On Our Shelves - April

Our theme for this month is Spring! I was going to go with an Easter theme, like we did last year, but I wanted something that encompassed all of the lovely things that happen this time of year!

Practical Life
Flower arranging. This is a classic Montessori work. I wish we could use real flowers, but our two kitties would surely eat them (and then throw them up later. Yucko.).

Transferring eggs. I just love those eggs - they're so soft and colorful. I made them last year using the wet felting method. Easy and fun to do with kids!

Flipping Bean Bags. To do this work, James will space out each bag on a table top and then, using the spatula, flip over each bag. This is a great activity that focuses on wrist control. I saw this idea on The Wonder Years ages ago and it has finally made it onto our shelves. I made the bean bags quite a while ago and have been surprised at how well they've held up.

Wood Polishing. James so enjoyed our wood polishing activity from February that I thought he might like this version of it. I found these small wooden crosses at Michael's.

Planting Lavender. This will be an outdoor activity since it involves dirt and water. :) What you're looking at are just the dry elements - the dirt and watering will be added once we're outside. I'm hoping to post about this later on in the month.

Open & Close Basket. This is a bit different than usual in that I've included lots of the same container and James will add the "surprise" (little critters) to them. I remember last Easter James couldn't get enough of these eggs. Hoping he enjoys them just as much this year.

Tweezing Flowers. A great fine motor activity whereby James will tweeze and transfer the little flowers into and out of the ice cube tray.

Still on our shelves (and still very much used): Dressing Basket.

Sensorial
Spring Sensory Tub. I won't bother posting about our playdough as it's identical to last year's. :)

Coloring Geometric Patterns. This printable comes from Montessori Print Shop (NOT abcteach, as I originally wrote - sorry for any confusion!).

Butterfly Matching. I purchased these cards at our local teacher's supply store.

Geo Board. James loves this!

Still on our shelves: Knobbed & Knobless Cylinders.

Language
Alphabet Eggs. These are also from last year. James has long known the alphabet and letter sounds, so I'm curious to see what he'll do with these. It may be that they get totally ignored, but I wanted to give them a fair shot since I took all that time to make them. :)

Books. I really just grabbed a hodgepodge of titles that related in some form or fashion to spring/gardening/growth/birthdays, etc.:
Polka Bats & Octopus Slacks by Calef Brown
Welcome to Sunny Patch by David Kirk
The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies by Beatrix Potter
Arthur's Birthday by Marc Brown
Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Mother Earth and Her Children by Sibylle Von Olfers
The Flower's Festival by Elsa Beskow
The Story of the Butterfly Children by Sibylle Von Olfers
Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert
Grover's 10 Terrific Ways to Help Our Wonderful Earth by Anna Ross
The Seasons: Spring by Nuria Roca
Pelle's New Suit by Elsa Beskow


Tracing. A variety of worksheets from abcteach. I won (in a giveaway) that beautiful pencil case you see. It was handmade by the owner of this sweet Etsy shop.

Poetry Basket coming soon.

Butterfly Reader. James continues to read anything and everything and I believe he'll enjoy learning about butterflies in this booklet. This is just one of the goodies I found on Montessori Print Shop's deluxe CD-Rom (click here to enter my giveaway - hurry, it ends Friday, April 8th!). You can also purchase it separately here.

Still on our shelves: Green Language Series.

Math
Counting Eggs. Another revival from last year and I suspect James will simply lay them out and name them off. James is REALLY into counting numbers in various languages. Don't ask how or why, it's just something he took upon himself and he's really amazing us with it. He can count to 10 (sometimes 20) in English, Spanish, French, German, and Chinese. Yesterday he asked me, "What other languages are there?", so we're starting to learn Italian now. :)

Skip Counting. James has skip counting by 2's down pat, so we're moving onto counting by 5's. This is just a simple activity I created using paper eggs (I cut them from a garland), egg cups (the kind you get with an egg dying kit), and popsicle sticks with little foam circles glued at the tops.

Spindle Box. And oldie but goodie. :) I like to rotate our materials and this particular one hasn't been on our shelves for a long while.

Seed Graphing.

Still on our shelves: Number Rods, and Sandpaper Numerals.

Science & Culture
Three Part Flower Cards. Another lovely material from Montessori Print Shop.

Parts of a Flower Puzzle.

Where Does It Come From? Cards. Also from MPS. I think James is really going to enjoy this work because he's forever asking me where does such and such a thing come from, what does it do, what's inside, etc.

We'll be doing some outdoor learning this month when we explore the nature reserve behind our house. We'll take samples and look them up online, we'll smell and perhaps taste some things, and then "document" our findings ala Sid the Science Kid. :)

Still on our shelves: Weather Discovery Tray (too much of a favorite to put away!), Family Nomenclature Cards, and aspects from our South America Continent Bag.

Art & Music
Composer of the Month: Debussy. Something about Claire de Lune just sings Spring to me!

Scissor Practice. I placed tiny Spring themed stickers on plain white strips of paper. James will need to cut in between the stickers. He did well with this the last time it was on our shelves, but extra practice never hurts!

Flower Rubbing. This silk flower (cut from a lei), showed up surprisingly well during my test run. I provided several sheets of paper for James since I know he'll end up rubbing the flower a couple of times and then switch to abstract drawing (LOVE his creations!).

Stamping. In the past I've given James just one stamp/stamp pad. I'm not sure why I did that, so this time I've provided lots of Spring themed stamps and a multicolored stamp pad from Melissa & Doug.

Cookie Cutter Painting. Lots of Spring themed cutters + lots of paint = lots of messy fun!

No art basket this month, but I do have a few crafty ideas in mind like this one. Oh and of course we'll do some of our family tradition Easter egg decorating, too!

Still on our shelves: Instrument Nomenclature Cards.

PS: Our calendar is full of balloons in honor of one special little boy's upcoming birthday! Happy Spring, everyone!

~Thank you for your comments!~