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Montessori Books for Older Children: The Universe Story Trilogy

Tuesday, 8 March 2016

It’s time for another 12 Months of Montessori Series and today I am sharing Mavi’s favourite book series. We have been using these books for years now. The books are all about the cosmic history to the evolution of man. The stories are accompanied by stunning images and time-line to follow. Everything in these books are just too magical and enlightening for him!

About the books:

There are three books in the series and each tells a certain period in time. Here are the details of the books which you can purchase from Amazon:

BORN WITH A BANG. Story of the universe from the Big Bang to the formation of the sun and solar system.
FROM LAVA TO LIFE. Story of Earth from the appearance of the first life forms to the extinction of the dinosaurs.
MAMMALS WHO MORPH. The story of the first mammals to the story of humans.

When I asked Mavi how we’re going to showcase his books in today’s post, he suggested that we should make some kind of “interpretation”, similar to a museum but only in a series of activities. So I scanned and laminated his favourite parts in each book so we can do our “interpretation” of the story.

BORN WITH A BANG: how the universe was formed. Seen here, we replicated the bursting of lights in the universe forming into galaxies, stars and planets via the milk/soap/food coloring science activity. This was performed by Mavi and Vito. The mixing and contrast of colours looked like the big bang!

BORN WITH A BANG: the sun was formed. We painted the sun using yellow and orange paints. To make the flares as described in the book, we used plastic fork to create a dramatic effect on the sun.

FROM LAVA TO LIFE: the first life forms. We used the Safari Toob Cambrian Life to learn about the early life forms of mother Earth. We explored this before so it was another round of learning for Mavi and something new for Vito LOL.

FROM LAVA TO LIFE: the age of the dinosaurs. This was the kids favourite part of the history. Mavi relived the era of dinosaurs by setting up his Playmobil Dinosaur collections, which includes a gigantic volcano, some plants and dinosaurs. We’ve been using our dinosaur Playmobils for months now, they’re worth-it! I stopped buying LEGOs and started investing in Playmobils for more imaginative play (for both boys). Who couldn’t resist dinosaurs? Even Vito loves them to pieces!

MAMMALS WHO MORPH: the first humans. Next we moved on to the life of the first humans. This Playmobil Caveman set (a gift) is another favourite! It has a fire that glows (battery operated), a mammoth, sabertooth and humans. Mavi and I discussed what has changed after the dinosaurs left the planet. We talked about the difference of the dinosaurs and the (new set) animals of the stoneage era, how the first humans survived, how they produced food, clothings and homes.

MAMMALS WHO MORPH: the age of technology. This is the part of the book wherein it mentions about the human inventions and discoveries, of how it helped the lives of many people but at the same time how advancement destroys mother Earth. This is timely because Mavi’s school is currently educating them about biodiversity, of what is “going green”, building insect hotels and recycling old materials.

For this part of the book, we explored the house and identified machines and other technologies that have helped humans all throughout history. The oven for cooking, washing machine for the clothes, toilet and bathroom for grooming, electricity, water system, networks and world wide web… etc. We then discuss the ways humans destroy the planet and how we can help to rebuild it.

With just three books, were were able to learn history, science, math and all others in between! Hope you are inspired by this post and hopefully, grab a copy of the books as well! Happy reading and learning!

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This post is part of the 12 Months of Montessori Learning which is hosted by Natural Beach Living and The Natural Homeschool. Let’s check what my fave Montessori Mom bloggers are featuring this month!”"

The Best Montessori Friendly Books: Babies, Toddlers, Preschoolers, Elementary | Natural Beach Living

Montessori-Friendly Living Books Library | The Natural Homeschool

Favorite Montessori-Friendly Books for a 2 Year Old | Living Montessori Now

10 Ways To Make Your Kids Crazy About Reading | Planting Peas

Montessori Friendly Books -- Birth to Six | The Kavanaugh Report

Engaging Books for Preschoolers | Mama’s Happy Hive

Montessori & Fiction: Balancing the Bookshelf | Sugar, Spice & Glitter

Montessori Books for Older Children: The Universe Story Trilogy | The Pinay Homeschooler

Children’s Books About Birds | Every Star is Different

Favorite Montessori Resources | Grace and Green Pastures

Our Favorite Montessori Inspired Books for Babies to Preschoolers | Christian Montessori Network

Culture and Traditions of People Around the World

Sunday, 10 January 2016

** contains affiliate links **

Welcome to another year and another series of the 12 Months of Montessori. For this month, my friends and I are going to showcases Montessori Cultural activities. If you are a reader of my blog, you know so well that we travel a lot, thus Mavi has grown into a lover of geography and enjoys learning about different places and different culture. Also, we’ve been doing a number of continent studies for years. You can check these out here.

To start with, I have been collecting Playmobil playsets and figures, they’re one of the best toys my kids have and greatest investment for me so far as we get to use them in our homeschool as well. We use these figures to represent a certain country in each continent, to have a better idea of the traditions and practices of the people.

The Figures

This has been a long time dream of mine, to have a collection of dolls that represent countries in the world. Those kinds of dolls are hard to find though and more expensive. Then I discovered Playmobil and realized that they produce historal figures and playsets with important icons like Samurai, Mongols, Vikings, Princess, Flamenco dancers etc! So I started collecting them! See the Amazon affiliate at the end of the post for some links.

So each of these figures signifies the tradition, culture and the people of a certain country.

The Cards

I love the figures that I wanted to have cards that will go along with them, so I made these traditional clothing cards to match my Playmobils. Here’s what I came up with!

South America and North America

Here are the “models”! Brazil – Carnaval dancer, Argentina – Gaucho, USA – Native American, Canada – Mounty

Asia and Australia

China – Mongol/Chinese warrior, Japan – Samurai, Saudi Arabia – Genie magician, Australia – Aboriginal

Europe

United Kingdom – Victorian lady, Italy – Gladiator, Norway – Viking lord, Germany – Bavarian lady

Africa

South Africa – South African lady, Kenya – Maasai tribe leader, Egypt – Ancient Egyptian

The People of the World

Mavi placing the Playmobil characters on the map Smile ! I’m using the Montessori Continent Puzzle Map, from Tower High Learning (UK). If you are in the US, you can get yours from Leader Joy USA.

Since I can’t get enough of my my little people, here are some close-up shots of my figures. They are adorable!

Now to learn more about each of the figures and the countries they represent, I created picture booklets for Egypt, Japan and United Kingdom (these are the ones I made as of the moment). Mavi loves our booklets, he enjoys reading / coloring them, learning about each country and working on his own DIY booklets! Now I just have to stop here, and talk about these booklets soon!