cut them apart so the tiny shamrocks could be transferred from bowl to bowl with either the tiny spoon or the tweezers.  The mirror trays in the room help to add some variety and, if we're lucky, some reflections that may even lead us into discussions and activities on light and rainbows!

Last, but not least, I've added these little color-mixing gnome families to our block area.  I'm interested to see how these are used over the next few weeks.

March happens to be my favorite month for lesson-planning.  Something about shamrocks and rainbows and fairies and St. Patrick's Day fun brings out the kid in me.  Incidentally, March will also be my last month teaching before my new little Seedling arrives and I take a few weeks off to recover and get to know the little one.

More spring and summer activities coming soon!

A Week of Weather - Day 3: Rain

 

This week, we've done some great activities with wind and explored clouds.  For our last weather explorations, we focused on rain!!  Yes, I'll say it again, it's the desert, we don't get rain, but the children enjoyed songs or books about rain anyway and they LOVED making their own rain.


Our first experiment was a Rain Jar.  I've been doing this experiment for years, always topping the jar of hot water with plastic wrap, which always left melting ice and a big mess, until I saw it done using a bowl on top of the jar - duh, Miss Lindsey!

So, this year, I set it up properly: start with a mason jar filled about halfway with almost-boiling water (keep little hands away, please!), place a bowl (I used a glass bowl that fit down inside the rim of the jar) on top and fill the bowl with ice.  Observe!

After a few minutes, the evaporating water will condense on the bottom of the bowl of ice, form droplets and then 'rain' back into the jar.  I have to say, I've never seen kids stare so intently at a jar of water than I did when we did this experiment.

The rain doesn't last long, and without a formal explanation of the water cycle, the children may not even know how it happened, but the point of this activity wasn't to learn the science of rain, it was to be awed by rain - which we desert-dwellers tend to be anyway.  It's about watching, waiting, anticipation and finally the excitement of seeing rain INSIDE a jar!!

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Next on the rainy agenda - Shaving Cream Clouds and Rainbow Rain, which I've seen floating about the web for quite a while and done very beautifully here.  

We read Listen to the Rain by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault.  I happen to really enjoy this book, both because the writing style is strangely soothing and also because the art style is unique.  After the book, we moved right into making our own rain.  

I filled mason jars about 2/3 full of water, then added shaving cream to the top.  The kiddos began adding liquid watercolors right away, but i think they were so fascinated with coloring the shaving cream, it took a little while before they realized the rainbow rain they were creating in their jars.

Everyone enjoyed adding colors and watching them swirl down into the water until the water was all black.  Even after that, the shaving cream was still lovely, and reminded me of some sort of tasty dessert, so I just took some pictures of the tops while the children finished coloring their clouds.

I hope you've enjoyed our Week of Weather!

Magic Mud: Rainbows and Nature

Ahhh, Magic Mud, aka goop, gak, slime, and all of those other interchangeable words used to describe a variety of amazing sensory materials for children (and adults!).  At Seedlings, Magic Mud is what we call cornstarch and water.  I've tried this a couple of times with my students and received a very unenthusiastic response each time - it's one of those love it or hate it kind of things.  I've seen this solid-ish, liquid-ish material used in some wonderful ways, but two of my favorites are Clubhouse Goop over at Fit Kids Clubhouse - check out the rainbow swirl action over there!  AND, Multi-sensory Goop at Growing a Jeweled Rose - who doesn't love nature in their sensory play?

When my son came home with a handful of rose petals from our Parent-Child Class at the local Waldorf-Inspired school, I thought - why not combine both ideas and see what happens??

I started him off with a whole box of cornstarch, his nature finds - rose petals and a teeny apple, food coloring and some old spice bottles with food coloring and water.  I also gave him a pitcher with more water since I knew the spice jars wouldn't be enough to get the reaction we were looking for.

He started with the food coloring.  He described his process as he was going along, "First I'm going to do this, Mom, then I'm going to add blue."  Such the little chef!

A sprinkling of rose petals looks lovely!  He really did sprinkle, I was pretty impressed with the technique, I could tell there was a lot of love going into this recipe.

Then he discovered the pitcher of water.  Remember all those drops of food coloring earlier??

There they are!!  Neat!  "Mom, this is cool!"  Score for Mom!

Now for a quick stir.  "Mom, it's hard!!"  I thought at this point, he might get discouraged, as he usually quits stirring once it gets difficult when we're baking.  I was wrong, he just kept adding things, even the little apple.

This next part was the best for me to watch.  Instead of adding things directly to the bowl, he created a variety of mixes in the small bowl and then added them.  I'm pretty sure this comes from watching Daddy cook - he loves being his own sous chef and puts everything into little bowls before starting any recipe.

He was still having trouble mixing, so I suggested he find another way to mix.

And then he made a new discovery.  At the bottom of that greenish-brownish liquid mess, was this amazing stuff, still retaining it's original rainbow colors!!  Hey, it IS called MAGIC Mud! 

He mixed and manipulated until the mixture was homogeneous and not very magic anymore - which is what happens if you add too much water - but it took quite a long time to get there.

My lil guy's verdict: LOVE IT!

Hopefully, you'll love it too!

10 Preschool Sensory Bin Ideas

 We always have plenty of sensory experiences here at Seedlings, but we love to go beyond the typical sand, water, potting soil, rice, birdseed, beans, etc.  Here are some examples of seasonal and anytime sensory bins.

Rainbow Bubbles

Spring/Easter Theme: shredded paper, plastic eggs, spring foam shapes, spoons, baskets.

 Cloud dough: 8c. flour, 1c. oil - I used baby oil

Bug Theme: shredded paper, wood blocks, plastic bugs and trees.

Pond Theme: Colored water, river rocks, frog life cycle models, magnifying glasses.

Gardening Theme: sand (or potting soil), garden tools, plastic planters, faux flowers.

Gardening/Flowers/Spring Theme: Lavender scented water, water beads, faux flowers, cups for scooping and pouring.

Christmas: Dyed rice, ornaments, gift boxes.

Arctic/Winter Theme: Tray covered with foil, vanilla-scented glitter play dough, Arctic TOOB

Arctic/Winter Theme: Salt in tray covered with foil, small arctic buttons (Hobby Lobby/Michael's) and blue and white pom-poms (not pictured).

15 Preschool Light Table Ideas

Here are just a few of the ways we've used our light table in the classroom.

 Glass beads (Dollar Tree) and a clear divider tray.

 Sensory bottles/bags.

 Water beads - sorting and scooping.

Fireflies in a Jar

Laminated fall leaves for science exploration.

Money and glass beads with clear sorting tray.

Translucent letters and color paddles.

Translucent mosaic tiles.

Mosaic tiles with mirror.

Crystal Climbers

Translucent Tangrams

Translucent gak/goop/slime - replace white glue with clear glue.

Magnet wand with magnetic discs - play silk over table.

Prism Blocks

Gelatin Rainbows