Today, we are making DIY red hydrogels and incorporating a science of magnetism into our sensory play. Use clear hydrogels (buy in bulk here) Add food coloring when you add water to hydrate and inflate your hydrogels 20 minutes after adding water In an hour ~ fully expanded Next, hot... Read more →
Small world play is extremely important to children as it shrinks the immense adult world to a manageable digestible "tray" where children can develop emotionally by exploring their imagination and re-enacting certain experiences, thus reflecting on feelings and life events in a safe way. Children also develop personal and social... Read more →
Today, we are setting up messy not-so-messy Halloween sensory baking tray. This invitation to explore will take you less than five minutes to set up and will cost only a few dollars. I will explain modifications for different ages, so keep reading! Spray shaving cream onto a tray (you can... Read more →
Today, we are making Halloween slime, which was on my to-do list for a while now, and we are very excited to finally conduct this sensory learning experiment! Slime, besides being absolutely awesome to touch, is also an amazing science demonization. We love hands-on learning through play, and slime is... Read more →
Children have been enjoying seeing all the colorful birds in our backyard, and today, we are doing the color matching activity by matching various 🐦birds (exotic and backyard) to the Montessori 🌈Color Tablets. Your child will learn colors and shades as well as names of birds, exercise hand-eye coordination and... Read more →
In continuing our Anatomy unit study, we are making Oobleck "blood" and "blood cells" from air clay. Oobleck ~also known as "Goop" ~ is an inexpensive, non-toxic example of a non-Newtonian fluid which is a suspension of starch (e.g. cornstarch) in water, where the resulting substance ~ also called "ooze"... Read more →
We just returned from the Gulf of Mexico, and children are fascinated with all the seashells we have collected. So, we will be learning about seashells hands-on in our Beach Inspired Nature Study below. Have you tried spelling with seashells? It puts a new twist on language lessons and sparks... Read more →
We are continuing our North America unit study with this sensory play while learning about animals which are quite exotic to the continent. Sensory play is extremely important for children. And although a traditional Montessori Sensorial activity is designed to isolate just one sense to be worked with, setting up... Read more →
We are continuing our Dinosaur Unit study, and today, we are rescuing frozen Dino eggs which were found by the young paleontologists during a recent trip to🇦🇶Antarctica. To help with this kids science experiment, we are using a child-sized hammer, salt, and warm water. First, place the dinosaurs inside the... Read more →
Today, we will be creating a water lily pond (my children can never have enough sensory play) and we also will be conducting a kids science experiment called "Magic Flower." Drop an easy-to-make DIY paper lily bud in a bowl of water and watch it slowly bloom before your eyes!... Read more →
Are your kids fascinated with earthworms? Well, mine are (although I was not as a child)! So, we are taking a closer look at worms this week. And summer is a great time to study earthworms especially after it rains since they tend to get to the surface due to... Read more →
It is amazing how children are drawn to the wonders of nature, to its magic of bringing life from fuzzy buds and sleepy seeds. The cycle of a plant is particularly mesmerizing to a child: how from something so tiny can sprout a mighty tree with roots reaching down to... Read more →
We see and hear birds everywhere! We also enjoy a sight of intricately build nests and occasional chicks. We actually raised two years in a row a family of house finches, each time hatching four baby chicks. So, inspired by all the sights of bird nests, today, we are learning... Read more →
As a tribute to National 🚀Space Day, which is held annually on the first Friday in May, we are making a DIY Solar System craft from homemade no-cook natural play dough. To explore our solar system and the planets, we read National Geographic Kids First Big Book of Space which... Read more →
Inspired by the approaching 🚀National Space Day, which is observed annually on the first Friday in May, we are making galaxy slime. Trust me, your kiddo will love this no-mess sensory glittery stretchy goo, and so will you! This DIY version of slime can be easily made at home with... Read more →
This is a super fun DIY: use recycled eggs (I am sure we all have tones of them after Easter) or use balls and let your kiddo have fun with this color recognition gross motor game. I did not have either black or red egg, so using Sharpies, I colored... Read more →
This recycled DIY from cardboard will help your child learn the shape of the number by hands-on making numbers from pipe cleaners. Then, through the sense of touch, the child will reinforce numeral vs quantity association by counting pom poms, thus developing sensorially tactile understanding of quantitative measure of number,... Read more →
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... Read more →
Happy ☘️St. Patrick's Day! Did any of your perfect traps work? Since children did not wish to catch a leprechaun, we decided to create a sensory Leprechaun Land. In preparing our 🎩 Leprechaun ☘️Land, we decided to use 🌀hydrogels~ 💦water-beads, since we have had the most amazing sensorial experience with... Read more →
We are longing for Spring, so today, we are upcycling by making a DIY Bird forest habitat craft with recycled toilet and towel paper rolls. As a base, we are using a white iPad packing insert. We are also using marbles, stones, moss and other finds we have collected during... Read more →