DIY Number Rods and Alternatives I had never thought about making Montessori number rods until I discovered some amazing examples online. For a homeschool, I would probably purchase the regular-size pink tower, brown stair, and red rods to give the child an accurate sensorial impression of size. Of course, if you’re very crafty, even those can be made by hand. But I don’t think following the traditional Montessori number-rod size is as important. There are many different options that work well for number rods. DIY Montessori Number Rods and Alternatives DIY Montessori Number Rods (Photo from Montessori MOMents) Montessori MOMents has a tutorial for traditional Montessori number rods made of solid oak. DIY Number Rods (Photo from Making Montessori Ours) Making Montessori Ours made traditional wooden number rods with number cards from wood ply and red vinyl numbers. Maybe Montessori made wooden number rods with red and natural-colored wood sections. Walk Beside Me made half-sized number rods. Montessori Monday Link-Up
Puffy Paint Fall Art Fall Activities: Leaves Art with puffy paint Puffy Paint- just the word sounds fun. The activity itself couldn’t have been more fun. The funnier part however was the day the girls chose to do this activity. To make some amazing puffy paint right at home, I used the recipe from Mom to 2 posh lil Divas Ingredients for puffy paint 1 cup white flour2 Tbsp baking powder2 Tbsp saltWater Start adding water gradually until you reach a consistency of pancake batter. After the “batter” was done, we separated them into bowls and added food colors to each of them. Now armed with our puffy paint,we gathered the following. Things you need Puffy PaintSqueeze bottlesBlack poster boardCups and spoons if you have toddler who will empty the contents in under 2 seconds. We put the puffy paint in different squeeze bottles and were ready to play. I love black poster boards – makes art very dramatic. I cut a big black poster board into 3 parts with the idea that the girls can make different patterns. Happy sharing
Butterfly Crafts for Kids Home > Arts and Crafts Projects for Kids > Butterfly Crafts & Caterpillar Crafts for Kids Butterflies are so beautiful with their large colorful wings. They start off as adorable catepillars and then mature in a chrysalis stage in which the caterpillar turns into an adult butterfly. Butterfly Flying Toy Craft To entertain your friends on a rainy afternoon, get a glass jar and a large cork to fit into its top. How to Make Butterfly Bookmarks To make this realistic looking butterfly bookmark, just print out our butterfly bookmark template and color it beautifully. Even More Butterfly Crafts Below Easter Felt Butterfly Napkin Rings Crafts Table Decoration Ideas for Boys and Girls - Children’s art may not always have a place on your Easter table, but these simple felt napkin rings in pretty spring colors will complement your decor perfectly. Origami Butterfly Earrings - Learn how to make these beautiful origami butterflies.
Play and Learn Easy clothespin animals Days to World Animal Day [tminus t="2012-10-04" style="carbonlite"]World Animal Day[/tminus] Day-7 This is going to be a quick one. Why? I kept it simple with my almost two-year old with a very short attention span. Things you need Craft sticksPlastic clothespinsOld yogurt container Before I go on, I can guarantee you that many toddlers (especially if they have older siblings) will pretend the clothespins is an alligator and will try to snap you or worse snap themselves. Use caution and please supervise. Initially, my plan was to just clip clothespins on an empty yogurt container. We did this for a little while and baby A was off to snapping her hair with clothespins and having a “gigglishy” good time. When the snapping clothespins timer went off, she started snapping clothespins on the craft sticks. Once she practiced with a few, she started her requests. Here is a simple dog (looks like one?) A few more Thanks for reading Happy Sharing Please take a moment to comment *Likes: (3)* *Likes: (4)*
Bobby Pin Butterflies Around this time of the year I start to crave color like I crave chocolate, potato chips, or coffee! It’s supposed to be spring, but outside, it is relentlessly cold, cloudy and gray. So as an offering to the vernal gods, I created these Bobby Pin Butterflies, wearable bursts of color meant to usher in sunnier times! No creature better manifests pure beauty and color than a butterfly. In fact, a group of butterflies is called a “kaleidoscope”! Designed as an adorable hair accessory, these sweeties are also terrific for Easter decorating. And they couldn’t be easier to make. The Materials To make at least two dozen 1 1/2-inch by 2 1/2-inch bobby pin butterflies: A Mariposa Felt Bundle, 100% wool felt.DMC Pearl Cotton in color B5200.A Bobby Pin Butterflies Template, printed and cut out. The Pattern For a cutout style butterfly: Cut a wing 1 from a colored piece of felt using the template. Cut a wing 2 from either the ecru or white felt using the template. For a solid butterfly: All done!
The color game in preschool This is a little game we made for our preschoolers to have fun working on color recognition… First we made a little cube and put a different color on each side – red, yellow, blue, green, orange, and purple. Then we cut out 6 large circles from construction paper and laminated them… The object of the game was to roll the color cube and then stand on the color of circle that matches the color facing up on the cube… The children made up their own rules of the game as they played… The objectives of the game took on different twists and turns… The game was played on the floor and on the table… All kinds of accessories were added to the game… This would be a good example of an “open ended” game! Here are some other homemade games to check out… Make your own game mats (frog game, car game, tree game) from Teach Preschool Color matching clothespin game from Teach Preschool Bean bag game from Teach Preschool Tape Shapes from Teach Preschool Bean Bag Game from Brick by Brick What’s Missing?
Candy Creations This candy craft will come in really handy when Halloween rolls around. Crafts with candy and crafts with candy wrappers may seem undoable because you might think “my kid would want to eat that candy, not craft with candy”. But kids love to create with non-toys, even candy remember.Read on.. Like many kids, Big S loves her sugar candies. With candy comes the need to keep reminding that the wrappers need to go to the trash bin. The girls love to throw them up and pretend they are butterflies. We made butterflies & flowers To quiet them down, I took the wrappers and started twisting them to make simple butterflies. Smooth out the wrappers and give them a good twist. We made some cute, colorful butterflies. Big S squeals: Flowers mommy ! I saw the pack of candy and said ” Let’s make flowers with these” Big S: No. Did she just say candy is her food? Resistant at first to turn the little delicacies into crafting material, she finally started making flower shapes with them. Learning de jour
Time Flies Butterfly Clock This whimsical home decor DIY is perfect for anyone who believes that time flies! Chose to do all black butterflies but you can choose any color(s) you like to fit in with your home decor. This DIY could be interpreted in a variety of ways, larger scale with a larger clock, or different colors and in a kid’s room…the options are endless! See all the steps at Mr. The Iowa Farmer's Wife Paint Chip Phonics I found a great idea on The Snail’s Tail. She really does a good job of explaining it on her site, but I’ll try to do it here too. The idea is to practice the consonants, blends, digraphs and common word families. I have to admit I was a tad intimidated to walk into Lowe’s and grab a whole pile of paint chips, but the lady was talking to me the whole time and didn’t seem to mind. Shopping List: 13 long cards (6 colors to a card) or 26 short cards (3 colors to a card) for consonants, blends, and diagraphs34 cards that have the hole cut out…12 if there are 3 colors on a card. Here is a sample of the families, blends and digraphs (you can click on the images to see them larger): Consonants and cards in action: Since I had cards left over, I decided to make a “Shades of Color” game with them for my preschooler. These word families go on the cards with the square cut out on them: agab ailainackakeamanankapallatayeedellestewickightillineinginkipobogoreotoutowuckumunky Consonants: Blends: Diagraphs:
Handmade Chandelier Swarming Butterfly Chandelier Ingredients you will need: Butterfly punch, die-cut or Silhouette Digital Craft Cutter for cutting images (We used the Silhouette to cut a 2 ½” butterfly.)- this is also a QuicKutz die that can be used in your Revolution or Cuttlebug. Paper in desired colors- you will need enough paper to cut 136 images (we used white cardstock and clear vellum for our butterflies) 14” metal ring- you can use a metal wreath base or even a large embroidery hoop 15-20 yards of coordinating ribbon for tying around base Fishing Line Sturdy wire for cross hairs of chandelier Glue Dots Scissors Tulle for hanging the chandelier from ceiling Instructions 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. *Notes: This chandelier can be made with a variety of different shapes and papers to create a look that will match your room perfectly. *Look for a special Halloween Chandelier Kit coming soon on the Heartland Paper Blog
Preschool Song Booklet This week I started homeschool with Owen. I thought it would be fun to have a more structured play time with him because I realized that there were some things I wanted to be sure that I taught him before he started Kindergarten. I typed up 45 of my favorite preschool songs and laminated them. There are some Sunday School favorites Some songs that I remember from our little elementary school music class And my favorites from our library's children's reading time. I had the best time compiling this list and I can't wait to start teaching these to Owen. So as my homeschool journey begins, let me ask you... would you like to see some of the things Owen and I are working on?