It's Been Awhile

Um, yes, so it has been awhile.  I actually uploaded these photos and started this post over a year ago.  Sheesh!  

We've had some rather serious and life changing things going on in our family since I last posted here.  There have been two births, two additional kiddos to add to our brood, but sadly only one came home with us.  Our son died in birth about 19 months ago and our second daughter was born healthy and alive about a month ago.  If you're interested in reading more about those journeys you can click through to my other blog, Jenn's Den.  

Now that life has eased up a bit I want to get back into posting regularly here.  L has grown so much and is into very different things than she was last time you saw her, plus, I will be posting about infant Montessori stuff, too.  

So! Back to Montessori!  These pictures are from a year ago when L was about three and a half years old.  It shows a work that she really enjoyed doing over and over again around that age - she is sorting glass baubles by color and then counting them before putting them back in the big bowl.  I got the baubles and the little glass bowls from the dollar tree.

Hope to have a new and far more up to date post for you soon!

Dedicated Montessori Space!

I am so excited! I finally had the time to organize the closets in the playroom so we have some dedicated space for Montessori works. The cabinets are in one side of the closet which allows the works to be easily put away (just close the doors!) when small friends come over who don't know how to handle the materials or who might stuff beans up their nose.

:)

Not having the works out on the playroom shelf all the time has also allowed us to have a dedicated time each morning to Montessori, which has been really nice. I think it is also helping L to understand that the works are not toys and need to be treated a little differently.

Here are the two cabinets with two works and her mat on top:

Inside one of the cabinets:

Inside the other cabinet:

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It's come to my attention that some people have been having trouble leaving comments. I made some changes and hope that it fixed the problem.

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Our Shelves This Week

On the Montessori shelf we have her work mat, four stacking boxes, a spooning activity using lima beans, counting cards using rocks, a color sorting activity (there are three different colors of glass beads and three leaf bowls to sort them into) and a sewing block.

We also revamped this set of shelves with more pictures of art and some of the new musical instruments L received for her birthday.

Her favorite Montessori activity so far this week is the counting cards with rocks. This has been such a big hit. I took out the number 3 card so there is only 1 and 2 and she is much more successful with them now and has even been saying the names of the numbers while doing it.

Counting Cards With Rocks

I got this idea from Little Hands, Big Work and it has been a big hit. Lately, L has been "counting" things on her own (pointing to items and saying numbers, but not in any particular, or correct, order) so I thought she would enjoy this work and perhaps get a little counting practice. Rocks are a big point of interest for her right now, too, so I picked up a bag of them from the Dollar Tree for this activity (and a few others, too).

Montessori and Pretend Play?

A few days ago Miri posted over at My Child's Diary on how to deal with imaginative play in a Montessori environment. I commented:

First, let me just say that I am no expert in the Montessori theory on imaginative play.

There is imaginative play in our home. L (almost 24 months) pretends she is a puppy, a cat and a baby. She loves to care for her two baby dolls , pretend to cook and pretend with her doctor's set. She also will make things with her playdoh and pretend with them - for example, she will make a pancake and pretend to eat it. Since she does imaginative play on her own and really seems to enjoy it, I just try to foster pretend play that has a basis in reality.

I also agree that if she is concentrating and has come up with the idea for the activity all on her own I tend to let her just do as she wants.

Today is L's 2nd birthday and this past weekend was her birthday party, at which she received tons of gifts, and as I have been going through all the new items I have been thinking more about Montessori and imaginative play.

I have not done much reading on this subject, so I am hoping some of you can enlighten me. Can somebody give me a quick rundown of Montessori theory about pretend play? I have always assumed that pretend play based in reality was okay, that the main point was that things should be realistic - like imagining she's a mommy taking care of a baby, but not a fairy princess living in a world of talking animals. However, after reading Miri's post and some of the responses to it I'm wondering if I've been incorrectly thinking about this?

Currently On Our Shelves

Here are some close-up picture of the activities and toys on the shelves in our play/Montessori room.

L loves the hairbrush and mirror - it gets a lot of use. Next to that is a bowl of rocks and an ice cube tray to put them in (I think I've seen something similar on Miri's blog) - this is also a popular activity. On the second shelf is a pegboard, four stacking boxes, and a tray with counter cards and rocks as counters (my girl loves rocks right now). I got the idea for the counter cards from Little Hands, Big Work. The last shelf has mammal matching cards from Michael Olaf and a latches board. The latches board is probably the most popular item from these shelves right now. L actually squeals with delight sometimes when she sees it there.

On this set of shelves we have playdough with a mat and cookie cutter and some Mary Cassatt art prints on top. The next shelf holds a notebook, crayons and colored pencils. The middle shelf has two stacking toys and the bottom shelf holds some musical instruments.

On the top of this set of shelves is a box of animal alphabet cards, her puppy and his house, and a pretty little plaque with a nice saying on it (that you can't see because of the camera flash). The next shelf has photo books with pictures of L and family and friends, a basket of old cell phones that don't work anymore (this is probably the most played with item - she adores talking on the phone, even if it's just pretend), and an alphabet puzzle. On the middle shelf is a pretend doctor's kit and two trucks. The bottom shelf holds two puzzles and a stacker toy.

L's birthday is next week, so I'll do another post soon showing all the new items that get put out. :)

Our Play/Montessori Room

We recently rearranged our home and turned our bonus room into a playroom/Montessori room. It's lovely and has lots of natural light and a wall of mirrors which L loves to sing and dance in front of. Everything has its place, which makes it easy for L to know where to look for something and then to put it away again. She has a space for art, a cuddle spot on the floor for reading, a table and chairs, Montessori activities and of course, toys. The room is a huge hit - she spends lots of time in there every day. It's also popular with other kids and I love being able to explain to other parents why we don't use a toy box, why many of our toys are wooden and don't make lots of noise and flash bright lights, and what our Montessori activities are.

:)

Matching Cards

This has been an especially popular activity on her shelves - they are Winnie the Pooh and friends matching cards I picked up for a dollar from the dollar store. She matches the top of the character to the bottom of the character and really enjoys it.

Helping With The Baking

There is so much a little one can be involved with in the kitchen. In these pictures L is only 22 months old, yet she is able to do quite a bit to help make banana and zucchini muffins.

Little children can help measure ingredients, pour them into a bowl and then mix them up. L is also good at helping to butter the muffin tins, throwing away trash as we work, and putting dirty items in the sink. It does take more time and there is more clean-up than if I work alone, but L enjoys herself so much, and it's a great way for us to spend quality time together.

Helping Daddy

L had a blast helping her daddy put together our new carpet cleaner. She loves to be included in our family's work and feel as if she is making a valuable contribution - you can tell how proud she is of herself when she is done doing something important.

Tending The Garden

At our house we do container gardening and square foot gardening in the spring and summer. L loves to help us with the gardening. She waters the plants with her watering can and helps my husband pick the vegetables when they are ready. After picking something, she brings it inside to wash in the kitchen and often, if it's a tomato, will go ahead and eat it, too. :)

Camera Batteries

I have quite a few posts in my head, but my camera batteries are dead. Once I get some new ones I'll put up pictures of our new play/Montessori room and the activities we've been doing lately.

In the meantime, have you read this great post over at Montessori For Everyone? It includes a bunch of great Montessori links.

Making Nachos

Nacho chips with melted cheese on top is one of her favorite snacks right now and she loves to help make them. Yes, she's in her pajamas - she wanted some for breakfast! I didn't feel too badly about her having nachos for breakfast since it was veggie nacho chips, but still, this isn't a breakfast meal we have often. :)