Learning Materials for Toddlers (21 Months)

As you may have noticed, I have no posts on Vito for a quite a while.  It's quite difficult to put up activities for him for the past weeks as all he ever wanted was to play with big brother Mavi.  The only thing that I'm consistent with him is the reading of books.
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There were occassions wherein I would introduce an activity or we would play together randomly, but that's just about it.  I find it refreshing though, of not thinking too much for the boys, of what they're going to do this summer. 

Anyway, it's been raining for the past few days and we're stuck at home.  Vito is turning 21 months in a few days and has entered the "sensitive years".  He has memorized Dr. Seuss ABC books, obsessed with identifying objects, learned a few dance moves through Horrible Histories and can't stop counting whenever he sees a number.  So I decided to organize a few materials for him to work on during the time big brother is in summer camp. 

TOP:  Farm animal basket, alphabet recognition and matching cards, bristle blocks

MIDDLE:  Melissa & Doug number puzzle, Montessori knobbless cylinders, soft blocks

BOTTOM:  Color matching, shape fitter, Melissa & Doug animal farm chunky puzzle

The knobbless cylinders is a current favourite, he loves stacking them every single day.  It’s the first material he would remove from the shelf to work on.

He loves using the bristle blocks as well!  This is a nice open ended toy, that also helps in the sensorial development of the child.

He enjoys touching the bristles!

Sorry about the letter B (Munchkin 36 Bath Letters and Numbers), Vito loves to bite it!  We used the foam letters in so many ways, just like when we read books, I would present it to him whenever we encounter a certain letter.

And he recently learned how to match the letters! I made these outline cards for matching activity and I was surprised that he can actually match them!

These soft blocks are totally awesome! We’ve been using it since he was a baby, and right now it is being used for stacking activities, counting and for sensorial, as there are impressions on the sides that Vito loves to touch.

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Welcome to the Learn & Play Link Party!

Here are the featured activities for this week!

Sound Sensory Jars to Make Play by Hands On As We Grow
Double Sided Tape Glitter Art Activities by Mini Monets and Mommies
Summer Side Walk Chalk Kids by Child Led Life
Felt Map by In Our Pond

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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An InLinkz Link-up

Dental Unit for Kids

Baby and Adult Teeth

We started this unit with the presentation of the baby and adult teeth.  We differentiated the two set of teeth, from the sizes and the teeth count.  Mavi asked the following questions during this activity:

Why are there more teeth in the adult set?

Why are the adult teeth much bigger?

Why is there a change?

     

I answered his questions through scenarios, like, as we get bigger we eat solid foods.  Most of these are hard to break down and needs a solid set of teeth for it to be digested.  So our body provided us with a much stronger set of teeth to be able to chew, chop and grind the foods properly.
 

And as we go deeper into the knowledge of teeth sizes and shapes, we also examined the different kinds of teeth that adults have.  We have this lovely dental model (Science Time Dentistry Deluxe) of the adult teeth.  I got this from our local shop and it was perfect for our study.  What I love about it is that we can remove some of the teeth, specially the four major types, thus we’re able to take a closer look into it.  I swear, the teeth looks and feels real!

Different Kinds of Teeth

Now this is how our adult dental model looks like.  As I mentioned earlier, we can remove the four major types of teeth for examination.  I created the definition cards for Mavi to use, so he can learn more about each type and their functions. 

With the materials I provided, Mavi is now able to tell which tooth is for chopping, which tooth helps in swallowing, and which one is an expert in grinding!  He’s like “I didn’t know that!”.  Download a copy of the definition cards from here or click the image.

And here’s a closer look at the teeth, sorry, I just love looking at them!

Tooth Cross Section

After which, we also looked into the cross section of a tooth.  To read more about this, click the image below or the link here.

The nomenclature cards that we used are from here.

How Cavity Develops

Moving on, another activity I decided to add in our unit is the presentation of cavity development.  This explains the effects of acid and sugar in our teeth.  The aim of this activity is for Mavi to understand the importance of brushing our teeth, to avoid tooth decay.  The image below is a snapshot of the manual included in the dental set (Science Time Dentistry Deluxe).

The cards below are homemade.  It’s the development of cavity in a tooth, which I had Mavi arranged in order.  You can get the printable file from here or click the image for the link.

Care for the Teeth and Dental Hygiene

So now, the biggest question would be, how can we take good care of our teeth to avoid premature extraction.  These food cards are included in our dental set (Science Time Dentistry Deluxe) and provided us information of the foods that are essential in dental health.  He’s happy to see carrots and apples, eggs, milk and cheese, these are his favorites!  And I didn’t know that green tea is good for the teeth, how enlightening!

We also identified how to maintain a clean and cavity free teeth.

1. Brushing.  The most effective way of removing plaque from the exposed surface of your teeth is by brushing it using a flouride toothpaste.  It is essential to brush every after eating especially before bedtime. 
2. Flossing.  To clean in between your teeth, a dental floss is needed.  It is a piece of waxy string that is inserted in between your teeth to remove food particles that brushing cannot reach. Basically, it removes plaque that get stuck in between your teeth.
3. Dental Visit.  The dentist and hygienist helps check whether your teeth are developing properly, and see if the gums have any problems.  It is important to see the dentist every 6 months to make sure that your teeth are taken good care of.

And this concludes are dental unit study.  It was an amazing week of learning about our teeth!  Hope you find this post helpful, informative and inspirational. Till next time!

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Ultimate Collection of Practical Life Activities (Part Two)

I’m sharing another set of practical life activities that we do at home! If you enjoyed the first part of my post, well, here are more exciting stuff to do with your kids.

FREE Baby and Child First Aid App from British Red Cross

Dear parents, I have good news for you! Our friends from the British Red Cross (BRC) have a handy and must have emergency go to app for parents! It’s the British Red Cross (BRC) Baby and Child First Aid App, and you can download this mobile app for FREE. Yes, you heard it right, it’s for FREE, and it perfectly runs in Android or Apple mobiles. Now why am I sharing this? It’s important that we educate ourselves with first aid skills, especially with the knowledge on how to administer it to our children. As a mom, I consider the knowledge of “what to do in an emergency” as a very important life skill that could save my children’s life and that of others. And if you are someone who likes to be prepared and armed with this vital ability, there is no better way to learn this than through the BRC Baby and Child App.

What is the BRC First Baby and Child First Aid App?

This app is packed with useful and reliable information on how to properly and correctly administer first aid to children. Any parent can easily learn and acquire skills from this app as it has been meticulously designed and crafted to help parents learn how to take proper action when an emergency at home arises. In short, they were thinking about us parents when they made this!

Why I consider the Baby and Child First Aid App important

I have two hyperactive boys in the house and we never ran out of injuries due to minor accidents. Not to mention there are occasional attacks of asthma, high fever, allergies, cuts, bumps… you name it! I spend a great deal of time searching all over the web for immediate remedies whenever I have problems with my kids’ health. But with the BRC Baby and Child App, I don’t have to do that! I can educate myself ahead of time and be ready in case of emergency. With the knowledge, I can minimise the consequences of my child’s injury, reduce the pain until professional help arrives. And I feel confident and secured because the ones who provided the solutions are highly trained medical professionals with expertise on children.

A walkthrough of the features

Here are the three most important features of the app:

Learn – select this tab if you want to learn how to administer first aid to children. There are lots of options to choose from and each lesson is accompanied by a video, animation and tips.   Pictures below show how the app looks like in a smartphone and a tablet.

This is how it looks like when you press any of the tabbed selections. The picture below falls under “Bleeding heavily”. As you can see, there’s a procedural instruction on how to respond when your child is bleeding profusely and it is coupled with an animation to demonstrate the first aid further.  For your convenience, I provided screenshots taken in an iPad and tablet.

 

Prepare – this section contains prevention tips and how to prepare in case of accidents

Emergency – this section provides parents of the basic first aid that should be administered in case of an emergency situation. Buttons for emergency numbers are also provided whenever you need a professional help.

The picture below shows what to do in case your child is suffering from burns. I am so impressed of the step by step process they provided (even included a timer!) and how amazing that they included a speed dial for professional help.

 

I want to learn more, what will I do?

It is a good idea to take a proper First Aid training to cope up with an emergency. British Red Cross is offering a baby and child first aid course to parents, especially those with children from 0 to 12 years old. Your entire family will benefit on this very important life skills!

And to add more colour to BRC’s campaign on First Aid education, they have created this super cool video on simple first aid  techniques for parents about child poisoning. Come take a look! 

It is time that we should invest on preventive and primary healthcare. Knowing that we have British Red Cross, you know where to go when you need help. So don’t forget to download your free baby and child first aid app now.

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by the British Red Cross

The Tooth Cross Section

Mavi just had his first visit to the dentist (he is cavity free!) and I’m going to have one of my molar tooth extracted.  So there’s been some talks about teeth in the house and how to avoid tooth extraction like mine. 

Fortunately, we have this dental learning set at home which I got from the local store, and we used this to learn more about the tooth anatomy.  This is a closer look of the tooth model and its internal parts.

We used our Tooth Cross Section nomenclature cards to learn about the essential parts of the tooth.

The description cards that you see below is actually part of a booklet which I created. 

The sole purpose of the definition cards for reading practise and vocabulary, the reason why I always integrate it in our activities.

Mavi is actually exploring this on his own.  What I do is set up the learning table and have him work on the materials.  He examines, compare, read and ask questions.  For the presentation, I would place the nomenclature cards in this wooden box I purchased years ago in the Absorbent Minds UK. 

Tooth cross section is part of our dental unit, which I will post later on.  I hope this will inspire you for further exploration of dental study.

By the way, I have a free Teeth Developmental Cards which you can download from here.

If you like this post and wanted to make it as your reference, then  pin it for later!

Thank you!

The Annelids: Earthworms and {Learn & Play Link Up}

Lately, we've been noticing a lot of worms in the yard. I have to admit, I've never been a fan of them! In fact, I'm terrified of worms. However, the boys seem to find these creatures quite amusing. While we were observing them in the garden, I decided to bring out the earthworm life cycle figures that my Aunt had brought when she visited.

Before learning about the life cycle of worms, Mavi and I researched earthworms on the internet. Here are some fascinating facts we found about worms!

1. There are 6,000 species of worms worldwide.

2. Worms breathe through their skin as they have no lungs.

3. They are hermaphrodites, meaning they are both male and female and can produce sperm and eggs.

4. Worms need water to survive. If their skin dries out, they will die.

5. Earthworms are made up of mostly water, about 90%.

I also created similar learning materials for my Animal Life Cycle resources. I find this approach helpful as Mavi can retain a lot of information by presenting the life cycle this way.

You can download a copy of the Worm Life Cycle here.

Because I can’t take earthworms indoors or conduct hands-on learning on earthworm anatomy, we used our worm figure instead to examine the parts of an earthworm. Click here for a copy of the Worm Nomenclature Cards.

Because I wanted to integrate Vito into our activities, we made some wormy meal (unhealthy!). I made Vito hammer a few Oreo cookies… and use them as soil.

Then we added some wormy jellies for everyone to feast on!

Welcome to the Learn & Play Link Party!

For this week, I’d like to feature amazing printables that I’d like to try for my kids!  These are created by generous mothers who wanted to share with us what they are currently using in their own home school.  Thank you so much for these Moms!

Galapagos Animals 3 Part Cards  by In Our Pond
France 3 Part Cards by Welcome to Mommyhood
Ocean Animals Clip Card by A Little Pinch of Perfect
Planets Learning Pack by 3 Dinosaurs

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

Grab This Button:

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An InLinkz Link-up

South America in a Nutshell

If you have been following my blog, you know that we love studying geography!  This month, I am happy to share my South America in a Nutshell learning material.  And just like its predecessors (Asia in a Nutshell and Africa in a Nutshell), this is packed with lots of information about South America, its flora and fauna, culture and people.  Here’s a walkthrough of the learning material.

Montessori Multiplication Bead Board and Bars

To those who are interested, I recorded Mavi’s work a few weeks ago on Montessori multiplication using the bead board.  We do it occasionally for practice. Whenever he does the bead board, he followed this work with multiplication using the bead bars.  Please use the video below as your reference in case you wanted to try this at home.

Learning Music for Kids (with FREE Printable)

Welcome to another series of 12 Months of Montessori.  For this month, I am going to feature our Montessori-inspired activities in learning music.


Different Types of Music

Mavi loves learning about music. We often hear different genre in stores like classical, rap, hip hop and ballads. He would often ask me “why are some people making sad music Mom?”.  Therefore, I decided to introduce Mavi to the different types of music.  How music is used to express one’s feelings, how it is used to pray, to entertain and how it symbolizes one’s origins.

Sorting Musical Instruments

Yesterday, we started our Montessori-inspired activities for Music.  This is in preparation for our Montessori Music post this coming Friday, the 17th of July for 12 Months of Montessori Series.

Now, I just wanted to highlight this activity, of sorting musical instruments.  There are lots of instruments out there, but I think it is important for the child to identify the groups or families of these instruments to understand how they work.


The Helpful Garden has this amazing file of musical instruments!  It was created as a Montessori 3-part cards, but in our activity, we sorted them out according to their categories.  So I started off by presenting the instruments to Mavi and how these instruments make sounds.  (We also watched videos on how these instruments are being used)