Teaching Colors With Cars

Making the most of Vito’s interest in cars, we played this colour matching game. This is an example of “follow the child”.  Observe your child’s interest and use that in you advantage lol. 

You see Vito knows his shapes and can identify objects, but I’m not really sure with his colours .  This is the reason why I do colour activities everyday.  And as much as I want to push him, colour activity is not really his type.  So I was wondering if we could do colour matching and play cards at the same time.

Oh boy it was a total hit!

Cars and Cards

Presentation:

I suggest start the presentation slowly. It’s like saying “Vito, this car is red.  This card is also red.  So I’m going to put them together here.” 

Observations:

I wanted to present three colours only (red, blue and yellow) but he took out the rest of the cards and gave it to me (a sign!).  So I proceeded with the other colours.  After the presentation he started playing with the cars, making sounds and gestures. While he is at it, I asked him to show me a car according to the colour I  will mention.  In the picture below I asked him for a blue car, and he pointed correctly on the car.  I asked him for a yellow car, but he ignored me and continue playing with the blue car.  If that’s the case, let him be.  No pressure. The point here is exposing the child to colours, not pushing them to know it instantly.

Cars and M&D Latches Board

Presentation:

He loves this toy, so I used it as a tool in teaching colour as well. Here I was telling him a story that the cars need to go home, and they have to go to the doors of which they matches their colours.

Observations:

He listened all throughout the presentation (I guess he loves the story), but ignored me whenever I ask him to give me a certain coloured car.  He was too busy playing opening and closing the doors, while moving the cars in any directions.

Well this was a nice attempt of teaching Vito colours.  We’ll be doing this frequently, as he loves playing with cars as of the moment

More activities in my Pinterest Toddler Activities

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Measuring Mass of an Object

Mavi and I started some activities for Applied Science. Here, math and science works together to solve problems. Applied Science enables the child to do critical thinking.

Experimenting and predicting Mass (Weight)

I chose this lesson because I’ve always wanted to use our bucket balance which I got from Learning Resources. I had this since last year but Mavi has been using it for play and have not used it as an educational toy yet.

Materials needed:

• Balance scale or bucket balance from Learning Resources
• Items to weigh ( we have rugby ball, a small book and box of Jenga toys)
• Items to serve as measuring unit. I used transportation and fruit counters from Learning Resources (make sure they’re all similar) and crystal pebbles.

Objective:

• To develop skills in predicting and estimating the mass of the an object.
• To use knowledge in science and math to come up with a mathematical conclusion based on the experiment.

Mavi will predict the weight of the materials without putting them in the scale. The prediction of how heavy an object is will be based on the unit material we are using. For example, how many unit trains does the rugby ball weigh? Then we will determine if his predictions are correct by testing it in the balance against the number of units he predicted.

As you can see we keep a notebook here to record his data. There should be three columns with labels: [object] [prediction] [actual]

Once he has tested all the materials, we will then come up with a conclusion if his predictions are correct or not. Then compare each object, from the lightest to heaviest using the number of units each has.

Results:

Objects	Prediction	Actual
Rugby ball	17 pebbles	35 pebbles
Book	20 pebbles	33 pebbles
Box	10 pebbles	11 pebbles

We concluded that the heaviest item was the rugby ball and the lightest was the Jenga box.

This was an exciting activity for Mavi.  After our lesson he continued playing with the balance in his room, with his brother.  He’s trying to test how will two different objects balance.  Of course, he has a little helper.

 

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Top 5 Favourite Books (May)

Welcome to another of the Top 5 Favourite Books! Today I’m going to share to you, Mavi’s picks for the month of May. 

1.  The King of Space

“Rex may look like an average six-year-old, living on his parents’ moog farm and going to mini intergalactic citizen school, but he knows he’s destined to become . . . the King of Space! With the help of his unsuspecting friends, Rex begins his conquest of the known worlds. And when he goes too far, only one person can save him from the wrath of the Galactic Alliance — Mom!”

It’s about a little boy who became the King of Space .  He lets his friend formed a team and make his own throne that is big - Mavi

2.  Little Nino’s Pizzeria

“Tony likes to help his father at their small family restaurant, but everything changes when Little Nino's Pizzeria becomes a fancier place.” - Amazon

It’s about a boy and his daddy helping together to make pizza.  - Mavi

3.  The Promise

"On a mean street in a mean, broken city, a young girl tries to snatch an old woman’s bag. But the frail old woman, holding on with the strength of heroes, says the thief can’t have it without giving something in return: the promise. It is the beginning of a journey that will change the thieving girl’s life — and a chance to change the world, for good. Here is the story of a magical discovery that will touch the heart and imagination of every reader, young and old. In an exciting collaboration, author Nicola Davies joins forces with illustrator Laura Carlin to create a contemporary tale inspired by Jean Giono’s 1953 story,"

Because the girl, she kept her promise and planted the stolen acorns which turned into trees which turned the people in the mean street good.

4.  Oh! If only…

“Sometimes big things have very small beginnings. "Oh! If only . . . I had stayed home that day . . . If only . . . I hadn't met that dog . . . If only . . . he didn't want to play . . . " And so begins a remarkably funny chain of events as one young boy and a dog unwittingly unleash the greatest havoc imaginable.” - Amazon

It’s a funny story.

5. I’m My Dog

“Many dogs have human owners. Not this dog. He fetches his own slippers, curls up at his own feet, and gives himself a good scratch. But there is one spot, in the middle of his back, that he just can’t reach. So one day, he lets a human scratch it. And the poor little fella follows him home. What can the dog do but get a leash to lead the guy around with? Dog lovers of all ages will revel in the humorous role-reversal as this dog teaches his human all the skills he needs to be a faithful companion.”

The dog is the master while the boy became the pet. But I like it because they love each other and they’re best of friends. - Mavi

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Animal Unit Studies and {Learn & Play Link Up # 5}

Another week of Learn & Play Link Up! I am so excited to feature 5 blog posts that has captured my attention.  As you all know, we love doing animal studies at home because Mavi looooovess learning about them!! And my little Vito is now obsessed with dogs and spiders! Yes! spiders! So I’m thinking of having an animal study soon, and I now know where to get inspiration!

So here are the posts that are featured for this week:

Life Cycle Art from Minnie Monets and Mommies

Alligator Printable Pack from Mommyhood in Holland

Montessori Inspired Butterfly – Caterpillar Unit from Living Montessori Now

Dinosaur Color Sorting Activity from Stir the Wonder

Insect Sensory Bin from Rubber Boots and Elf Shoes

This week on The Pinay Homeschooler, I am going to feature our insect studies for the past years. Mavi loves everything about insects.  it is also important that kids understand how to differentiate insects from other creepy crawlers.  Remember, not everything that crawls are insects!  Like spiders, worms and centipedes… they belong to  different groups!  

Welcome to the Learn & Play Link Party!

Now it’s time for this week’s link party! This is a BRAND new link up for all blog posts that include learn and play activities and hands-on education for kids. We are excited to read your blog posts and to see what you have to share! Please link up below and grab our button to display on your blog.

If you are a blogger, share your family friendly posts here. We are looking for things which include:

• Montessori Education
• Homeschool
• Sensory Play
• Tot and Preschool Trays
• Fine and Gross Motor Activities
• Kids in the Kitchen
• Healthy Recipes for Kids
• Arts and Crafts
• Natural Living
• Free Educational Printables
• Family-Oriented Activities
• Healthy Living

Your post will be featured on each of our blogs where we will pick our favourite posts every other week. That means there is more of a chance that you will be featured!

Everyone, please meet our link party hosts:

Christian Montessori Blog ~ Please visit our CMN FB group ~ Pinterest

Vanessa from Mama’s Happy Hive~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Jennifer from Study at Home Mama~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Marie from Child Led Life~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Jae from Pinay Homeschooler~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Heather from Golden Reflections Blog~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Renae from Every Star is Different~FB~Pinterest

GUIDELINES FOR LINKING
Please link up 1-3 posts
Follow each of the hosts on social media
When you link up, please add our button and place it at the bottom of your shared posts or link back with text link.
By entering a link, you’re giving us permission to feature an image on our blogs. Proper credit & links will ALWAYS be given.
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Remember that you must link back in order to be featured

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Tried and Tested: How Machines Work Book

I wanted to give this book a review and a little presentation as I really like its concept.  You know how much I love hands-on activities, and if you are learning about machines, nothing is best than having a real experience.  The problem with this is we don’t have the scientific tools and the space for this kind of experience.  So I was really really happy when I came across this book kit from Suzie’s Home Education Ideas last year.  I immediately placed an order as you seldom see stuff like this available in Amazon.

What is the book all about?

This is a book about simple machines.  The book has a colourful presentation of the history and usage of each type of the machine/invention.  The timeline of the invention is very helpful. Mavi loved reading it, and discovering how each machine evolved through time.

Now the book comes with cardboard kits, bolts, nuts and other kits.  The kit is combination of cardboard and plastic.  After each discussion of the machine, you are instructed to create the blach blatch.  To assemble the blah blach, you need the instruction sheet for that. Yes, it has a separate sheet for instruction, while the book will simply explain the theory behind the model.

So this is basically this is what it looks like.  The book is readable by younger kids who love machines.

 

This is the kit (made of cardboards) that is included in the book.  Some would say that this is the downside of the book.  The cardboard wouldn’t last long if you keep on using the kits.  As fro me, I’m fine with these cardboards.  The book is not that pricey, there I expected that it doesn’t come with fancy materials like those of KNex and LEGO.  So far, they served their purpose and was able to demonstrate the concepts behind the simple machines without breaking apart.

These are nuts and bolts with strings.  You can barely see them here. They’re all pretty easy to use and assemble.

 

And here’s the instruction sheets.  Again, so easy to follow.

Based on my experience and how Mavi dealt with it, I realized that this kit is appropriate for kids around 8years+.  For a 6years old, the materials can be too tedious to assemble.  The bolts and nuts are quite a challenge for Mavi and I, unless you are skilled in using these materials.  The cardboard stand is quite annoying, always detached from the board because it doesn’t fit perfectly.  They could have created a more sturdy material that fits on the board.  Other than that, I like the book and the kit that comes with it.  This book teaches the basic with hands-on materials that are handy and doesn’t take up space (like those educational toys that are made up of gazillion pieces).  And much more, affordable! You can get it from Amazon and Book Depository. 

I highly recommend Book Depository for readers from Asia and those who wants free shipping.

Those in Europe, you can get this from Amazon UK.  And in US, Amazon (as of now it is very pricey!), so you’re option is Book Depository.

If you have more questions, don’t hesitate to drop me a comment in this post.  I would love to answer your queries!  And watch out for the actual lesson, I will have a separate post for that.

FREE Animal Life Cycles Learning Material

At last! I was able to update my Animal Life Cycles file and I added life cycles of insects!  Yes, so many have emailed me asking about it. So sorry, I did not include it in the first edition because we were not studying it yet.

Sensory Play and Activities

Welcome to another post on 12 Months of Montessori Series!  For May, we’re exploring Montessori sensorial activities and I am sharing with you fun activities that led to discoveries using their senses.

My initial plan for this was for a nature exploration outdoors since we all know that nature provides the BEST sensory experience.  But because mother nature wasn’t in the mood (rained throughout the week!), I decided to do most of our sensory activities at the backyard and indoors.

Montessori emphasized that children learns with their senses.  It is important that they use their senses to explore the world they live in.  Stimulating these senses will send signals to the child’s brain that will help to strengthen the neural pathways which are important for all types of learning. 

In a Montessori classroom, there are a lot of sensorial materials that are used to help the child develop discrimination, order and broaden and refine their senses.  But just because we don’t own any of these materials, that doesn’t mean we can’t do sensorial at home. In fact, I prefer giving my kids the REAL experience when it comes to sensory.

Without much further ado, here are Mavi and Vito…

Sense of touch.  We started off with ice and water play. This was the time when we got Mr Sun.   I immediately took out the materials and let the boys play together.  This activity introduced the concept of warm and cold to Vito.

 

Sense of hearing.  We explored the rhythm bells I got earlier this year. Oh boy, it was really something new to him and he loves shaking it to produce sound.  Here, I introduced Vito the loudness and softness sound.

Sense of touch and smell.  We went crazy over Crazy Soap!! Thanks to Stimulating with Rachel who suggested this brand to us. I wanted to use kid-friendly soap as I used shaving cream before which gives a strong scent.  The Crazy Soap has gentle smell that the kids love, and the foam is just amazing! You can shape it and it bounces!  This activity introduces Vito to vocabularies like “good smell”, “soft”, “bouncy” and “squishy”.

 

Sense of sight.  Activity we did in the backyard where we enjoyed the abundance of dandelions and blowing the seeds!  We also planted garden pinwheels around the yard so Vito and Mavi can enjoy watching it turn (it can be relaxing!).  My Vito was so amazed by the wheels!

Sense of touch, smell and taste. Save the best for last. We made pizza !!!

 

This post is part of the 12 Months of Montessori Learning which is hosted by Natural Beach Living and The Natural Homeschool.

Amazing blogs involved in the 12 Months of Montessori Learning

Natural Beach Living ~ The Natural Homeschool ~ Living Montessori Now ~ Planting Peas

The Kavanaugh Report ~ Mama’s Happy Hive ~ Study at Home Mama ~ Child Led Life

Every Star Is Different ~ Grace and Green Pastures ~ The Pinay Homeschooler

Letter ‘b’ Sound Activities

Sorry, this has been a late post. I was busy for the past few days and could not find the time to share this. 

So this is a continuation of our Letter Sound of the Week activities.  Right after letter a, we moved on to letter b, just in time to feed Vito’s obsession of balls. It took us two weeks to finish this. And note that we don’t do this the whole day! It would only take about 10-15 minutes for each activity, excluding my preparation time of course.  Sometimes, preparation times takes like forever, while the actual activity would last only a minute. That is, if my Vito doesn’t feel like doing it at all. So what I do is put the tray back in the shelf and try again the next day, when he’s in the mood.

Letter ‘b’ basket sound.  Our basket contains a mini book of Dr. Seuss, given to us by Emirates, a block (soft block), and banana.  What we do with this basket is that everyday, I would present it to him and mention all the name of the objects.  We play it over and over so he will remember the words.

Note:  The basket is really really helpful.  I suggest that you should do this as well. Objects shouldn’t be fancy, just look around your house and see what you can find.

I later on added animal figures: bird and butterfly, our Playskool barrel , DIY sandpaper letter and Melissa and Doug Magnetic Letter.

       

Letter ‘b’ craft.  This was a collaborative work for both Vito and Mavi.  Xavi did all the scribbling in our letter, Mavi designed Vito’s hand prints for the butterfly’s wings.

Note:  Since Vito can’t participate in this one yet, I love asking Mavi to show his brother how to do this.  I think this is the best way of showing his little brother how to do things, like gluing and cutting.  This is also a great activity for both brothers to bond.

 

Balls! This was Vito’s favourite object as of the moment and we’ve been playing balls whenever we can (both indoor and outdoors).

Note:  Oh yeah, this has been a favourite toy and activity so far.

Eating and playing bananas. Again, I always use familiar objects for Vito whenever we do our letter sound of the week. Vito eats banana during breakfast so this wasn’t new to him. I let him eat on his own and give him fork so he can practise picking up the banana slices using a utensil. For the other tray, those are banana counters from Learning Resources.  The object of this activity is 1:1 correspondence, that is putting a piece of banana in each hole (this is an ordinary ice tray).  We count as we put the banana in place.

Note:  Vito loves eating, and it is best to incorporate letter sound activities with food as this will help them familiarize with the sounds more easily.

Soft blocks play.  We love these blocks!! These are soft blocks I got from Amazon last year.  Vito loves to stack and squeeze them.

Note:  I highly recommend these soft blocks.  The colours are vibrant and aside from the ones I mentioned, Vito loves touching and feeling all those moulds on the sides.

Bird crafts.  I realized that kids as young as 18 months, can now be exposed to crafts.  This was an assisted activity.  I placed glue on the bird’s wings and made Vito put the feathers on it.  He loves touching the glue more than feeling the feathers.

Creating sound with bells. We started using my Vilac Rhythm Bells.  At first he couldn’t make a sound, but finally created a soft tone when I showed him how to ring it.  I also used this activity to introduce loud and soft sounds.

Bear colour sorting.  Bear counters for colour sorting.  I continually give Vito this kind of sorting activities to expose him to colours. He can identify objects, but it is still a hit or miss with colours. 

 

The bear counters are from Learning Resources.  You can also use buttons.

Books for letter ‘b’.

• BigCat Phonics “Birds”
• Mr. Brown Can Moo.
• Brown Bear Brown Bear
• Baby’s First Animals.

You can all these books from Book Depository as well.  They ship for free anywhere!

We read the books every morning. Not all.  Mostly we can read as much as three books but mostly two books in the morning and two books in the afternoon.

See these in action!

And that’s about it! I hope you enjoy this post as I love sharing these.  Stay tuned for our letter ‘c’ in the next few weeks! Don’t forget to check our letter ‘a’ sound as well.

Oh and don’t forget to pin this activity, so you won’t forget it!

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Simple Crafts for Toddlers and {Learn & Play Link Up #4}

I’m starting to introduce Vito to art works by doing craft works once a week. Of course he cannot do complicated things yet. So at times, with the help of big brother, we’re able to accomplish beautiful things!

But that I’d like to feature a few wonderful post from our link up last week.  These are simple and easy to do activities (just like what we do) with little kids. I hope you check them out!

Felt Ladybug Craft and Counting Activity  and Flower Felt Craft from Living Life and Learning

Hands-on Learning:  Patterns with Candy Land! from 3 Dinosaurs

Thumbprint Keepsake Keychain from Living Montessori

Monoprinted Mother’s Day Card from Sparkling Buds

 

This week on The Pinay Homeschooler, Vito had a lot of fun doing crafts! Yes, even if he is only 18 months, I exposed him to glues, papers, pens, paints, crayons and more.  Here is Vito being artistic for letter b crafts

This is the letter b for butterfly. Even if we don’t see butterflies that much, Vito is fascinated with them.  The wings are made up of Vito’s hands by the way, the one who assisted in creating this is no other than the big brother.

Mavi cutting and decorating the wings while Vito watches.

Welcome to the Learn & Play Link Party!

Now it’s time for this week’s link party! This is a BRAND new link up for all blog posts that include learn and play activities and hands-on education for kids. We are excited to read your blog posts and to see what you have to share! Please link up below and grab our button to display on your blog.

If you are a blogger, share your family friendly posts here. We are looking for things which include:

• Montessori Education
• Homeschool
• Sensory Play
• Tot and Preschool Trays
• Fine and Gross Motor Activities
• Kids in the Kitchen
• Healthy Recipes for Kids
• Arts and Crafts
• Natural Living
• Free Educational Printables
• Family-Oriented Activities
• Healthy Living

Your post will be featured on each of our blogs where we will pick our favourite posts every other week. That means there is more of a chance that you will be featured!

Everyone, please meet our link party hosts:

Christian Montessori Blog ~ Please visit our CMN FB group ~ Pinterest

Vanessa from Mama’s Happy Hive~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Jennifer from Study at Home Mama~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Marie from Child Led Life~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Jae from Pinay Homeschooler~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Heather from Golden Reflections Blog~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Renae from Every Star is Different~FB~Pinterest

GUIDELINES FOR LINKING
Please link up 1-3 posts
Follow each of the hosts on social media
When you link up, please add our button and place it at the bottom of your shared posts or link back with text link.
By entering a link, you’re giving us permission to feature an image on our blogs. Proper credit & links will ALWAYS be given.
Please visit a couple of shared posts and leave a comment for them
Remember that you must link back in order to be featured

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