The Rainbow Clouds Craft

I saw this beautiful rainbow craft a few weeks ago in Pinterest and I totally forgot the main site, so please if you own this craft leave a message and I’ll include the credits. 

I’ve been introducing Vito to the spring season using our Spring Season Picture Cards, books and outdoor activities.  Today, I’m sharing the rainbow clouds the boys made last week.  The weather was terrible at that time  and we couldn’t explore our yard so I made use of their free time doing crafts at home.  So I tried to scan through Pinterest in search of simple crafts that BOTH of my kids could work on, and this is one of them!

Crafts projects allow children to exercise their fine motor skills, improve manual dexterity and understanding of visual-spatial relationships.  They provide opportunities to use their imagination as well.  Just be vigilant when using small items and sharp objects like scissors.

Materials:

• strips of red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple cardstocks
• white cardstock for the clouds
• cotton
• glue

Procedure:

1.  Pre-cut the white cardstock into a cloud shape.  I made one for each of the boys.  Apply glue on the clouds, and I suggest you provide each kid a glue as they tend to fight over one object when working.  In our case, I just instructed them of what to do, and they’re the ones who executed it. Mostly, Vito follows what his brother is doing

2.  Place a generous amount of cotton.  The fluffiness of the cotton bothers Vito though and he tried to avoid touching the glue as well.

3.  Apply glue at the bottom side of the cloud for your rainbow.  Place accordingly the strips of coloured cardstock to form a rainbow.  You can demonstrate this to the kids or instruct them of the order of colours if they are not yet familiar with rainbow.

4.  Strike a pose when they are dry!  See how Vito refuses to strike a pose in the camera LOL.  See what happens when your toddler is camera shy.

                                

5.  And don’t forget to put  them on display. They look adorable as wall decors and kids love looking at their masterpieces!  The cherry blossom was another project that we made earlier last month and will post the details soon.

 

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Montessori Books for Older Children: The Universe Story Trilogy

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

 

The Animal Kingdom Revisited

No school for Mavi means brainstorming for future activities. He opened up lately that he wanted to study about animals again, so I took out our cards on The Animal Kingdom and checked what else we missed and haven’t explored yet.  He reviewed the cards and sorted out the things that he wanted to learn this year.  He picked arthropods, starfish and jellyfish! Yay, something new!

Here are the animals we have studied so far: 

• annelids
• arthropods ( we haven’t worked crustaceans and centipedes yet) (Part One, Part Two)
• vertebrates (birds, fish, mammals, reptiles, amphibians) (Blog Post, Vertebrate Sorting Cards)
• mollusc (Part One, Part Two, Snail Nomenclature Card and Definition Booklet)

And the ones we have yet to explore…

• echinoderms (starfish)
• cnidaria (jellyfish)

We love using our animal kingdom chart  as our guide in our zoology activities at home. It’s easier much easier to identify animals and Mavi can easily memorize it through constant exposure.  If you are interested, you can check out our Animal Kingdom printable here or click the image below.

 

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Learning about Faces!

The boys (and I) had so much fun making faces!  This is a simple activity that you can do with your kids with minimal preparation.  It’s the perfect opportunity to learn about emotions and the facial expressions they can make! 

I printed and laminated this My Face template from Twinkl and each boy has one so they draw their faces on it using dry erase pens.  Vito was telling me he’s making a spider!

Another option is to use playdough to create faces!  You can get your kids practise their  fine motor skills  by letting them use some cutters and moulders. 

Matching cards is always part of our activities because Vito is obsessed with it.  I printed this faces printable from Natural Beach Living.

 

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Learning the Parts of the Human Eye

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It’s Mavi’s midterm break and we decided to look into the parts of the human eye!  We examined our model unit this morning which we bought last year from the local store.  It’s so perfect and goes along so well with our Human Eye Nomenclature Cards and Booklet. 

To start with, we disassemble our eye model and identify the parts using our nomenclature cards.   Mavi was surprised that his eye is actually shaped like a sphere and yes, a ball!  All the while he thought it was flat. So as we identify the parts using the model, he can’t stop himself from examining my eye as well LOL.

When the parts were completely taken apart, we read our booklet to know the purpose of each part.  Don’t you just love our eye model? Even the inside of the eyeball has drawings of blood vessels on it. So detailed! 

I’m so used of making these booklets that I was able assemble it in just a few minutes.  I laminated the pages as well for longevity.

These are the 3 part cards.  I decided to add the eyelid and eyelash in the parts as they are also essential in defining the human eye.

Our little man was also as excited and thrilled to examine the human eye.  He was observing his brother and was attentively listening to Mavi’s soliloquy LOL.

                                    

And finally! He got the chance to borrow the eyeball and started to emulate his brother.

For the eye model/s here are the links where you can get them:

UK/Ireland

• Easons or Hamely’s (where I found my model)
• Learning Resources Cross Section Eye in AmazonUK
• Giant Eye Model in AmazonUK

US

• Eastcolight Opthalmology Set

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Small World Play: Giant Pandas

Early this year, when everything in Amazon was on sale, I got this one of a kind Panda and the Bamboo Forest Playset from Playmobil.  I’ve been eyeing this for months since last year and I was lucky enough to chance this set on sale! Giant Pandas are one of those animals that are in the endangered list and I think somehow, by having this playset at home I can introduce this beautiful animal to the kids, talk about their characters and habitat.h

PS. We’ve visited a lot of zoo, but we haven’t encountered a Giant Panda.  We didn’t chance upon them in Singapore Zoo either.

We love the the Panda Playset!  The bamboo, tree, hilltop and bridge plus the panda family!  It’s a perfect playset for our little pandas to play with their Moms and Dads.  In setting up the tray, I added a felt craft paper (grass) and a few more figures from Safari Toob to create a community of pandas.  Mavi assembled everything in this Melissa and Doug wooden tray.  Note that the Playmobil pandas are much bigger than the Safari Toobs’.

The boys love the bamboo objects included in the playset.  We talked about what pandas eat and in what environment they thrive.  We also discuss about bamboos and where we can find these. 

Vito loves the small cave in the playset.  He “hides” the pandas there as he counts them.

Day and night, this is Vito’s favourite play material.  He plays with this in the morning while I’m busy preparing Mavi for school.  Just make sure to keep an eye on those baby pandas, they’re quite small and toddlers tend to put them in the mouth or throw them anywhere in the house.

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Study of Ancient China

Few weeks ago, Mavi and I were learning about Ancient China.  I decided that this year, we’ll be focusing in country-based studies rather than continents.  Last month we worked on Australia, and because of Chinese New Year being celebrated during February, I guess this month is the best time to conduct Chinese-themed activities.

To start with, we created a small world play tray with Ancient China objects on it.  To know more about this, click the image below or here.

Then we worked on learning about the location, biomes, lifestyle and culture of the people of China.  We used our China Picture Book and Cards in these activities.  I printed the Asia Map from here and the fact cards were from our Asia in a Nutshell. Here you can learn about the way of life of the Chinese people and their religion. 

This picture book is Mavi’s current favourite obsession.  He reads it, enjoying his discoveries about China and love working on the coloring/writing pages.  So funny that Vito saw Mavi working on the cards that he couldn’t resist matching the cards to that of the outline pages!

My 2 year-old toddler loves the cards! He matched the control cards to the outline pages.

They’ve been practising how to write Chinese characters in school.  He’s good (But I coulnd’t understand what he wrote in the cards LOL)!

Lastly, we made Chinese lanterns on the eve of Chinese New Year.  The boys had fun making the lanterns and observing the lights.  We used this Hands-on HIstory Ancient Chinese book from the library for our arts and crafts. I highly recommend this book!

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