A few more ideas to spice things up
I promised I’d post some more ideas today, so here are a few. I am running a little behind (we have been busy with all this fun stuff!!!) but I’ll have the rest up tomorrow, hopefully.
These are pretty simple today. Just a few ideas I gathered from things I’ve seen around the internets:
This is a very simple art center I set up with some watercolor pencils, paper, brushes and a few fine art cards. I put up three cards of very different styles so the kiddos can choose whatever suits their mood and try their hand at imitating it. I put out watercolor pencils because of their versatility, but the kids know that in the bright red cabinet beneath there is a wide assortment of other media they could use if they choose-paints, markers, colored pencils, pastels, etc. I think I originally saw this set-up by Lori over at Montessori for Everyone, or at least something similar.
This next one is not just one activity, but a small center for geometry. It’s an area I felt we were not addressing enough so I decided to highlight it a bit more. It will take several pictures to show it all:
There are tangrams, a geoboard and some colorful rubberbands, and a small shelf with the cards for the geometry cabinet. I pulled out one card so you could see what they look like if you are unfamiliar, and to show how easy it would be to make your own.
Now the fun part:
I got this idea from Angela over at Three Plus Two (plus one) –marshmallow geometry. It couldn’t be any simpler, really and is loads of fun. Right beside the geometry cards I set out some marshmallows, large and small, and some colored toothpicks. Here is the result:
She began by using the cards as guides, making simple 2-D shapes. Then, as I had anticipated, she gradually abandoned the cards and made more and more elaborate constructions. I did not get a shot of those, but if you visit Angela’s blog you’ll see similar constructions by her little boy.
I also added this to entice Superboy:
It is a diagram of crystal lattice forms he can use with the marshmallow and toothpick set, and some patterns printed on colorful cardstock for him to cut and fold the different crystal forms, and make a mobile.
This should segue well into the rock and mineral work I put out today, which I will post about tomorrow, along with the rest of the stuff I put out.
But for now I will leave you with some pics of creatures JBug made using the Dr Seuss creature tray I posted about yesterday:
See ya!
Filed under: Curriculum or Lack Thereof..., art, living math, montessori
I can’t thank you enough for posting these great ideas and photos. It has been such an answer to prayers in my household. I went out today and gathered everything to lay out trays for tomorrow and I’m so excited. I know it will feed my kids both creatively and intellectually. Please keep posting what you are doing because I’m following right behind until I have enough experience and creativity to not ‘copy’. Thank you again. By the way, where do you get all of your different cards?
You are very welcome, Chari!I am glad to hear you are finding them useful.
I get my cards from different places. The art cards are from the “Child Size Masterpieces” series which you can get from Amazon. The cloud cards I ordered from a science supplies catalog, but I am not especially happy with them. They could have been better and I’ve seen some nice ones available as free downloads in various places.The geometry cards came from Alisons Montessori, but they are also widely available online for free. The world landmark cards are from Rand McNally and I think I got them at a teacher supply store. Again, free downloads are out there, too.
Have fun!
Very neat. I love JBug’s creature creations.
I’m reading your blog with my 7 year old dd next to me. She says to tell you that using gum drops instead of marshmallows makes your shapes stronger! She speaks from experience!
Faith (and Becky!)
What great ideas! We are planning a unit study of Dr. Seus soon and those little creatures will be a great addition. Thank you so much.
BLessings,
Dawn
Glad to see J-bug liked the masrhmellows
. Are those cards you printed out for Superboy from Alison’s, too? (The 3-dimensional ones to cut?) I have been hoping to emphasize geometry a little more, too, but only Farmerboy seems to be interested in the marshmellows.
love it ! Theresa where do you find the crytsal form cards ?
I’ve a 12yo & 7yo ds who would both like these activities . Thanks so much because with such a big span in thier ages it is difficult at times to be creative .
Thanks for the great ideas!
Great ideas…very hands one. We are going to do some tile mosiacs today using little square paper bits….it is part of our study of Italy. We are also going to make a cabbage/rice dish for our Greek recipe. We’ll see how that turns out. I just love the hands on stuff!!
What great ideas. I love the idea of making a mobile from the crystal forms – mine would like that.
Thanks for the post – very interesting.
Angela and Roxie, I got the crystal lattice forms here:
http://www.geocities.com/kfuller2001/student_crystals.html
I love the art center! And now I am off to find the crystal lattice forms. Thanks for the link.
I’m sure you’ve already thought about this, but I got excited when I saw what you had set up for Superboy. I can’t find the exact templates I was thinking about, but I do something with my middle school students that they LOVE! We discuss tesselations (2-D) and then extend it to platonic and archimedian solids (3-D). Then I have a BUNCH of templates already cut out, but mine are single shapes- like a triangle with tabs, or a pentagon with tabs on all sides. Then the kids use rubberbands (or staples for something more permanent) to “find” the shapes. I let them investigate to find that the tesselation 360 degree rule still hold for the solid. Then I pull out the terms platonic and archimedian. A close website is this http://isotropic.org/polyhedra/ but they have the shapes already put together without a whole lot of discovery, but the pictures on their site really give an idea about where I end up. Looks like some great learning going on. Kelly
Great ideas, Kelly! I really like the idea of letting the kids find the shapes on their own. Thanks!
Thanks Theresa
I love JBug’s critters!
Hi,
I just found your blog and really love all your amazing ideas. You have probably noted this before, but where do you get your montessori supplies – eg the golden beads, maps, etc?
Thanks!
Hi Tracey and welcome!
I got most of my Montessori stuff from either Alison’s Montessori or Montessori Outlet. They are both good companies to work with.
I like to place learning centers around our house, too. I am LOVING your ideas and hope you will continue to share. You’ve inspired me to create some new centers for the winter days ahead when we can’t get outside much anymore.