Wordless Wednesday: Work it!

 

Have a Wonderful Wednesday y'all!

 

Linking up:

 

 

Counting & numbers

 

Learning number sequence is different from counting. But to be able to count, the child needs to learn the former first. Once she learns number sequence, it is time to teach her the true meanings of numbers- learning how to count!

 

I prepared a few boxes, in each of them are some items. Each box has different number of items in it.

 

 

Doll takes one box and throws the item one by one into this wooden bowl. As she throws them, she counts. Once she determines how many items there are in the box, she selects the number tablet & return all the items back to the box.

 

Here were some of the other stuff she counted. Yay, now at least I know she can count!

 

I am stuck at teaching her numbers from 11-20. She can number them but stumbles at 13 and 15...arrrrrGgGGGh! All because she pronounces them wrongly. Her 15 sounds like 16 and that makes her think she is at 16 and would go on to 17. Got to admit, I am over-driving this and it is killing her interest. Oops.

 

Anyway, I made the above activity to help her recognise the numbers. She simply matches the numbered block to the place mat.

 

I found this idea from this blogger (sorry, I am too lazy to find her direct site- I saved the link on me iphone) and thought this idea is WAY cool! I had to do it! Doll was interested at first until she found out it was numbers from 11-20 AGAIN. :I Yikes. I had to gently ask her to try. Teaching her numbers is such a long drawn affair. I remember Sonshine learnt his numbers in a flash and could count to 50 by 2.5 years old.

 

Oh doll, can we move on please? *yawn*

Montessori (Sensorial): Brown Stairs & extension

"Aim: To help develop the child's

1) visual discrimination of differences in 2 dimensions.

2) muscular cordination.

 

Indirectly preparing the child for later work in geometry through observation of geometrically differences in size & volumes. Indirectly prearing the child for the concept of numbers, unit differences in height and width."

 

{Above extracted from " Basic Montessori learning activities for under-fives" by David Gettman}

 

Material needed: 10 brown wooden, rectangular blocks. E

 

In this activity, the child arranges the blocks from the thickest to the thinnest. All are of the same length but increasing in thickness (differing by 1 cm from the next). As the  child works on this, she is able to instantly see the differing thickness of each block.

 

 

Not coincidentally, the Pink tower blocks are of the same measurement as the square end of the brown stair blocks. As an extension to these 2 activities, you can have the child match the Pink tower to the brown stairs to their corresponding sizes.

There are 10 blocks in both the Pink tower and Brown stair set. So as the child arranges them in order, you can also count along!

I never knew of this until I surf around other Montessori blogs! That's the beauty of Montessori- so clever! Each activity is build on the one before it. One activity subtlety helps to the child to acquire a skill that is needed for the next activity. That's how each Montessori activity is linked! WOW! Genius!

DIY numbering Elmo puzzle

 

This idea is not uniquely mine. In fact I've seen it for years- since Sonshine was a toddler. But it was too late to make for him by the time I discovered it so I made sure Doll has a go at it.

 

 

Simply take your child's favourite picture, divide the picture into 10 columns and number them from 1-10. Laminate and cut the strips out. Mix the strips and have the child arrange them in sequence. Ta-da! A complete picture!

 

Angry Birds are another recognisable characters! This set starts from 11-20.

 

Oh! Be sure to make the strips thicker for easy handling. I made them too thin. :(

All that matters.

 

 

Sonshine has been learning about the different types of matter and their properties.

But I thought the information were all over the place and wanted him to have a visual aid to compare the different properties.

 

Hence, I made this simple chart using post-it pad. Whoops- just realised some stickers fell off.

 

We also took the chance to experiment which of the properties float and which sink. With this chart, Sonshine can make a comparison and I made him tell me for instance 'Metal is heavy but plastic is light' etc.

Word Recognition Printables

Doll's been picking up more words.

 

As usual, I made some printables to reinforce what she learnt.

 

Matching animal pictures to the cards.

 

Fruit printables.

 

 

Sensory Play- Moon sand

 

Weather's too nasty to go outside and play? Or just too lazy to bring the kids out?

 

Then make Moon sand you must!

 

I saw this on Pinterest- my favourite online site and since I've the ingredients I decided to make some too!

 

All you need is flour and baby oil. I used A LOT of baby oil- like half a bottle. Good thing is, the baby oil is due for throwing else it does feel like wasting actually.

 

 

 

Took the tray out to our balcony and just PLAY away! I sprinkled some beads into the moon sand just to make it look prettier. You can add other stuff like animal toys for the kids to 'dig' out. But ah, I was too lazy.

Easy Peasy outdoor fun- indoors! Have fun!