Sensory Play - Capturing The Sights, Smells, Sounds & Feel Of Summer.
Don't forget, you can also find us via our Facebook group and on our Instagram account.
A blog on living life as a working Mom who is trying to adopt the Montessori principles in every day living!
Don't forget, you can also find us via our Facebook group and on our Instagram account.
This was a lovely simple activity and a great way to use up left over Play-Dough.
Arlo had his injections a few days ago so has been feeling quite under the weather and sorry for himself. I made some play dough earlier in the week but he hasn’t been in the mood to play with it. Last night he was feeling much better, so we snuggled down and read ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ before bed.
I was inspired by the lovely images in the book and wanted to use up all of the leftover dough, so I pressed all of the different colours together which created this wonderful space themed dough. I then cut out some stars, provided the cutter and tools and left it out as an invitation to play.
Thankfully, he was feeling much more like himself today and had great fun playing with all of the different tools and equipment.
This dough was made using my foolproof homemade dough recipe which you can find here. It works every time! The tray I have used here is a reuseable serving platter. It is perfect for laying out activities as it contains the mess and provides a great work space at the same time.
This colour of dough would also be perfect for a space or planet themed activity. I hope you like it! Why not drop me a message or comment in the comments box below?
Don't forget, you can also find us via our Facebook group and on our Instagram account.
I set up a Facebook group because the principles of Montessori really changed my life! I want to share that passion with others and meet some amazing new friends along the way.
My vision is to build a blog and a group where likeminded parents can share their ideas, what has worked and what hasn’t. Where we can share the joys, heartache, pride and frustration of every day life.
So, whether you follow Montessori or just take inspiration from the activities or principles, come and join us!
Clean up - there really wasn't much to clean away after this activity, which was a huge bonus. All I needed to do was sweep up the escaped rainbow drops and dump them in the bin.
My son is still at an age where most things will instinctively go in his mouth. For that reason, I choose not to use shop-bought play dough as it full of chemicals and other things which I wouldn't want my child to ingest.
Instead, I use my perfect home made recipe (which you can find on my play dough link here).
I had tried so many recipes, some with all kinds of wacky ingredients but none had ever really hit the mark. In the end, I decided to create my own simple recipe by combining what I had learnt from other recipes along the way. I hope you find it helpful!Now, let's imagine you are at work, in the middle of finishing an important task and someone swoops in to declare you have to pack away right now, just as you're about to finish. How would you feel? I know I would be extremely frustrated and yet this is something parents do to their children all the time. Instead, if you need your child to finish up, give them a warning.
'In five minutes, we are going to need to pack away because it's almost dinner time.'
This helps to reduce those levels of frustration and gives them a heads up that they need to begin winding down that activity. By doing this, you develop a mutual respect with your child and reduce the feelings of frustration when an activity comes to it's end. It is important to remember that whatever your child is doing, whether it's an activity you set up for them or simply an every day task, they are learning.
Of course, there are always going to be times when things pop up unexpectedly and plans change in an instant, but on the whole, we should aim to give our children notice before ending any activity, whether it is one we have set up for them or one they have invented themselves.
Remember to always put yourself in their shoes. We need a little time before we can finish an activity so it is only reasonable that our children will, too. Give it a go and drop me a comment in the comments section to let me know how you got on!
Don't forget, you can also find us via our Facebook group and on our Instagram account.
Now, who heard that pretty continuously throughout their childhood? I certainly did! While frustrating as a child, as an adult I have come to realise how very true that saying is. When I first heard about Montessori, I loved the idea so much that I really wanted to get started as soon as possible.There was one problem, however and that was where to begin.
When I began to research the Montessori principles and concepts, I was a little mind boggled! There was just SO much information to take in and I had no idea how I was going to narrow it down into something I could actually implement in my home. After hours and hours of research, I decided to focus only on the areas I could implement right there and then.
Beginning with small steps helped me to see what a real difference Montessori could make to my life and motivated me to keep going until every area of my life reflected the Montessori principles. Let's face it, the life of a Mom (or Dad!) is busy and often downright chaotic! Making small, manageable changes is going to be far more manageable than transforming everything overnight.
In that spirit, this article is hopefully going to give you the first few steps along the road to a Montessori way of life. Each step is something you can begin to do today without purchasing a thing!
This was the big one for me. I felt so daunted at the thought of reorganising my home into a Montessori style environment that I didn't know where to start. I ended up aimlessly wondering through my house trying to envisage various things in various places. My husband arrived home to find me dumbly staring at one wall. 'That's it, she's finally cracked!' he must have thought. The truth was, I was so confused. It seemed like a gargantuan task that I would never be able to fulfill. I would never have a home as organised as those I had seen on Instagram or Pintrest.
Finally, I decided to change just one small area in my home and go from there. So, I pulled some books and ornaments off a low, child height shelf and arranged a set of three plastic baskets there instead. In each basket, I selected a Montessori inspired activity and allowed Arlo the opportunity to explore. That very first day, he pulled a basket down from the shelf and started putting the playing cards into the little cardboard box as if he had been doing this his whole life. I was thrilled!
Gradually, I got myself an Ikea Kallax unit, some under the stairs storage (since I am based in the UK, there are few houses with big walk in cupboards similar to those I had seen on other blogs and videos, so I decided to utilise the space underneath my stairs instead) and a few additional baskets and trays to keep my activities in order.
I really want to stress, though, that it is absolutely not necessary to purchase anything in order to make Montessori work in your home. All you need is a little bit of space where you can lay out your activities so your child has the freedom to choose for themselves which one they would like to complete. You could use a shoe rack, lower a shelf down to child height, clear off a shelf on your TV unit - any space you have can work. Similarly, if you do not have any boxes or baskets, use what you have to hand. This could be shoe boxes, lunch boxes, cereal boxes with one side removed. Whatever your budget, you can make this work.
I wish I had found a simple guide to getting started when I was first looking into Montessori and I hope that this guide goes a long way to helping make that transition a smooth one, but I would also like to say that if you are reading this and have any queries or problems - no matter how big or how small - feel free to email me (montessoriathomeuk@gmail.com) and I will do my best to support you. Alternatively, you can drop a comment in the comments section below!
Step 5 - Practical Life SkillsThis is perhaps my favourite element of the Montessori lifestyle. As a primary school teacher, I cannot tell you the amount of times I have met a child who lacks in the most basic self care skills. For example, an intelligent, bubbly ten year old who cannot use a knife correctly. Having observed this for years, I vowed that should I ever be blessed with children of my own, I would ensure they had adequate skills to care for themselves. This doesn't mean, of course, that we force our children to do everything while we sit back and watch - quite the opposite in fact! It is simply about providing opportunities for our children to engage with us in every day tasks.
Some
examples (age dependent):
Involving
our children in the everyday tasks of life, not only helps to build their
skills in these areas, but many others too. For example, allowing your child to
cut their own banana means they develop their fine motor skills, their grip
control, their ability to appreciate size and measure as they aim for similar
sized pieces. These skills are invaluable and reach into every aspect of their
learning. Furthermore, you can begin to include these in your
day-to-day life straight away. As you make breakfast in the morning, ask your
child to help you butter their toast, or give them a small cup of milk and ask them to pour the milk onto their own cereal.
These simple things really do make the world of difference!
Please note: We do not own any copyright to the image of Duggee or the Squirrels.
Hey Duggee - TM and © Studio AKA Ltd 2014. Licensed by BBC Worldwide.
This one was SUPER fun! Great sensory development, completely edible and took about 3 minutes to prepare!
Arlo absolutely adored this activity. It was so easy to do. I simply made some premix orange jelly (adding water to the sachet) arranged his toys in a tray and covered with the mixture. Put in the fridge overnight and it was ready for play the next day!
I wasn’t sure if it would stain, so I put Arlo in an old vest just in case. Luckily, it was fine!
A great sensory activity and it’s edible too so no need to worry about little ones putting it in their mouth!
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This one is so simple! Place a few PomPoms in a bowl in the middle (this one from @easytots_ is perfect as it sticks to the tray and can’t be knocked over!), add a few #cupcake cases and a spoon. Perfect!
At my sons age (17 months), I’m not too concerned if he gets the pom poms in the right colour case - picking them up with the spoon is tasking enough! But it certainly gets us on the right track to identify colours and classify objects.
If you’re doing it for the first time, maybe just start with two colours or use fingers instead of a spoon. To make things more complex, you could use tweezers.
Drop me a comment and let me know what do you guys think.
#momlife #montessoriathome #finemotorskills #montessori #montessoriathomeuk #montessorionabudget #budgetfriendly #budgetactivities #boymom #newtoinstagram #follow4followback #activitiesforkids #1yearold #montessoritoddler #parenting #montessorishelfie #keepingkidsbusy #learningthroughplay #learningathome #mompreneur #ukmoms #learningthroughplay #exploratoryplay
I’ve just set up a Facebook group so that anyone reading this blog can join in and comment, share, like and post your own Montessori inspired activities!
Come check it out!
This is a great activity for 1 year olds. Using a dropper takes some true fine motor skills!
The objective here is simple! Move the water from the container on the left, to the container on the right using the dropper. I’ve also included a sponge to mop up any spills. Remember: everything the child needs to complete the activity is always included on the tray.
This activity is great for teaching your child fine motor skills to hold the dropper carefully, apply pressure when needed to suck the water up and release it again, move carefully so as not to spill anything and even to clean up after themselves!
It’s inevitable that some squirts will miss the container, but this is all part of the learning journey. The more they do the activity, the more accurate they’ll become!
Don’t worry if your child doesn’t use the dropper just yet, simply pouring the water from one container to another is great for now!
As I mentioned earlier, if there are any spills your child should use the sponge or cloth included with their activity to clean up after themselves. This does take a bit of teaching on your part, but soon they’ll know exactly what to do without a word from you!
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Today was one of those days where one minute you could be basking in the glorious sunshine and three minutes later the heavens have opened and everywhere is saturated.
So, in between dropping Darren here there and everywhere to get his car MOT sorted, Arlo and I decided to engage in some not messy messy play! I must admit these are my favourite kind. All the fun of messy play but without the mopping at the end!
For this 'animal rescue' activity, I collected a bit of shredded paper and some of Arlo's favourite plastic animals and shapes
Arlo had a wonderful time digging through the paper to 'rescue' the animals. Once rescued, we role played the animals eating the paper, running around on the tray and talking to each other.
The great thing about this activity is the minimal clean-up required. I stuffed the paper into the recycling bin, put the animals back in their storage tub and that was it! We were packed up and able to enjoy a few minutes of sunshine in the garden before the next wave of showers arrived.
If you don't have one of these tough trays, I highly recommend getting one. They are surprisingly good value and save so much time on cleaning up and really help to keep the activity contained!
Here is the one pictured (I love this one because it is manufactured right here in the UK):
My name is Kimberley and I am a busy, working Mom who lives in the UK with my husband, Darren and my 1 year old son, Arlo.
I stumbled upon the Montessori practices quite by chance when scouring the internet for inspiration one day. Several lost hours later and I was hooked! Ever since that day, I have followed the principles of Montessori in the hope of raising a confident, independent and - most importantly - happy little boy. It hasn't always been easy and there have certainly been bumps along the way, but the results speak for themselves and I became so passionate about Montessori that I couldn't contain it any longer. I just had to share!
The Montessori concept was born in the early 1900's by an Italian doctor called Dr Maria Montessori. Dr Montessori was tasked with opening a school for disadvantaged children where she was able to hone her learning principles and ideas.
As a primary school teacher myself, I could see the wealth of benefits in the Montessori way of life but, since I was intending to use this in my home rather than in a formal educational setting, I knew I would have to make some adaptations to fit the principles into my every day life.
So, why start a blog?
Quite simply - after hours and hours of research online, I couldn't find any examples of relatable families based in the UK who were also using Montessori in their homes. I enjoyed watching hours of YouTube videos and reading dozens of blog posts by various families from the US, but I often found it difficult to imagine their set-ups and ideas taking shape in my own home. Not to mention the frustration of seeing various products or ideas only to find they were unavailable in the UK.
In the end, I decided that I would try and give something back to the Montessori community and dedicate some time to sharing with other families both in the UK and around the world how I make Montessori work for us.
I hope you can take inspiration from some of my ideas and activities!
Benedykt and Sylvester is a small British business run by Brittany, a Montessori Mum to Benedykt, 4, Sylvester, 2 and baby Otylia. After be...