Christmas Crafts





Snowman Face

Reindeer Face

This was so fun to make! :) The kids really liked getting their hands painted for the hand prints.  I don't know if you can tell but the nose is made from a pom pom. So cute!!!



Next Best Thing To Real Snow

I would love it if we got a bit of snow here in the valley, but it just doesn't so we brought in the "snow" for a day of snow play and exploration of long chained molecules.  The upside? You can play with it indoors, it doesn't melt and it won't freeze your hands.  This feels so realistic that some snowboard parks use it for snowboarding!

Halloween I Spy Bottle

I have made other themed I Spy bottles in the past and the kids have really liked them so I made one last week for Halloween. It still feels like summer here in Los Angeles but I'm getting in the mood for fall so maybe this will help bring the cooler weather along, LOL!

I used a 16 oz. mason jar and put black beans and large Lima beans as the filler. I used a permanent marker to draw the ghost faces on the Lima's sides.

Then I put in various Halloween type items for the kids to have to look for. Plastic spiders, monsters, letter beads that spell words, etc. I took individual pics of the fillers so that the kids can have a guide of what to look for.

Lastly, I used a hot glue gun to seal the top and put a Halloween themed ribbon to make it look pretty. :) I just love Halloween!

Felt Button Turkey for Fall

I will probably keep this guy out for a few days until the newness wears off and then put him away for a while and bring him back in November for Thanksgiving.  I made him out of craft felt and the leaves come off by unbuttoning them so it makes for a good buttoning activity for the kids.  It was pretty easy to make.  Each piece is two layers and I sewed them together along the edges. I then hot glued on the googly eyes.  I saw a turkey similar to this a long time ago online. I'll see if I can find it again and link it.

Setting a Table

With little ones always wanting to help I wanted a way to make it easy for them to set the table without me having to stand there and tell them where to put everything. I came up with this idea for a placemat that has everything in its proper place (for infomal everyday family dining).  I figure that by using this as a guide they will 'automatically' learn the proper way to set a table without every having to have a sit down lesson on 'how to set a table'.   Since I have never actually  taught any of the kids how to do it, they will be able to benefit from it as well. 

I used a standard sized posterboard and folded it in half lengthwise then cut it so I had two of the same size pieces. I trimmed it just a bit so it wouldn't be so wide but instead the size of a standard placemat.  I then got all the pieces we usually use and traced around everything. Sorry about the picture looking blurry and light. I'm contemplating going over the lines again in marker so that the lines are darker.  I'm also going to laminate them so they can be easily cleaned. My goal is to make one for every place setting.  This is how it will look when everything has been placed.

Nature Study in our Backyard

I love living by the foothills! There is so much more wildlife here than where I grew up only 15 minutes away.  Brush Rabbits, woodpeckers, hawks, lizards, and more are seen daily. It makes it very easy to do Nature Study when nature comes right to you!

 
This furry cutie visits us morning and evening for his favorite clover leaves. I love seeing the kids rush to get their field guides in order to identify our different visitors.

The same pair of Mourning Doves come back every spring around May to rebuild their nest, lay their eggs and raise their young.  We have had 2 different broods hatch this season.

Ok, I'll be honest. This Painted Lady butterfly didn't show up on it's own.  We hatched and raised them. I love this picture though. How cool that the butterflies were willing to land on the children's hands.

On Our Shelves in August...

Hot August days seem like a great time for ice cream! So my theme this month for our sensory tub was...Ice Cream!  The kids had a great time serving 'sundaes', and the scoop and puffs are a good transfering activity for the little ones.

To keep with the ice cream theme, I made some Neopolitan scented playdough. It smelled so yummy! Expecially the chocolate!  The kids have been having a blast with this as well.

Homemade playdough is so much better than store bought! It can seem so much more realistic than the purchased kind.  Plus, some kids hate the smell and get headaches from it.  I like to make up a new batch of themed play dough every month.  That seems to be how long it keeps and the kids anticipate the new batch. :) 

Our Learn and Play Room

I was hesitant to call it a designated "classroom" because I don't want the kids to become conditioned to only learning in specific areas and at specific times. I've heard so many children say that they don't want to do any 'learning' or 'thinking' when they are outside of school hours, the school campus, vacation, etc.
I believe that learning can and should happen naturally throughout the day no matter where they are and no matter if the bell has already rung or not rung yet, it is a weekend, they are on vacation...

Here are some pictures to give you a 360 degree view.  This is the wall that has our reading area.

Reading is a BIG part of our day. Did you know that the single best thing you can do to raise a great and confident reader is to read aloud to them everyday?  You don't need a fancy TV program, expensive reading coaches, or magic formulas.  Giving them exposure to the written word Everyday will do wonders. The bottom bookshelves are low enough for the littlest ones to be able to have them at eye level and within their reach. And having the books face out interests them a lot more than just seeing a spine.

We also have a computer station for 3. 

 Strict Montessori probably wouldn't have computers in the classroom.  That being said, Dr. Maria Montessori did not have computers in her day, and we believe that with limits, computers are beneficial.  They are such a big part of our lives nowadays, it would be disadvantageous to not be computer savvy.  I've also seen computers help a lot with creative writilng. If kids are young when learning to type, they will be much more willing to 'write' longer passages when doing writing assignments since typing is not as tiring on their little hands.

This corner shows some our our shelving areas for our learning materials. Right now there are mostly toys on them since we are on our summer break so they will look different in a few weeks.

This corner shows the TV and some of our storage for learning materials. Most of the materials are stored elsewhere so that the height of the boxes doesn't become a safety hazard! :)