DIY Montessori Color Tablets

The thrifty teacher's version of Montessori color tablets. :)

These have been in the late stages of completion for well over a year now and am I ever glad they're finally done!

Paint samples are great and free - there are SO many things you can do with them! To make these color tablets, I simply cut the paint samples so they were all of equal size, then I laminated them, and cut out each.and.every.one. (That step was the hold up in completion.)

What I like about these is that they stay true to the Montessori style in that each one is uniform and that the child's fingers do not actually touch the color portion of the tablet. To accomplish that I left an extra quarter inch on either side of the tablet. Easy peasy!

~Thank you for your comments!~

Montessori Services/For Small Hands Review & Giveaway!!

** This giveaway is now closed.
Congrats to the winner!**

I'm really excited about this giveaway because I'm reviewing my long time favorite Montessori supply store, Montessori Services and their partner site, For Small Hands!

You all have seen me link to Montessori Services time and time again. Why? Because I believe they are - without a doubt - the best place to get everything you need to complete and compliment your prepared environment. I'm talking about those wonderful details like baskets, tongs, trays, mats, & pouring kits. It's been my go-to place for those kinds of things ever since I heard about Montessori Services from the Directress at that the top Montessori school here on the island - she orders from them exclusively!

You'll see the materials I've purchased from Montessori Services & For Small Hands peppered throughout our shelves. I could go on and on raving about each and every thing we've ordered, but instead here's just a sample of my absolute favorites:

~pouring stars during our space unit~

We love this gorgeous cobalt blue pouring set. Maria Montessori believed a child's environment should contain beautiful things. This set of carved glass is just that. And it's just the right size for little hands.

MANY of you have asked where I find the tiny objects included in my alphabet box. Among resourcing my own personal collection of odds and ends, I look to Montessori Services to supply some of the particularly cute objects, such as these.

~sorting and transferring~

Trays and transferring tools are in constant use in our classroom. In the sorting activity shown above, the all white tray and three of the tools were purchased from Montessori Services: the mustard spoon, the sugar tongs, and the wooden tongs. PS: this little ladle is also a favorite of ours. :)

~transferring flowers during our St. Patrick's Day unit~

You all know my love of baskets and bowls. The reed baskets shown above, and these tiny maple bowls have been a mainstay on my shelves. They are just the right size for holding small objects for counting and sorting activities.

~space lessons~

And last, but not at all least, these space flashcards. As a family of space geeks, James has multiple sets of space cards, but these are by far his favorite! The colors are vibrant, the photos are real, and the cards are thick and sturdy. Good stuff!

Montessori Services excels at Practical Life materials (their kits are fantastic!), but they also offer much, much more. You can find books on a variety of topics, art activities and supplies, kits and tools for your budding scientist, materials for elementary aged children, and for the youngest child, these wonderful books and toys.

Now for the giveaway! Montessori Services has offered to gift one of my readers a $50 gift certificate!! Wahoo!

Here's how you can enter to win:
Mandatory entry:
1. Leave a comment on this post.

Extra entries:
2. Visit Montessori Services or For Small Hands and leave me a separate comment letting me know your favorite thing in their store.
3. Like Counting Coconuts on Facebook and leave me a separate comment on this post letting me know you have/already do.
4. Follow Counting Coconuts and leave me a separate comment on this post letting me know you have/already do.
5. After today come back and leave me one comment per day on this post until the end of the giveaway.

A couple of notes:
:: All comments are moderated - they will NOT appear immediately after you post them.
:: Do not leave your entry comments on the Counting Coconuts Facebook page - they will not be included.
:: Regarding separate comments - each entry will be counted as a chance to win. If you put all of your entry requirements into just ONE comment, you'll only have ONE chance to win.

This giveaway ends at 9pm (Atlantic Time) on Saturday, March 3rd. The winner will be announced the following day.

Good luck, everyone!

Multi-Tool Sorting Activity

This is really just a sorting/transferring activity, but with a little twist...

To do this work James will need to choose which of the tools in the tray will transfer which of the items in the bucket. Oh - ha! I see a little stray cube found its way onto the tool tray in the photo. :)

I tried to make it so only one tool applies to each kind of item. There is an overlap in that the tweezers can be used to pick up the large homemade poms. I think James will enjoy trying various tools all at once and discovering which ones work best. The bucket provides an added challenge as the depth will make scooping or tonging a bit more difficult.

As with ALL of the activities I put on our shelves I'm always sure to test them out myself first to make sure the materials work well together and that everything needed to complete the work is made available.

~Thank you for your comments!~

Montessori At Home! Review & Two-Part Giveaway!

~This giveaway is now closed!~

Have you heard of Montessori At Home!, the wonderfully resourceful book written by John Bowman? Yes? Then you know just what a treat one of you will be receiving!

For those that aren't familiar with the book, allow me to quote the author's website:

"Montessori At Home! shows you how to easily and inexpensively create over 200 brain building experiences for your preschooler. These Montessori activities are not complicated and require no special training for parents to do at home. We show you everything you need to know to give your child the benefits of these early learning experiences."

John was kind enough to offer me a free copy of his book to review and while the above quote is absolutely true, there's so much more to this fantastic how-to guide. (View sample pages)

Inside of this book you'll find:

::An extensive list of which Montessori materials work well at home as well as a comparative price list.
::Detailed activity guides complete with what age the activity is geared toward, the materials needed, the goal(s) of the activity, how to present it, and potential extensions.
::An informative, yet concise history of Montessori.
::Lots of links and shopping recommendations.

::Over 30 printable activity sheets including the Hundreds Board, Numeral Cards, and Land/Water Forms!

I was delighted to find several activities in Montessori At Home! that we had yet to try - here are just a few I've added to our shelves since reviewing the book:

100 Penny Layout with the Hundreds Board

Pipe Building. The book suggests using real piping materials, which I think is a really fun idea! We happened to have this marble run on hand and used it instead.

Tees & Marbles

Magnetic vs. Non-Magnetic

Fun stuff, right? Montessori At Home! is an excellent in home guide for those wanting to incorporate the Montessori method into their child's learning experience. It's perfect for teachers, parents, grandparents, and anyone with a passion for Montessori!

Now for the giveaway:

John offers Montessori At Home! in two formats: CD and e-book. His paperback version, titled Help Your Preschooler Build A Better Brain, is a bit more condensed though it too is a fantastic resource.

You can try your hand at winning a FREE copy of the CD and the book by entering this giveaway! Open to anyone, anywhere!!

~Please note: the CD and paperback copy of the book is available only to those in the US.
All other locations will receive a downloadable e-book.~

AND because I'm feeling very "mother hen" right now (thanks, pregnancy hormones!), I'm throwing in a little something, too!

~Please note: this portion of the giveaway is only available if the winner is located in the US.
(Sorry - international shipping is just too expensive!)~

I'm such a believer in providing Montessori activities at home that I really want one of your kiddos to benefit from something my son has enjoyed time and again. I'll be gifting the winner ONE of the following:

~photo source~

This juicing kit (from Montessori N' Such) - it comes with everything you see minus the oranges. :)

~OR~

~photo source~

This set of Sandpaper Numerals (from Kid Advance) - a must have in any classroom.

The winner can chose which of the above materials they'd like to receive.

Here's how you can enter to win:
Mandatory entry:
1. Leave a comment on this post.

Extra entries:
2. Like Counting Coconuts on Facebook and leave me a separate comment on this post letting me know you have/already do.
3. Follow Counting Coconuts and leave me a separate comment on this post letting me know you have/already do.
5. After today come back and leave me one comment per day on this post until the end of the giveaway.

A couple of notes:
:: All comments are moderated - they will NOT appear immediately after you post them.
:: Do not leave your entry comments on the Counting Coconuts Facebook page - they will not be included.
:: Regarding separate comments - each entry will be counted as a chance to win. If you put all of your entry requirements into just ONE comment, you'll only have ONE chance to win.

This giveaway ends at 9pm (Atlantic Time) on Friday, July 29th. The winner will be announced the following day.

~Good luck, everyone!~

Magnetic vs. Non-Magnetic

As you can see I've been banging out a lot of posts lately! With just a handful of weeks left in the pregnancy, I'm trying to squeeze in as much as I can before I sign off for a few months. Plus, I have a feeling this cute little babe is going to make an early appearance!

Ok, onto the activity: magnetic vs. non-magnetic is a very common Montessori activity and I'm sure you've seen it all over the blogosphere, but it's something new on our shelves and I thought I'd share it anyway. :)

We had a lot of fun using our jumbo magnetic (from Learning Resources) to determine which items were magnetic, which weren't and which were a bit of both. I credit The Adventures of Bear for using the Venn diagram in her presentation. I created the diagram and the labels in Word.

I set out to find LOTS of things for James to sort through because I knew this would be an activity he'd enjoy. I did not purchase this as a kit, I simply searched through my manipulatives and alphabet box items. Some of the items I chose:

Magnetic
:: Safety pin
:: Nail
:: Nut
:: Lock
:: Key
:: Little wagon
:: Spoon
:: Cookie cutter
:: Bottle cap
:: Paper clip
:: Bobby pin
:: Earring
:: Staples

Non-Magnetic
:: Pine cone
:: Bit of leather
:: Wooden cube
:: Piece of wax
:: Scrap of paper
:: Dice
:: Sponge
:: Crayon
:: Eraser
:: Felted ball
:: Feather
:: Small Plastic toy
:: Tiny tea kettle

Both Magnetic & Non-Magnetic
:: Scissors
:: Clothespin
:: Tack
:: Pipe cleaner

Most of the magnetic things I found were shiny, so I made a point to choose some shiny materials that were non-magnetic just to prove that not all shiny things are magnetic.

This work was a HUGE hit with James and he's done it several times this week.

Here's how it looks on our shelves. :)

~Thank you for your comments!~

FAQ: Montessori Materials

I've had quite a few people ask me which Montessori materials I think are best and which are not worth the investment. Montessori materials can be pricey even when purchased at a discount supply store and I too asked fellow bloggers the very same question when I first started out in Montessori!

The truth is, I'm hesitant to recommend specific materials for a homeschool because a) each child responds to the materials differently and there's no way to determine if they'll love it or leave it, and b) since the materials are costly I'd feel badly about suggesting something only to have it be one of the things your child doesn't enjoy or get much use out of. Again, there's just no way to determine that in advance. In a regular classroom this would be a non-issue since out of 20 some children surely a handful would like whichever materials were in question.

All that said, I can share with you what materials James has enjoyed. Please know I am in no way responsible for whether or not your child(ren) will feel the same way about them. :)

James' Favorite Montessori Materials:
::The Knobbed and Knobless Cylinders
::The Moveable Alphabet
::The Continent Puzzle
::The Continent Globe
::The Binomal Cube
::The Hundreds Board
::The Sandpaper Numerals and Letters
::Almost all Practical Life work

There are certain materials that I felt were key to providing a Montessori experience for my son and even though James liked them, they didn't/haven't received as much attention as I would have liked. I'm still glad I purchased them and would do so again if I had to. They are:
::The Baric Tablets
::The Spindle Box
::The Number Rods
::The Geometric Solids
::The Pink Tower

I must point out here that I've had other children over to join us for school and they enjoyed many of the above mentioned materials. Every child is different.

And now for the moment of truth - materials I wish I wouldn't have purchased:
::The Dressing Frames
::The Color Tablets
::The Sound Boxes

The above materials are mentioned because I realized after I purchased them that I could have easily make them. Here's a list of some other Montessori-ish materials I've made:
::Dressing Basket, Button Snake, Button Turkey, and Button Tree (alternatives to the Dressing Frames)
::Alphabet Box
::Continent Bags
::Grammar Farm
Practical Life work - I have purchased a few kits and specific supplies from Montessori stores, but the majority of this kind of work (which you can find throughout my blog in my "On Our Shelves" and "Tot School" posts) are my own creations often inspired by other bloggers and my teaching manuals.
::Cards & Counters
::Activity Board (an alternative to the nuts and bolts boards)
::Bean Bags
::Fabric Numbers
::Sound Eggs
::Smelling Bottles
::Art Basket
::Bead Bars (page down to Math section)

As you can see you needn't buy everything, but if you're wondering where you can shop please visit this post to see a list of store options.

~Thank you for your comments!~

On Our Shelves - July & August

This is my last "On Our Shelves" post for a few months. The baby is due is just 5 weeks (!) and I'm now shifting my focus toward preparing for her arrival.

Our theme is summer. Keeping the theme broad like this really allowed me to put pretty much anything on our shelves, so long as it looked summery! :) As always, there are a few activities that aren't theme related. Click here and here to see what was on our shelves last summer.

Practical Life
Water Transfer. When James is ready to do this work he'll need to fill the bowl of little sponges with a bit of water. Then he'll place one sponge square into the garlic press and squeeze the water into one section of the ice cube tray. Oops - I now realize I need to add another bowl to the tray for the squeezed sponge squares. To remove the water from the ice tray, James will simply put the squeezed sponges back into the section to absorb the water and then transfer them back to the bowl.

Pencil Sharpening.

Pouring Sand. This is sand from one of our local beaches. I added a funnel to make this work a little more exciting. :) The bottle on the left is in a basket to keep it from falling off of the tray. James is really careful about transporting his work to the rug or table, but this tray just isn't that great.

Paper Punching. This is something new for us and I think James will really like it. The blue container (from Mexico) holds small paper squares of various colors, textures and weight. The silver container will hold the punches.

Tweezing & Transferring. We've done something similar to this several times before, so this is nothing really new, but I know James will enjoy it. The mason jar is what I think he will find most interesting - there are two parts to the lid and they have to go on in a certain way in order for them to fit properly.

Sensorial

Sensory Tubs. We have two available right now: Pond & Transportation

Sandy Playdough. Same as last year. :)

Creating Polygons. These colored popsicle sticks have been used for so many activities in our classroom! I printed out this chart from the internet and James will use it as a guide to create some basic polygons. I provided a control of error by using a single color for each polygon.

Still on our shelves: Knobbed & Knobless Cylinders, and The Pink Tower.

Language
Poetry Basket. I found this poem online and modified it a bit. I needled-felted the water and grass, and knitted the little fruits in the basket.

Summer Bingo. I made this myself using graphics from here. The small bingo cards are in the little box, and the colored shells will be used as card markers. (Btw, I did not color the shells - I found a bag of them at our local thrift store.)

Sequencing. These stars are filled with water (meant to be reusable ice cubes). We'll use them to create various patterns.

Tracing. James finds worksheets a bit boring, so I try to liven this kind of work up by adding fun writing utensils to the tray. You'd be surprised how often this works to entice him. These printables came from abcteach. (Btw, since a few people have asked, yes I do have a membership to this site and yes I do find it well worth the price - I use it quite often).

Moveable Alphabet. I collected a bunch of images from Google and made these cards to accompany our moveable alphabet. James will spell out the name of image. In the case of the card shown in the photo, he can opt to spell either 'shovel' or 'pail'.

Memory Game. This is one from last year when we focused on Independence Day.

Books. On The Seashore by Anna Millbourne, The Sun Egg by Elsa Beskow, Bermuda 123 by Dana Cooper, Summer (Series) by Nuria Roca, America a Patriotic Primer by Lynne Cheney, L is for Liberty by Wendy Cheyette Lewison, Coral Reef by Marcus Phister, The Scrambled States of America by Laurie Keller, Swimmy by Leo Lionni.

Still on our shelves: Dry Erase Spelling, and the Grammar Farm.

Math
Buying Water Balloons. Put on your creative hat, go into the dollar store and you'll be amazed at what you turn into a learning activity! In the past, I would have made a simple sorting/matching activity with these balloons, but since that's a bit old hat for James, I decided to go this route instead. James will need to "buy" these balloons for a penny a piece/25 cents for the lot. I provided various coins that equal that amount and it'll be up to him to decide which combination of coins to use. This activity falls in line with our recent Money Matters lesson.

Cards & Counters. It's true we're a bit past this kind of work, too, but if I've said it once I've said it a million times - repetition is a good thing. Plus, I have a bazillion of these fruit counters and I've been dying to use them. :) I bought them at a garage sale a few months ago, but I think you can buy them from Lakeshore Learning.

Less Than/More Than/Equal To. I chose sea glass for this work and I think James will really like the look and feel of it. The less than/more than/equal symbols come from this magnetic set.

Lego Math. You can read more about this here.

Skip Counting. I made these bead bars out of pipe cleaners and pony beds. Super easy. The tiles come from our Hundreds Board.

Still on our shelves: Telling Time, and Sandpaper Numerals.

Science & Culture
Discovery Tray. It's been a while since I created a discovery tray for our shelves. This one is full of ocean treasures - shells, coral, sea glass, and bits of pottery washed up after a hurricane a couple of years ago.

Examining Sand. My husband found the idea for this activity here. We'll put some sand on the white paper and make note of what colors and particles we see. We'll do the same with the black paper and see if we notice anything different. We'll use the jumbo magnet to see if any iron-rich minerals stick to it. We'll also talk about why Bermuda sand is pink!

Still on our shelves: (Parts of) the Africa Continent Bag.

Water Experiments - coming soon!

Art & Music

Composer of the Month: Verdi. I often get asked what exactly we do with our COM. Right now I'm keeping it really simple - I download that composer's music onto my iPod and we listen to those songs during our schooltime for the entire month. I also print out a photo of the composer. At some point we'll likely spend more time learning about the composer and the style of music, but for now it's just not something James is interested in.

Coloring Book. I printed this mini coloring book from abcteach.

Circle Time Songs. I can make these available, just let me know if you're interested.

Line Art. The idea here is simple - James can use the ruler to create lines in various lengths and angles. He can color the shapes in if he wishes to.

Happy summer!

~Thank you for your comments!~

On Our Shelves - June

Our theme this month is dinosaurs! Truth be told, James is neither here nor there when it comes to dinos, but I thought we'd give it a go anyway. We finished up our farm theme at the end of last week, so tomorrow is our first day with the dinosaurs.

Oh, btw, how many of you knew that the beloved Brontosaurus has been declared "scientifically redundant" and now has a slightly different appearance and goes by the new name, Apatosaurus?! I'm sure I'm the last to know about this. Sheesh, first Pluto is stripped of its planet status (I know, I know, it's a dwarf planet now... but still) and now I hear about the Bronto losing its place in the dino world. How will my inner child reconcile this information? Was my entire elementary education flawed?! :D

Ok, moving on...

Practical Life
Washing a Dinosaur. I think James will get a kick out of this, especially because it involves a cute little scrub brush.

Scooping Dinosaur Eggs. Ok, so this looks a bit like an Easter activity. You just have to imagine these are dinosaur eggs. :)

Folding. There are 2 sets of 3 different sized pieces of dinosaur material in this basket. James will fold them and match them by size.

Pin Poking. These sheets are from Montessori Print Shop. James will use the jumbo thumbtack to poke tiny holes all around the images thus separating the image from the background. We did this last fall and it was a favorite.

We'll also continue our Grace & Courtesy lessons in table manners.

Sensorial
Dinosaur Sensory Tub. What has made this tub a hit is the fact that it has water in it. Kids + water = guaranteed fun.

Mystery Bag. Inside the dinosaur bag are two sets of the same dinosaur. There's another set in the basket, which James will lay out on the mat and use as a guide for what he's feeling from inside the bag. There's no peeking with this activity - James has to really tune in to his sense of touch to determine which dinosaur he's feeling before he pulls it out of the bag. Of course this can be done with any number of objects and can be as simple or as complicated as you like. This activity is fun with toddlers and is great for teaching basic shapes.

Binomal Cube. This is a traditional Montessori material and you can read more about it here. I purchased our cube from Kid Advance.

Still on our shelves: Knobbed and Knobbless Cylinders, and The Pink Tower.

Language
Dinosaur Bingo. I made this myself using clip art from abcteach. I'd share it as a PDF, but I believe the images are copyrighted.

Worksheets & Activity Book. Skills involved: dot-to-dot (by letters), tracing, and reading/following basic directions. I printed the sheets off from KidsSoup and abcteach.

Spelling. Same idea as last month only this time I'm using these magnetic numbers.

Books. I was astonished to find only 3 dinosaur books at our library. THREE. Which is just as well, I suppose, since we're only allowed to check out four at a time. The rest are from the local thrift shop.

Not sure if I'll do a poetry basket for this month as I cannot for the life of me find a decent poem about dinosaurs. Guess dinos aren't very poetical. :)

Reading. As if by magic, James can read just about anything now and very rarely has to sound anything out. In just a couple of months he went from sounding out basic three and four letter words to flat-out reading words with 5+ letters without hesitation. I couldn't tell you how this happened, it just did and I know I had very little to do with it. I guess something just sort of "clicked" with him. Anyway, because I'm still wary of how well he actually knows some of the reading "rules", I want to continue forward with the last bit of the green series. I also purchased some basic readers. I found this series at a local shop (Kit-N-Caboodle, for my fellow islanders). The stories aren't award winning by any means, but they get the job done and most importantly James LOVES reading them.

Still on our shelves: Green Sandpaper Phonograms and The Grammar Farm.

Math
Measuring Dinosaurs. We did a similar activity in December when we measured strips of ribbon. James enjoys measuring things (seriously, anything with numbers - he loves it). He'll need to write his results on the index cards.

Understanding More & Less. Still working on this concept. It's interesting, James definitely understands what's more than something else, but when you ask him which is less, he freezes up. I thought maybe the use of the sections in the ice tray would help him to visualize the concept a bit better. He'll need to place the little ball next to the correct answer.

Addition with "Dinosaurs Bones". Aka popsicle sticks. :) Pretty straight-forward, for example I will lay out a set of 3 bones and a set of 5 bones and place the '+' sign in between them and the '=' sign after them and ask James to add them together and show me the sum with another set of bones from the cup.

Skip Counting. Like reading, James just sort of 'gets' skip counting. I started with counting by 2's and the next thing I knew he was counting by 5's and 10's all on his own. This activity is just to reinforce the concept visually. James will use these tiles (from our Hundred Board) and put them in numerical order by 5's up to 100.

Worksheets. Skills involved: dot-to-dot (by numbers), quantity matching, determining differences, and addition. Printed off from KidsSoup and abcteach.

Still on our shelves: Ladybug Math, Telling Time, and Sandpaper Numerals.

Science & Culture
Studying Africa, Tray 1: Places. As I've mentioned before, I've opted to remove certain aspects of our continent bags and put them on trays instead of just plopping the entire bag on the shelf. James (like most kids, I think) is more interested in an activity if he can see what it is. By putting a few items on a tray not only can he see what's available, he's also not bombarded with the full extent of materials inside of our continent bags.

Studying Africa, Tray 2: Animals. I must give a shout out to my good friend, Ann, who very sweetly gave us that beaded lizard, which is from South Africa. Not pictured, but also on these shelves are a few African flags. I always display the flags of whichever continent we're studying.

Dinosaur Cards. These are from Montessori Print Shop and they are great! I love the information cards - they have just the right amount of data on them. I only wish a few of the more common dinosaurs (Stegosaurus, Pterodactyl, Dimetrodon, Plesiosaurus, Brontosaurus - er, I mean Apatosaurus) were included in the sets.

Matching & "Feeding" Dinosaurs. This is a two part activity: James will match up the plastic dinosaurs to those on the cards and then use the information section to determine if they were plant eaters or meat eaters. The little bucket in the above photo has some leaves and little squares of red felt (i.e. meat) that James can "feed" to the appropriate dinosaur.

Build-a-Dino. Just like it sounds - the skeleton comes in a handful of pieces and you simply put it all together. Another local find (Daisy & Mac).

Excavating Dinosaurs. This photo is from a couple of summers ago when we did this same project. We'll be doing it again next week - it's a great outdoor activity for summer!

Art & Music
Composer of the Month: J.S. Bach. I often get asked what exactly we do with our COM. Right now I'm keeping it really simple - I download that composer's music onto my iPod and we listen to those songs during our schooltime for the entire month. I also print out a photo of the composer. At some point we'll likely spend more time learning about the composer and the style of music, but for now it's just not something James is interested in.

Circle Time Songs. You can get the PDF here.

Buddha Board. I love this thing! I wrote a short post about it here. It's been a long while since we've used this and I think James will be really happy to see it again.

Coloring Pages. KidsSoup has a great dino set.

Scissor Practice. These strips are a bit different than usual - I used stickers, as I usually do, but this time I drew various kinds of lines in between the stickers. James is used to cutting straight across, so I think this will provide a bit of a challenge for him.

Stamping. I found this great Melissa & Doug set locally (People's) and I know it's going to be a hit with James.

Later this month we're going to try to make some dinosaur eggs. Fun!

Happy June, everyone!

~Thank you for your comments!~