Template Blog Test: December 2015

Sensory Bin of Polar Animals and {Learn & Play Link Up}

Wednesday 30 December 2015

Here’s a sensory small world invitation to play I set for the kids, polar animals! We’re having “Polar Animals” for January and decided to start the tub early. The boys were ecstatic upon seeing this! How can they not? Even I enjoyed playing with these little figures!

Benefits:

sensory activity
counting
learning the names of polar animals
literarcy and vocabulary words
camouflage, animal colors that blends with their environment (blue, black, white, brown)
arctic animals are different from the animals in Antarctica
penguins are birds and can swim

What’s in the tub?

Here are the details: we have a pool for the penguins! Kids love to play with water and this was really the main attraction in our tub. Our tub even comes with an Antarctic bird!

The kids enjoyed sliding the penguins into this mini slide and enjoys all the splashing! We queue the penguins in the stairs, a lesson for “waiting for your turn”.

A closer look!

I love the effect of the pool, it has a fountain on the side!

And we have penguin chicks feeding on fish.

You can get these materials here:

Welcome to the Learn & Play Link Party!

Here are the featured activities for this week!

Indoor Activities for Kids from Child Led Life

Winter Sensory Play from Natural Beach Living

Toddler Activity Winter Sensory Bin from Study At Home Mama

Happy New Year Slime from Mama’s Happy Hive

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Now it’s time for this week’s link party! This is a BRAND new link up for all blog posts that include learn and play activities and hands-on education for kids. We are excited to read your blog posts and to see what you have to share! Please link up below and grab our button to display on your blog.

If you are a blogger, share your family friendly posts here. We are looking for things which include:

Montessori Education
Homeschool
Sensory Play
Tot and Preschool Trays
Fine and Gross Motor Activities
Kids in the Kitchen
Healthy Recipes for Kids
Arts and Crafts
Natural Living
Free Educational Printables
Family-Oriented Activities
Healthy Living

Your post will be featured on each of our blogs where we will pick our favourite posts every other week. That means there is more of a chance that you will be featured!

Everyone, please meet our link party hosts:

Christian Montessori Blog ~ Please visit our CMN FB group ~ Pinterest

Vanessa from Mama’s Happy Hive~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Jennifer from Study at Home Mama~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Marie from Child Led Life~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Jae from Pinay Homeschooler~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Heather from Golden Reflections Blog~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Renae from Every Star is Different~FB~Pinterest

GUIDELINES FOR LINKING

Please link up 1-3 posts
Follow each of the hosts on social media
When you link up, please add our button and place it at the bottom of your shared posts or link back with text link.
By entering a link, you’re giving us permission to feature an image on our blogs. Proper credit & links will ALWAYS be given.
Please visit a couple of shared posts and leave a comment for them
Remember that you must link back in order to be featured

Grab This Button:

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An InLinkz Link-up

Object Baskets for I to P

Tuesday 29 December 2015

** contains affiliate links **

This object basket series has been a popular post and I’m glad that it gave so much inspiration to all Moms and homeschoolers. Before the year ends, I’m sharing with you our second set of the object baskets and this includes letters I to P. But before you dig into this post, I suggest that you read the first part of this series to understand what it is for and how we use them at home for learning.

Object Baskets I to L

I Basket: foam letter , upper and lowercase letter, iguana, insects, ice, island

J Basket: foam letter, upper and lowercase letter, jeans, jigsaw puzzle, jug

K Basket: foam letter, upper and lowercase letter, kangaroo, knife, keys

L Basket: foam letter, upper and lowercase letter, leaves, lion, lemon, DIY sandpaper letter

Object Baskets I to L

M Basket: foam letter, upper and lowercase letter, medicine, monster, monkey, DIY moon

N Basket: foam letter, upper and lowercase letter, nuts, nine, DIY sandpaper letter, necktie

O Basket: foam letter, upper and lowercase letter, owl, orange, oval, DIY sandpaper letter

P Basket: foam letter, upper and lowercase letter, pig, pens, paint, DIY sandpaper letter

This is my guide for next year’s activities on learning letters. This will be fun!

For letters A to H, click the images below:

For product links:

Simple Experiment: What Makes Ice Melt Faster?

Wednesday 23 December 2015

This experiment is perfect for the winter season! Make use of the snowy days by performing this simple experiment on why we put salt on the icy road during snowy days.

Objective:

To determine which substance or what condition will make the ice melt faster.

Materials needed:

three bowls with ice

timer

sand

salt

marker/label

What to do?

1. Fill the bowls with ice and label one bowl ICE, another bowl SAND and the last one is SALT.

2. Place the salt ON the ice in the bowl that is marked SALT.

3. Place the sand ON the ice in the bowl that is marked SAND.

4. Observe your three subjects every 10 minutes for 30 minutes or more.

What happened?

The ice that is covered with SALT begins to melt but the one covered with SAND doesn’t melt.

Why?

As what we previously learned from our What Dissolves in Water experiment, we know that salt dissolves in water (easily). This means that the salt breaks into small particles that thoroughly mix with the water. A mixture or solution (mixture of a liquid a dissolved substance) of salt water has lower freezing point than the water alone. So when salt is sprinkled on the surface of “wet” ice, the salt dissolves in the water-like surface layer of the ice causing the ice to melt. Mostly, the salt water does not refreeze.

Now you know why road workers sprinkle salt in the road or pavement on snowy days!

Tried and Tested: Playmobil Native American Superset

Monday 21 December 2015

*** contains affiliate links ***

I was able to get some really great deals during the Black Friday sale. One of which is the Playmobil Native American Superset. As I mentioned earlier this month, Playmobil is one of the open-ended toys that we love and consider “educational” due to its historical figures and environment. This Playmobil set will be perfect for our American history study next year.

What’s inside?

As you can see, the packaging and organization of the items are very much similar to LEGO’s. The contents are packed into separate plastics just like LEGO. Just be careful when you open them as some accessories are too small (well, not as small as LEGO). I like the Playmobil boxes, they are sturdy and can be reused as storage boxes.

Though it comes with an instruction pamphlet, Mavi still needs assistance setting up the environment. Assembling the environment can be sometimes tricky, thus an adult’s assistance is needed just to be sure. But I love the Playmobil environments! They are not easily detached or broken. Most of it comes with a base which gives the child a real feel of the environment. Our Native American set is perfect for habitat tubs as well (with extra materials of course!).

The Setup

How beautiful! You can’t have a toy that’s as detailed as this these days and that depicts the life of Native Americans! The attention to details of Playmobil is totally impressive!

Mavi decided to paint a backdrop and this is how it looked like. The playset comes with a totem pole, a beautiful teepee, plants, tree, a horse and a beautiful canoe.

It has 3 native american figures: a tribe chief, and two members. Look at those bodypaints and the details of the costumes. They come with accessories too!

I love that they have a tribe chief, and his headdress is super cool! Mavi was like “so they made that with feathers? I’d like to have one!” He has his own staff with feathers to signify his status in the tribe, and the figures sit well on the horse.

Vito’s favourite is the canoe and he loves playing with it while singing the “Row row row your boat” song. My husband thinks that the best item in this set is the canoe, the shape and the design is totally awesome!

The figures snap on the canoe, brilliant!

And look at the teepee… the artwork is impressive. It is made up of a cloth-like material, which I can guarantee you that it won’t get ripped easily. It is securely fastened in the bars, though it was a bear to assemble it. I was thinking that we can design our own teepee int he future, using the existing teepee as a pattern. Another amazing activity for the kids!

Here’s Vito playing, I took this picture with Mavi in school. I couldn’t get a descent photo when both boys are playing.

I’m naming and identying ALL the objects in this set for his vocabulary and here he is enjoying the word “skull”.

He calls this figure “Daddy”.

The Verdict

I highly recommend this Playmobil set! It also comes with a lot of accessories like pipe, bow and arrow, oars, head dresses, bonfire, shield and a lot more! The material is just exceptional!

FREE Letter Picture Booklet (RAMFBITG)

Saturday 12 December 2015

I have been preparing materials for Vito for next year’s activities and one of which are materials for our early reading program. I taught Mavi how to read at the age of 3 years old without any fancy or expensive program, but with just the philosophies of Montessori and that’s what I’m going to do with Vito as well. The object baskets that I posted earlier is part of this as well.

Now in addition to the baskets, I made these picture booklets last summer to go along with our early reading program. This idea was from My Montessori Journey, one of my favourite Montessori blogs. Based on her training, the alphabet is grouped into three: ramfbitg, cusnpolh and dexqyzvwjk. The philosophy behind this is that, you can form words using the letters from each group and the child can practice reading the words once he or she has mastered the letter sounds. You can skim through her blog to know more about this. I also borrowed her idea of color coding the groups. Red for ramfbitg, yellow for cusnpolh and blue for dexqzvwjk.

This is what my booklet looks like during the time of Mavi. With Mavi, after I introduce a letter using the object baskets I would also read the picture booklet I made for him. When I read it, I emphasize the beginning sound like ‘mmmmm’ milk.

Vito’s version of letter picture booklet is more fancy because of the availability of materials now LOL

Because I love my readers, I am sharing these booklets for FREE!! You can download my FIRST SET OF LETTER PICTURE BOOKLET and create your little books according to your liking. Each letter booklet contains 6 pictures that represents the beginning letter sounds. Here’s how I assembled the booklets. The first set contains RAMFBITG letters.

Some important notes though. I just prepare this ahead of time, but I will never push Vito if he’s not interested. Mavi was obsessed with letters at the age of 2 years old and always keeps asking for “more” when it comes to literacy-related activities thus he started learning how to read at an early age. Always keep in mind that the child’s interest vary. Vito loves pointing at things and naming them, thus I know he will enjoy these booklets. If your child is not interested just keep the booklet away and do activities that he enjoys.

Don’t forget to check my object baskets too! Hope you enjoy this and watch out for the second batch as well. Enjoy!

Crazy Over Do-a-Dot Markers and {Learn & Play Link Up}

Wednesday 9 December 2015

I know you’ve heard about these already and have seen these markers in other homeschooler Moms. My little Vito had a renewal of interest and can’t stop using them! These dot markers are great tools in practicing hand/eye coordination and concentration. Aside from that, we also use it to learn shapes, colours and letters! Next year, we’ll start using them for counting.

Though there are plenty of FREE dot worksheets online, I prefer handwriting our own sheets to save ink. Here are some random photos of Vito using the dot markers.

For learning letters.

Marking shapes.

He keeps asking for more!

Working on letter ‘t’ again.

To save time, energy and INK, I cut out sheets of paper from the IKEA paper roll and just hand drawn everything. Then I place the sheets on one of the work trays so Vito can easily access them. He would usually work on them in the morning. Note that the markers can stain, but they can be wash off with soap AND water (with a little scrubbing). I have these markers since 2011 and they’re still good as new. Here’s the link if you are interested.

Welcome to the Learn & Play Link Party!

Here are the featured activities for this week!

13 Clocks Preschool Trays from from SmarE PartE

Montessori Sensorial Extensions from Spielgaben from Living Montessori Now

Watercolor Christmas Trees from 3 Dinosaurs

Salt Dough Holiday Ornaments from Tiny Tots Adventure

10 Christmas Montessori Inspired Tot Trays from Mama’s Happy Hive

If you are a blogger, share your family friendly posts here. We are looking for things which include:

Montessori Education
Homeschool
Sensory Play
Tot and Preschool Trays
Fine and Gross Motor Activities
Kids in the Kitchen
Healthy Recipes for Kids
Arts and Crafts
Natural Living
Free Educational Printables
Family-Oriented Activities
Healthy Living

Your post will be featured on each of our blogs where we will pick our favourite posts every other week. That means there is more of a chance that you will be featured!

Everyone, please meet our link party hosts:

Christian Montessori Blog ~ Please visit our CMN FB group ~ Pinterest

Vanessa from Mama’s Happy Hive~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Jennifer from Study at Home Mama~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Marie from Child Led Life~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Jae from Pinay Homeschooler~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Heather from Golden Reflections Blog~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Renae from Every Star is Different~FB~Pinterest

GUIDELINES FOR LINKING

Please link up 1-3 posts
Follow each of the hosts on social media
When you link up, please add our button and place it at the bottom of your shared posts or link back with text link.
By entering a link, you’re giving us permission to feature an image on our blogs. Proper credit & links will ALWAYS be given.
Please visit a couple of shared posts and leave a comment for them
Remember that you must link back in order to be featured

Grab This Button:

<div align="center"><a href="http://christianmontessorinetwork.com/category/learn-and-play" title="Christian Montessori Network"><img src="http://www.christianmontessorinetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/learn-and-play-link-up-150-150.png" alt="Christian Montessori Network" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

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An InLinkz Link-up

How I Organize and Store Materials

I’ve been receiving requests from readers asking me to share some tips or at least share how I organize our materials at home. To be honest, I haven’t found the perfect formula for organizing materials. I find myself experimenting on what works for me and for the kids. So instead of giving advice on what to do, allow me to share with you how I organize our things at home.

We live in a small apartment… as most European homes are! So our sitting room is our playroom which is also our “home” school room. Except for painting and messy play, this is where all the actions are taking place. So to make it “conducive” for the boys, husband and I purchased Ikea shelves and inserts so I can organize learning materials, mostly of Vito. Mavi’s stuff are in his room including the Montessori materials that we own.

This is the main shelf, the upper layer is for the working trays and the bottom layer contains the inserts. We bought a sturdy insert from Ikea as well, they are really really good, quite heavy so Vito can’t just push and pull them.

Daily Activity Shelf

The inserts contain all the learning materials (non Montessori) of Vito, including the puzzle boards. Surprisingly, they fit! So convenient because whenever I needed to change my materials, I just remove them from the insert and place them on the tray. Same thing when Vito is done working with them, I just put them back on the insert.

Note: What I do is remove the materials from their respective boxes (except for that puzzle box which is new) and place them in ziploc or sealable plastic.

The other two inserts contain Vito’s book and printed cards and the other one contains all the Schleich animals. We have a different box for our Safari Toobs.

We have this book holder on top of the shelf, these are the books that we are using as of the moment. I replace them each week. The chair beside it is our reading chair, though most of the time we read books anywhere in the house LOL.

Unit Themed Shelf

I have another shelf, just beside my working table. I place our object basket on top together with Vito’s current favourite puzzle and some unit-themed work trays on the upper shelf. The bottom inserts are for my books, papers and other Mommy’s stuff. I change the contents of this shelf twice a month, depending on how frequent we have unit or seasonal-themed activities.

Art Materials

One cupboard is dedicated to our art materials. Papers, paints, sticky tape, crayons all in here! I tidy this area once in a while, if I HAVE THE TIME.

Printables

Our local store has this super cool bags with colored zippers and has different sizes. I use these bags to store all my printed materials. For all types of cards, I use the medium size (half of A4 paper). I label the bags of course, whether its for Mavi or Vito, for history, Europe, Asia, Africa etc. I place these bags in a wooden chest in our hallway.

And that’s about it! My super secret though is that I AVOID BUYING A LOT OF STUFF Open-mouthed smile Even if I feel that I need them, I always convince myself that I have no more room for them at home and that the kids will survive without them. This pretty much helps me in avoiding too much clutter thus saving me a lot of time in organizing materials. Less is more!

Pop me a question anytime if you want to know more!