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!

Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Google Plus, Instagram or Twitter for updates!  More learning materials at Pinay Homeschooler Shop.

 

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

 

Small World Play: Ancient China

Gong Hi Fa Cai!  It’s the Chinese New Year tomorrow and Mavi and I are currently learning about the Ancient China  (using STOW Vol 1 as read along book). With these, we set up another small world play which is inspired by the history of China.  Here’s what Mavi and I assembled.   Last month, we assembled an Australian Outback-inspired small play and it was a total hit!  This month, the boys are enjoying their free play with our new small world tray!

First, Mavi and Vito painted the newspaper with green and brown. This will be the base of our Great Wall! Painting is one of those activities that kids love to do together!

We placed the newspaper (once the paint dried) at the bottom of our wooden tray then stuff it with small world figures and materials from our Safari Toob collections, LEGO and Playmobil.

What’s in the tray?

You will first  notice our country profile card with the dragon.  I made this card for Mavi to read whenever he plays, and I added a dragon, as this is one of China’s famous icon and symbol.   The dragon is part of the Playmobil Advent Calendar which I got Mavi last year.                      

Qin Shi Huang and Chinese Buddha. Qin Shi is the first emperor of China and the country was named after him (the figure is part of Playmobil Advent Calendar) and the Chinese Buddha is from Hong Kong. 

                                                 

Other objects we added were

 the dragons from Safari Toobs

 the Giant Buddha from Safari Toob Landmarks

a DIY flag of China

the Great Wall of China made of LEGO (Mavi made this)

the rest of the items from Playmobil Dragon Advent Calendar.

Here’s Mavi loving the dragon. We were discussing the role and meaning of the dragon in China’s culture and tradition.

Vito loves our tray too! The tray is good for one to two weeks.  It is placed on top of the shelf for the boys to easily access and play with the figures as long as they want to. 

What a successful collaboration from Mavi, Vito and I! They enjoyed playing the materials that we have in the tray, most especially our dragon!  History, geography and imaginative play all rolled into one!

If you are interested, we did several China-related activities before.  You can click this (part 1) and this (for part 2).

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Tried and Tested: Playmobil Native American Superset

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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!

History Timeline Cards: Ancient Times

Buy now

Up in the Sellfy Shop is our history timeline cards Ancient Times.  The file includes the following:

• 40 timeline cards of the ancient times (occurred between the period of 5000BC to 500BC). The timeline cards has
• 40 definition cards for each timeline card
• 3 pages of timeline sheets that can be connected to form as a guide. The pages are in A4 paper size.

Learn how we used it here and in how we study the European History.

Hope you like it, enjoy!

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Learning the Timeline of European History

I am so excited to share with you our approach on learning the timeline of the European history.  As I mentioned earlier, my son is obsessed with world history, especially with the events in Europe and Asia (his home continents!) so while he is at it, I grabbed the opportunity to discuss the great history of Europe.  To achieve this, I created these beautiful  timeline cards which contains bold pictures (because kids are attracted to pictures) and included a brief description for each of the event.  I thoroughly researched this, and handpicked the major events to be included in the cards. We were always reading the books of the Story of the World series, but most of the events in the cards were not included in the book.

Our timeline cards covers the 4 periods in history:  ancient times, medieval times, early modern times and modern times. 

Goals

• In each period, we will identify the fundamental needs of man:  Spiritual (love, religion, culture/community) and Material (shelter, transportation, food and clothing)
• Identify the locations in the map where the event occurred
• Historical figures that played a major role in that historical period
• Be able to arrange the timeline cards
• Compare the impact of each period to Mavi

Ancient Times (up to 500AD)

My Ancient Time Cards starts from the event occurred in Mycenae to the end of Byzantine Empire.  We talked about how Greece played a major role in the beginning of the European history, great conquerors like Alexander the Great, the rise and fall of Rome. It was obvious that aside from the material things, religion played a major role in the development of the European culture.  

Modern Times (500AD to 1500)

Major events include the wars in Europe after the fall of Rome, the Black Death, the crusades, the significance of the Vikings in forming what is now known as the Great Britain, Constantine and Charlemagne, the separation of Orthodox and Roman Christians.  

Early Modern Times (1500-1900)

The Early Modern Times is all about Renaissance, and because of Industrial Revolution, people started to explore places. Inventions of steam train, and ships.  But there were also civil wars like in France and between England and Scotland.  Mavi and I identified the causes of these wars and yes it’s all because of the fundamental human needs.

Modern Times (1900 – present)

Modern Times was quite challenging because Mavi asked a lot of questions in this period.  Most especially in the events of World War I and II, and the wars in the Baltic.  There are just certain things that you can’t explain to a 7 year old.   So I just told him stories of what I know (I have yet to purchase the Vol 4 of the Story of the World) and what I read in the web.

Using the Cards

Our aim is to arrange the cards according to the time of events.  We set up a few craft strings in our shelf where we can pin the cards.  This is an amazing technique for visualization of the entire events!

Seen below, Mavi is reviewing his work, making sure he’s arranging the time in order.  I previously taught him how the BC and AD works, so this is a perfect opportunity to put that knowledge into action!

He loves the cards and enjoys reading the description.   I wanted the cards to be as attractive and engaging to Mavi so I made sure that I don’t put too much facts into the description.     Because of this, I created another set of cards for the “longer” description .

He was proud of his work and asked to take a photo of him with his work LOL.

So this is how I explained and presented the history of Europe to my 7 year old boy . 

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And you might as well PIN this post for future reference.

This post is part of the 12 Months of Montessori Learning which is hosted by Natural Beach Living and The Natural Homeschool.

Learning about the Presidents with Montessori Activities (Free Printables) by Natural Beach Living

Montessori-Inspired History: Sense of Time {Free Printables} by The Natural Homeschool

How to Prepare Montessori 3-Part Family Cards and Family Tree Activity by Living Montessori Now

Linear Calendar for Kids by Planting Peas

Timeline of our Family -- Intro to Montessori History by The Kavanaugh Report

Montessori Calendar for Kids by Mama’s Happy Hive

How to Introduce Time to Kids by Study at Home Mama

5 Ways to Learn Asian History by Child Led Life

Learning the Timeline of European History by The Pinay Homeschooler

Our Montessori-inspired Timeline of Life by Every Star is Different

Exploring History Through the Great Lessons by Grace and Green Pastures

Now for the AMAZING GIVEAWAY!!

My friends and I in the 12 Months of Montessori Series are having a giveaway!  Join and have the chance to win $150 gift certificate to Montessori Services plus Montessori by Mom Art Toolbox!  This giveaway is open to all  US and Canadian readers only. 

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History of Ancient Europe

If you’ve been following us in Instagram, you should all by now know that Mavi is obsessed with world history.  It all started with his fascination with Horrible Histories and then he started to borrow books from the library.  That’s why I purchased the Story of the World books to feed his interest.  We’ve been reading it for awhile and almost done with Story of the World Book 1: Ancient History.

I wanted to share with you how we study world history at home.  Aside from our previous lessons of Ancient Egypt, Mavi wanted to learn about the history of Europe.  So this is where we are focusing as of the moment.  These cards are included in my Europe in a Nutshell file.

I just added the description cards for personal use, whenever we wanted to review the details.

The cards are currently displayed on top of my shelf so Mavi can work on them anytime.  This is the best way to learn the time periods as well, like what’s BC and AD

After I introduced him to the time periods, he arranged the cards by himself.  He was confused with the BC and AD at first but he later on grasp the concept.

Now, pictures and fact cards aren’t enough, we’ve got to locate these in the map!  Here Mavi is seen locating Crete, where Europe civilization started.  An understanding of  geography and location will make the child understand the history and culture of the ancient people.  We also located the Mediterranean Sea, the gateway of ancient Asians who entered Europe and where most of the battles occurred.  The map is from the activity book of the STOW Book 1 printable version.

As I mentioned earlier, we are reading STOW Book 1 to go along with the cards but doesn’t entirely equate to the details I put in out Ancient Europe Timeline cards.

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