Montessori yardsale finds

Ya know, I realize we can do all the practical life activities with our everyday dishes, but where is the fun in that? I wanted to have special things set aside for the sole purpose of JBug’s Montessori activities, but without paying outrageous catalog or department store prices. So I decided to go to a few yard sales and thrift shops saturday and see what I could find that might be useful. I am very, very pleased with the results, all for under 10 bucks total.

A lovely stainless steel tray, cups for pouring, 2 sets of (sherbet?…ice cream?) dishes for sorting, a juicer, a stainless creamer pitcher and cup set, tongs, 2 white stoneware bowls, a lovely walnut bowl, and a jar full of wooden beads (free!). Just think of the possibilities!

And you should have seen the look in JBugs eyes when I told her all of these things were for her “school work.” She couldn’t wait to try them all out!

After much begging I decided to go ahead and set up one activity for her (despite it being saturday and not officially a “school day” LOL!) while I cleaned up the rest and found storage places for them.

I kid you not, transferring the “potion” from bowl to bowl occupied her happily for a good half hour. Not bad for a bowl full of colored water!

Today’s work:

JBug had the best time trying to spoon the beads and sort them into the 4 dishes! She showed remarkable determination as some of the shapes (the long ones) were not easy to spoon! And then she spooned them all back again!
You just gotta love that Maria Montessori. She sure knew what she was talking about.

And, by the way, I have added a new page to my blog in which I attempt to gather up all my Montessori-related stuff onto a single page, for those interested. It is called Some Montessori Activities and the direct link to it can be found on the top tabs or the sidebar.