Multi age activity - fruits

Food and particularly fruits have been on the topic lately for my little one.  And finding these cards fueled my first idea, that once again was used by my children in their own ways.

I am a huge fan of Michael Olaf.  Not only their store, but of all the material, videos, catalog and everything else they do to promote Montessori home learning.  I love how they do not promote using montessori material in the home for learning, but instead adapt Montessori learning to a home setting.  I read regularly Children of the world and a Joyful Child which are 2 excellent ressources.

THis video of theirs gave me the push I needed to create a similar activity for E.  Now that he walks VERY steadily (!!), he is into talking.  A lot...  perfect timing

Activity for E, 16 months old:

Association between an object and a card:

I used a basket to put some common fruits in it, and used the cards I linked to earlier on for this activity.  I love these cards for a toddler as they are bigger then standard size 3 parts cards.

For maximum strength, I glued these cards on a piece of cardboard, and then covered the whole thing with plastic I would use to cover book.  It is not something I would want to do for my older, but I love how thick it is for E.

He used the fruits in the basket to match then to the cards:

and we named them at the same time (I say we, as M was also naming them)

Activity for M 4 y.o.


She started playing with E, but she quickly started to want to change the rules of the game.

After seeing the letters at the left corner of the cards, we turned with into a first sound game.  Since we didn't have that many fruits on hand, I started to help her notice the middle and end sounds of these words.  She is starting to be really good at this sound game.  Reading is not far!

She also wanted to name all the letter that are composing the words

Activity for X, 6 yo
He saw the cards later that night.  For his part, he was interested in 2 things:
-the phonems that were in many of the words.  He read them, asked a lot of questions about them, and read them some more.
- the script and cursive way of writing the words.  In fact, he practiced penmanship for a while, both in cursive and script after seeing those.

He also tried to write these words without looking at them.

The cards are currently in rotation in E's picture ledge in his room:

yes, just beside his bed...

I'll come back to that later

Kylie at How we Montessori had provided a very interesting art oriented extention to this activity.  We are surely going to give it a try this weekend!
It is here

the astronomy basket

All of this learning about astronomy lead me to the creation of a astronomy basket.

The basket is located near our big bay window, in the living room.  It contains everything to explore further stars, the sky, planets or the constellations.

Here is what is included in the basket;

The astronomy folder that I discussed yesterday

along with the constellations cards

and a flashlight to use with them

Few books on  the topic:

I tried to include M as well by putting some books that were at her level too.

And finally a notebook, pen and binoculars

I have also included a star searcher

to initiate my children to this tool

All of this in a basket:

How X learns - the conclusion

Constellation it has been since my last post.
And luckily, we left for the countryside during the weekend, giving us plenty of space to look at the sky, without interference from the lights.

So here is our road into learning about the universe as to now:

I had prepared a modeling dough earth, about a week ago, while we were into earth's layer.  Not having time to do this activity with him before, I sliced the planet with him to discover what is inside.  He was so interested to see the inside of it!

I did the model with M, while X was at school.  It was a very interesting and educational activity for her too!

I found a set of 3 part cards, not intended to be used that way, but as a guide.  I provided X with a container of needles so he can stick the small papers in the right layer of the earth.

I have found this file  here

But then, seeing that his interest exploded about anything constellations, I started to build an activity along this line.

X is crazy about paperwork.  Files!  He adores them.  So, I built something that would have file as a medium:
IN it:

Constellation charts:

They were found at the very good site: Le jardin de Kiran (in french)

They are used to make a constellation projector.  The idea is brilliant.  But lacking the time to do it, I used the cards, punched holes, and we have been projecting our constellation with a flash light on the walls since. 

These cards are very well made, and includes the name of the constellation both in script and cursive letters, along with identification of any phonems by the use of another color.

I have also included

a map of the planets around the sun (also from le jardin de Kiran)

and a chart of earth's layer (on your right hand side):

Everything was put in a blue file folder

much to his delight.

How X learns - wednesday

I got out of the car tonight, to a clear sky (finally!).  In fact, I couldn't wait to go home and take the time to look up with X.  But before coming home, I took the time to admire the sky all by myself.  I guess X's interest in the sky doesn't come from anywhere, mom's always had it too.

It didn't take me long to finally spot the moon, and just as he predicted, the moon was half full to the left.  I just smiled.  But X saw me arrive through the window, and by the time I was heading for the door, he was out.  I told him to go and shut the lights of the house, and we just looked at the sky.

And then he saw them.  All the stars.  The way he had seen in his book.  He just saw them differently, I  could tell, because it is not the first time that we look up to the sky.  I was able to show him ursa minor (la petite ourse) that was just starting to be visible to the line of the horizon. Ursa minor in french is called (litterally) the small bear. That was all I needed to say to generate an infinite amount of questions... (Bear?? what do you mean bear?  There is a bear in the sky...)

We took a little bit of time, I took out my sky map, and we were able to spot a few of the wintery constellations that we see in our skies.  He had a hard time figuring out how to see the "drawings" that constellations make in the sky (don't we all?).

So we got in, and went browsing on my pc on a program called Stellarium
This program is free and fantastic to learn anything about the sky

we entered our own location, and looked up at the sky, just as we had seen it minutes ago outside. He was just fascinated to see the drawing of the constellations in the sky, the ones he couldn't imagine, I had to tear him up from my pc to go and have dinner.

And back to the book we are, now onto the chapter of constellations...

How X learns - tuesday

Tuesday is our crazy busy day.  I always dread that day, because I feel that there is not enough time for interesting things and opportunity to learn for my children.  We are busy, we run around, and we do not have the time to be, to see, to learn to breathe.

But trying to look further for X's pattern of learning made me see something that I often take for granted in a new way.

I asked him to choose a book for us to read before bedtime.  As usual, he went through the pile of books near his bed, only to get out his current favourite, a book about the universe:

He flipped through the page to a certain passage he wanted me to read...again...
I was kind of surprised that he wanted to go through this again, since we have been reading this chapters for more then a few nights now, but I just followed his lead. It is a chapter on the phase of the moon.

This particular chapter has been very interesting to him, and seeing how it fascinated him, I even suggested that we could make a log calendar of the actual phase of the moon

a project that he LOVES.  I found a moon log, complete with a chart of the different phase of the moon.  I sticked the chart in the window in which we usually see the moon before we head to bed.  He has religiously made all the entries in his log since it got there, not forgetting even one night.  But we have not been blessed with clear skies too often...

To go back to our book,  I read the pages he asked me too, not once, not twice, but 3 times.  And something clicked for him.  He got up, went upstairs, looked at the chart, and came back down gleaming with pride, and told me: so tomorrow, the light will be half full, to the left.  He wished me good night and told me that I could leave him to sleep (much to my amazement I must say!)

Repetition and reading before bedtime is not be forgotten as basics of learning!

How X learns - Monday

Monday morning, we are off to school.  The drive is rather long, and I usually let the kids decide what kind of trip they'd rather it to be: a moment for calm, a moment to sing,to learn or just to be silly.

But this morning, X asked me a question that took me a little by surprise. He questioned me about determinants.  Since the entire french speaking world is currently changing their ways of learning grammar, this concept of determinant definitely didn't come from home, as it is a term that we have never used.  THis concept was obviously coming from school.  He wanted to know how this worked.  Basically, determinants can be many things but what he wanted to know about was the article.
And so talking about this lead us to a game to which he specified the rules right before we started.  And since I know now better then to try to change these rules to make the game "better", I just followed his lead.

We played for about 25 minutes at this game of naming whether a noun is feminine or masculine. I would say something, let's say mailbox, and he would tell me if that noun was masculine or feminine.

Well, I sure have learned something that morning.  Even though my son was never taught this rule before, he knew a lot more then I thought about it.

how my children learn - part 1

I've finished a little while ago the very good book: How children learn by John Holt.  I loved it, and I have to admit that it made me think a lot.  In fact, it lead me to one very interesting question, one I have been researching ever since I have put this book down:  how do MY children learn??

And after many days of close observation, with the least disturbance I could make, I can only come to this conclusion...how can school really think that learning is a one size fit for all children??  I have 3 children, and they all have VERY different ways of learning. Let me count the ways:

The youngest:
I have E, who is right now following close to all Montessori has said about child development.  He thrives at many activities I set up for him, and when I don't manage to fully understand what he needs, he manages to show me by finding an activity that will lead him to explore this area he needs to.   BUT...
he is very artistic.  He holds a pen like I have never seen a 15 month old do.  That is a little bit far from Montessori... Music is a passion of his, he loves doing listening anything music related.  I can see that he will be very artistic in his ways of thinking, doing and so on, as long as we can nurture this.

M, 4 yo
And then come M, 4 yo.  She is still on a Montessori strike.  And I guess this strike is happening after seeing her starting to really be herself.  She is starting to affirm herself, to demonstrate preferences, to make her own thing.  She is into pretend playing.  She learns a LOT this way.  When she hits something that she doesn't understand or that bugs her in any ways, she plays it out many time for many days, until she figures it out.  Again, not very Montessori...
She is a very practical life person.  Likes to do the real thing, forget activities that have no point, no outcomes or no relation to something she can see.  I guess that explains why pretend playing works a lot for her, and why Montessori trays are not currently working for her.

She also has a thing for worksheets.  Don't ask me why, but she does.  Most of her academic learning comes from worksheets.

And she is also a very artistic person.  I think we have not nurtured this trait of her enough, but she is starting to ask for it more.  She is really into sensory activities, modeling dough, finger painting.  A lot of the activities that I set out for her comes from a very interesting website that I stumbled upon many months ago, when I got on Pinterest.  At some point, I realized that everything I was pinning for her was from this site!  It is Play at home mom.  Everything that I see there resonates with her so much right now.

X, the oldest
But it sure doesn't resonate with X, 6 yo.  He is the scientific type.  Forget the drawings and the arts, he likes the cold facts.  MATHS!  He learns most through "child lead discovery".  He reads a lot, and learns a lot this way.  He gets an idea from a book, or he finds a new interest, and we follow this interest until it leads us to something new to explore.  It is crazy, but it is fun and challenging.  Hard for somebody like me who likes to plan, but it is really keeping his interest in learning high, and I feel we are nurturing his love of learning this way.  I am just following his lead.

How can a school fits all those profiles at the same time the way it is working right now?  No chances, something's gotta give, and currently, children's love of learning is the breaking point.  Sadly.

In the next weeks, I'll be following my children to journal and record how they learn.  I want to remember how they do it before life school or other outer forces have been exerted on them, because I think the way your learn tells a lot about who you truly are.

I'll be starting with X, with an interest that was sparked after he heard the first great lesson in school.

Have faith in your children

you could be very amazed at what they'll do!

We had a fence to build today to protect our garden.  X (6 yo) asked us to take some of the wood pieces that were discarded, as well as a box of small nails.  And this time around, without even asking why, I said yes.  He gathered his tools (he has a small stash of tools for him) and got to work without saying a thing.  He came to see us to have some pieces cut in a particular way, and after we were done with the fence, he showed us his work:

His helicopter:

along with the details of the tail:

and his plane

My DH's face was the priceless thing to see when he showed us his constructions.

I can sense a few afternoon of guys building things together...very soon...

Ocean mat and everything that came with it

As I was saying in my previous post, now knowing where to go with our current situation, I decided to give a try at different things and see what my children would get an interest in.  To start myself, I knew would at least work for E, and opened my big book of ideas that I have gathered since many years, and just went with what I felt like doing.  The Ocean mat came to mind (I guess I needed to escape the cold for a little bit longer I guess...)

I remembered seeing one on the very good blog "what did we do all day", and thought the idea was super interesting. Fast forward to now, since I had some felt here, I go decided to give it a go.

To play along, I got the huge ocean toob from Safari lmt.  What I love about those toobs, is that they are rather versatile in what we can do with them, as you will be able to see.

Why did I choose this project?  For many reasons.  I had no idea if my kids were going to find an interest in it or not.  But *I* had one for this project.  I work really close to nature and wildlife animals, and so I went with something that made me happy. (and that I had fun doing)

Glad I got this activity together, because this one has been a hit for E, and a bonus, for the other 2 as well.  They all use it very differently, but they all do.  And I have to admit that setting an activity that is so versatile in terms of age interest really is a thrill. That has really set my spirits up for other new and exciting projects.

Here is an account of how all 3 of my children have been using this mat.  Nothing was presented to them, nothing was demonstrated or suggested from my part.  It all came spontaneously to them.

E (15 months)  and the ocean mat:

He is basically using it as a giant mat to put the figures on.

We also started to do a lot of naming with him in both french and english.  This game started when he was bringing the figures and saying something.  Then I was just saying the name, and he went to pick another and another...

He also loves to just empty and fill the tube.

Putting in, and getting out... I don't think that is going to change anytime soon...

M (4yo) and the ocean mat

She plays rather differently with it.

She is more interested into sorting the animals according to were they live (bottom or top of the sea), their similarities, can they live on the ground or not... She asked me loads of questions before she started to do this.
It has lead to many interesting discussion, notably about amphibians, and reptiles (which are a big things right now in our home for a reason you'll see later)
We are also using them for our non stop game of I spy...(that has been going on for weeks now, and this is something that has not stop.  I don't think she sees it as Montessori, as it does not require material per se)

Of course, she is also playing with it by making scenes, and stories. That is a big part of her play

X (6 yo) and the ocean mat


He started by playing with it for a couple of times (doing scenes and building a story).  But this quickly turned into an exploration unit.
He has been asking a lot about the differences between amphibians, reptiles and fish, who can breathe where, why the various colors and so on because he didn't know where to fit them in his scenes of what they could do in his stories..  We have gotten a few books out the library on the topic.
It also raised questions about the species that are endangered (there is a beluga in there, and belugas lives here, and are endangered).

But, he is also using the mat (well, the figures really) to practice writing while learning the exact name of the species.  This started by a simple"Mom, what is the real name of that?" and he felt like writing it down, and we ended up by writing the names of all of them, and he started to categorizing them many ways (he decided to cut the paper on which he wrote them and started to move them around).

These are the books we read on the topic:

A great story that basically shows which animals are oviparous.  M loved it.

And may I present you the individuals that fed a lot of our discussions?  I have to admit that having my kiddos meet these friends of mine kinda help to make the topic more lively and interesting ;)

burmese python, yes, she is gigantic

inside of the mouth of the said burmese python.

beautiful water dragon

All I can say at this point (and remind myself of)  is: follow the child.  You have no idea when this can lead you, and I am starting to feel that this is the best part of it!

on strike.

The frequency of my posting lately is directly proportional the the amount of Montessori we have been doing recently, which is, as you can guess, close to none.

We have been rather busy...adjusting.  I never thought there was a length of time associated with that, I always saw adjusting as a process you go through while you go on with your life.  But I guess, this time around the many changes that we are facing are important enough that adjusting has taken up a lot of our time.

And one of the biggest adjustment came from a situation I never saw coming. M has been refusing to do anything that remotely looks like a Montessori activity. I spend quite a lot of time during the week with her.  We are apart on the sole 2 days that I work.  But for the rest of the week, we are together along with E of course.  We started the year not doing many structured activities together, as I had so many things to go through in the 3 days I had home, that we just lack time. But at some point, when all the hype about X starting school became apparent, I saw her having a hard time.  She needed something special to go on for her too, and she needed some special attention that was scarce.  So I decided to put her together a couple of mini units, and got out  some Montessori material that was put away to try to have her going at something.  And it worked for a while...until it stopped for some unexpected (and not understood either) reasons.

Maybe it has something to do with that big brother of her?  THe one that officially declared one night at our family table that he didn't want to do any Montessori activities at home?  Last year, while he was in kindergarten, he was attending his school part time.  He begged me for more activities on the days he was home, I guess his Montessori cup was not entirely filled after his week was over.  But this year, being a first grader, and being in school from 8:30-16:00, I think he finds that he now has plenty, and needs to see something else when he gets home.  I don't blame him!

And so, since then, we have been adjusting.  Adjusting to our free time that is definitely different then what is used to be. At first, I gave them time.  Time to be free, and do whatever they pleased. Time to cure that soul fever I guess.  And it worked, for some time.  Until I saw how that free time of theirs was starting to be a waist of time.  As much as they seemed happy and relieved at first, at some point, they seemed to loose themselves in that time, and wander aimlessly around the house.  I felt like this was a signal for me to help them engage in something but what?  I had tons of ideas to engage them in so man things, but being Montessorian type of activities, they just didn't pick up on it.  And so I had to find something else.  Not just another idea, but another way of doing altogether.

I spend many days trying to find ideas, trying new things, opening up doors to see if at some point they would take one and enter a new world. It was hard to deal with that amongst all other things, and really, I also felt scared that they were missing out on something during that time.  Scared that we were moving away from what characterize us in our educational philosophy.  No, maybe not a rational thought, but in the midst of all this change we have been going through, this is the only thing that felt stable.

And just like I needed it, my son, atop of his 6 years old told me the words of wisdom I needed to hear:  "Mom, do you know what I love about the way we live?  Is that you let us decide for ourselves what we need and want to do."

Oh gosh! there, he said it in his own way.  Freedom.  (How do they know what to say at the right time to make us feel better?) He is so right.  Being Montessori is how we behave, the choices we make, the decisions we take, the way we see our children, and we act with them, and most of all, the freedom that we allow them to live in in order to let them become who they are meant to be, NOT in the activities we set up for them.  Montessori is deeper then that.
(And BTW, when he said that I was letting him decide for himself what he needed, he was referring to something that happened in the morning while dressing up to go (in the very cold) outside.)

And so I decided to let go, and do the one thing that I have learned to do: to observe my children.

It is crazy the amount of change we are inclined to make for our children.  And most of all, it is crazy how they manage to find a way to make us change towards something that, overall, was a good move, even if we never thought of it that way before.

Yes, it has caught me off guard, but we might just have turned a corner that will lead us to a new crazy fun and unexpected road.