DIY ♻️ Recycled ✂️Materials for Homeschool
03/23/2018
Montessori materials can be 💰costly, so I love finding an alternative. Below I will show you some of the DIYs I have created to substitute some of the materials you would generally purchase.
DIY Color Matching + Fine Motor Pegging
This DIY resembles matching Montessori Color Tablets ~ similar to Color Box 2 ~ a traditional Sensorial material introduced to toddlers starting at 2 ½ years old.
With this activity, besides simply matching color samples from your local hardware store, offer your child to practice fine motor skills by matching colored clothespins and also graduating pegs in order from smallest to largest or vice versa. And if you have plain wooden pegs, just color them either with Sharpies (what we used) or use tempera stick paints which are awesome too!
To learn more about Montessori 🌈Color Boxes, read here a detailed post with presentations on boxes one through three on my blog Montessori Color Box 1, 2 & 3 (Color tablets).
DIY Montessori Sandpaper Numbers:
Sandpaper Numbers are also easy to make at home.
What you will need:
- green cardstock to resemble the traditional Montessori Sandpaper Numbers
- sandpaper from your local hardware store,
- scissors (children are also using a paper cutter for more precision)
- and glue.
Having your child make or help you make these DIY Sandpaper NUmbers will only ignite the excitement, promoting interest and engagement.
By sensorily feeling the number, the child is able to perceive the symbol through senses other than just visual. For more on Sandpaper Numbers, see here 🖐️Sandpaper 🔢 Numbers (Montessori 🔢 Math 101 🎥 Series 🎇 Curriculum).
♻️RECYCLED ✂️ DIY PUZZLES
Do you have an old magazine? Recycled old books? Expired calendars? How about turning them into homemade DIY puzzles!
Cut out a picture, laminate it (if you don't have a laminating machine iron works great too) and cut it in as many pieces as you think your child can handle. For smaller children, just cut a picture in half; for older in quarters or even eighths.
And why not turn this ♻️RECYCLED ✂️DIY puzzle into a 🐋matching animals game!
See here DIY 🍂Fall Inspired Puzzle.
I am using a double-sided 🍂Fall picture I found in a catalog. With this type of DIY puzzle, you can adjust 📈📉the level of difficulty based on your child's age. With smaller children, 📉choose a bright image with many objects and cut in fewer pieces (2 or 4 squares) or simply cut the picture vertically, for easier assembly. 📈With older children, the smaller the pieces, the harder it will be to assemble the puzzle😉so cut it accordingly to your child's level.
♻️DIY TIC TAC TOE
Do your children play tic tac toe? It's a 🤗fun game and an easy ♻️✂️DIY if you have 💦water bottle caps and 🍡ice pop sticks (any craft sticks will do), and a glue gun.
♻️DIY 🍡Pop-Sticks, Pegs & Dot Stickers 🔴 ➕🔵 Addition Activity
This is a super easy and fun ♻️ math 🔢 ➕addition DIY where I ✍🏻️wrote ➕equations on 🍡pop-sticks, and as a control of error, a child can flip that same 🍡 and confirm the answer by counting the 🔴🔵dot-stickers. See here a 🎥video of Adrian solving all the ➕equations as well as how to make this ♻️DIY in a video post ♻️DIY 🍡Pop-Sticks, Pegs & Dot Stickers 🔴 ➕🔵 Addition Activity (Montessori 🔢 Math 🎥 Lesson).
DIY ♻️Paper Towel Roll 🔤Alphabet Matching Activity
I wrote with a Sharpie upper and lower case alphabet letters on dot stickers, making sure that lower and upper of the same letter were color-matching.
Since lower case letters are more prevalent, I had Adrian match lower to upper case letters which were sporadically arranged on a paper towel roll. He would simply stick the lower case on top of the upper case. For some introductory language lessons, see here our Letter Series post. To learn about Montessori Phonetical Sets of Presenting Alphabet letters, (see here) Set 1: First set: c m a t . For early reading, see here "Montessori CVC Picture Word cards with wooden Clothespins (💗Pink Series 🎥 Early Reading)." Also, see here "Montessori 💗 Pink Series "e" sound (Language 101 🎥 Series 🎇 Curriculum)."
♻️DIY Montessori🍡Popsicles Spindle Box
In a Montessori Math curriculum, at around two years of age, after introducing Number Rods and Sandpaper Numbers you would introduce Spindle Box (buy here), which teaches a child the difference between the numeral (a 🔢 number/symbol written on a wooden box's slot) and quantity (substance, like when a child is holding actual spindles in his/her hands). The box has numerals zero to nine written on separate slots, and a child concretely learns that one is not a much, while nine is a lot! See here a detailed post "Spindle Box & Sandpaper 🔢Numbers Extensions (Montessori Math)."
Montessori Spindle Box is also an easy DIY activity using any compartments (like utensils organizer), and anything substantial representing quantity a child can hold with the whole hand such as pens, crayons and why not 🍡 popsicle sticks. (Montessori materials need Not be 💸expensive.)
DIY ♻️Recycled 📦 Cardboard 🔢Numbers & Counters ✋🏻Tactile DIY
First, the child learns the shape of the number by making it from a pipe cleaner, then through the sense of ✋🏻touch, the child reinforces numeral vs quantity association by counting pom poms.
For more DIYs, see here ✂️DIY, Crafts & Materials.