Blue, blue, blue ... !!!

Ian likes to explore painting with a variety of objects, everything except brushes. He enjoys seeing the design that objects print on the paper and especially the sound effects of printing :-)

This week we used two kitchen utensils: a potato masher and an ice-cube tray. He enjoyed both activities and, even though he does not care too much about the finished work, I love them!

Using a potato masher: He liked the design the potato masher produced, especially when the colors started to blend. He was curious about the design of the masher and not only made prints on the paper, but on his face (and mine); he liked the cold feel of the metal in his face.

Don't they look gorgeous?

He also likes to pour the paints. Now he knows how to screw lids, there’s always a danger that he’ll waste the paint :-) . The only color he can pronounce by name is “blue”, so he refers to any color as "blue" ... every so often he asked for more "blue, blue, blue..."

By the way, I did use styrofoam plates which I stuck to the table with adhesive tape, but the potato masher kept adhering to the plate and when Ian pulled it, he lifted the plate as well. I should have used some flat heavy dishes.

Using an ice-cube tray. I thought Ian would like painting the ice-cube tray with a paint roller and, I was not wrong (actually he spent most of his time doing so); however, it complicated the printing process as Ian had to learn how to turn over the tray, before pressing it onto the paper. Again, pouring paint is a bonus! "blue, blue, blue..." :-)

And here is the bright masterpiece:

Diversifying activities

Ian is growing every day and his interests have been diversifying. We still spend the major amount of time doing practical life and visual discrimination activities, but I've been looking for other activities in areas like: science, sensorial, language and math that could capture Ian's interest. Last week we did a "float and sink" science activity and this week we explored smells, stressed in language while working in matching activities and introduced patterns.

Here is the review of the activities:

Practical Life:

Arranging Eggs. Ian is always ready to help with eggs. He usually helps me peeling and cracking them and  this week he enjoyed transferring the eggs from the cardboard tray to refrigerator trays. He has learned to take the eggs carefully without breaking a single one. This activity has reinforced the concept of one-to-one correspondence.

Preparing mashed potato. Every time I cook I try to involve Ian as much as possible according to his skill level and this week I thought that he was ready to prepare mashed potato: he used the potato masher, pressed it down (he did not do a twist motion); shook salt and pepper shakers and said "too much!" :-) just as Daddy says to him every time Ian plays with the spice shakers; spooned the margarine and stirred it all up.

Sweeping into a dustpan. This is a house chore Ian wants to do by his own every time he sees me with the dustpan and brush. He has been sweeping rose petals and getting better at it.

Hair barrettes and headbands. I had seen this activity in My Montessori Journey. I am sure Daddy will say this is a girly activity :-), but I say it is a fun fine motor skills and sensorial activity ... and Ian likes it a lot!!!
I got two pairs of barrettes and two pair of headbands of the same color and Ian had to unsnap every barrette and then snap it onto a matching color headband. Unsnapping and specially putting the headband inside the barrette and snapping it, challenged Ian's concentration and fine motor skills.

Pre-Reading Skills

Matching picture to object. We've been working with matching pictures to silhouettes and I recently realized I should start with matching objects and gradually move to more abstract matching activities such as the silhouette ones. Well, while I was looking for pairs of objects to match, I set up two picture-to-object matching activities. The first set contained objects we found around the house (actually it was aimed at attracting Ian's interest) and the second one contained vegetables and fruits. I know for this activity I should use picture cards and teach Ian how to order the cards one by one from left to right, horizontally, before doing the matching, but for now the less formal the "lesson" the most likely that Ian will be engaged with it. Well, Ian enjoyed both activities and did them pretty well.

Sensorial (and more fine motor skills)

Color matching with dot stickers.  I was using color dots stickers to prepare material to introduce patterns, when Ian started sticking the stickers everywhere. So, I improvised a simple worksheet with color dots to give him something more interesting to do.

Pipe cleaner and beads.  The original version of this activity come from Itty Bitty Love. I changed it a bit and got Ian busy pushing pipe cleaners (of primary colors) into the holes of a shaker and then stringing same-color beads onto the pipe cleaners.

Art

Spice Collage. As I told you in previous posts, Ian likes to mix chopped vegetables before I put the saucepan on the stove. Lately, I also let him spice the mix and I've noticed that Ian likes to smell the spice bottles and somethimes he ventures to taste the spices. Since then, I have been thinking of Montessori smelling bottles, but I think that Ian is not ready yet to pair or classify the smells, so I preferred to set up an art activity where Ian can explore multiples smells. All we needed for this activity was paper, spice bottles and glue and maybe a paintbrush. Ian dribbled glue on the paper (he was not interested in using the paintbrush to spread the glue on the paper), then he took his time to open each spice bottle, smell it, shake it if it had a hole top or otherwise pincer grip the spices and sprinkle them over the paper.
What I loved about this activity was how it encouraged Ian to touch, smell, see, and even taste.
It also is a great opportunity to get further practice with lids. Fortunatelly, I have different spice bottles, some require to be screwed and others lifted. Ian almost forgot what he was doing when he discovered the paprika can, he spent a lot of time opening and closing the three different tops.
Another thing that I liked about it was that it is easy to clean up. This reminds me of the experience of Nicole at One Hook Wonder with glitter :-)

Finally, I love the exquisite aroma of the picture!!!

Pre-math skill

Introducing Pattern. In order to build math readiness skills, I've involved Ian in activities aimed at developing number recognition and one to one correspondence. Now, I want to introduce sequencing activities so that Ian begins to recognize, describe, reproduce, extend, create and compare repeating patterns. I am looking for fun activities to get Ian into it, but first I wanted to know what is our starting point using this homemade material.

I noticed that even when Ian put the ring on the correct pin (according to the color) he did not do it sequentially. And when I put the pattern card in the tray, he did not follow it at all, he put the rings on any pin.

So, I prepared a playful  activity to start talking about patterns. I printed two sets of this Hungry Caterpillar Cut and Paste worksheet, colored both, used one to build the pattern and give the pieces of the other to Ian and I was surprised that he could alternate the blue and green pieces mostly well.

I am sharing this post in One Hook Wonder where you can see other toddlers learning according the Montessori Method.

Paint roller, sidewalk paint and marbles mesh bags

Our sensorial play with goop was a hit. It was fun, messy and a great learning experience; just as art activities can be. With this in mind, I've been trying to get myself organised with at least one art/sensorial activity per week.

Here are three activities we've done recently:

Painting outside with a paint roller provided Ian an olfactory and tactile experience while he was preparing the paint with water, shampo and temperas (blue and yellow) and, all the movements to dip the sleeve into the paint and then, apply it, were a great large motor work. And do not forget the excitement of watching the wall getting color as it is painted.

Sidewalk paint made with cornstarch, water and coloring food was a fun way to spend an afternoon outdoors. Ian enjoyed swirling the drops of paint with the paintbrush and looking how colors blend to get a marbleized aspect.

Painting outside is our favorite choise at this moment, but it is raining a lot these days ... Never mind, a rainy day is an excellent excuse to get messy and noisy, painting with a marbles mesh bag.

Soda Bottle Flower Prints

As soon as I saw this idea in Teaching Tiny Tots I knew I had found something Ian will engaged with: making flower print with soda bottles.

In order to adapt the art activity and set up an simpler one, we used 500 ml soda bottles and Ian just had to press the bottom of soda bottle into paint and print; otherwise he would had to use the bottom and then the caps of the bottles to make the petals and the center of the flower.

See how bright and joyful look the flower prints. So much fun!

You can find out more about the original idea here.

Art projects / Proyectos Artisticos

Stamping Project. This is a project I’ve been rotating a lot lately. This week Ian was willing to attempt it. The materials I provided him were his art notebook, ink pad and a stamp. Once Ian learns how to stamp, I will put a different stamp out each week.
He learnt how to open the ink pad, take the stamp and place it on the ink pad then roll it with an up and down motion. But, as the stamp had the picture of the stamp on the other end, Ian was confused and turned the stamp upside down on the paper. And when he saw the ink on his fingers, he preferred to do fingerprints :-) Later, his Daddy showed him how to do footprints :-)

Sellos. Este es un proyecto que estado rotando bastante ultimamente. La semana pasada Ian estuvo dispuesto a intentarlo. Los materiales que le di son: su cuaderno de arte, una almohadilla para sellos y un sello. Una vez que Ian aprenda a usarlos, pienso cambiar lo sellos cada semana.
Ian aprendió a abrir la almohadilla de sellos, agarrar el sello, ponerlo en la almohadilla y presionarlo para impregnarlo con la tinta. Sin embargo, ya que el sello tiene una imagen de lo que se imprimira en el otro extremo, Ian se confundia y volteaba el sello y lo estampaba en el papel usando el lado incorrecto. Y cuando vió que tenía tinta en sus dedos, él prefirió imprimir sus huellas digitales en su cuaderno :-) Después, su Daddy le enseño a imprimir las huellas de sus piecitos :-)

Creating a landscape in contact paper. Ian has been cutting flowers with his hole-puncher every day and I wanted he to use them in an art project. As he is not able to paste yet, he used contact paper to create a landscape with the flower, grass, sticks from our pine tree and some animal pictures. When I thought he had been finished the project, I put the contact paper to his window, but he must really like creating landscaped because he has been changing it every day.

Creando paisajes sobre papel de contacto. Ian ha estado cortando florecitas de papel usando sus perforadora cada dia y quise que las usara en algún proyecto de arte. Ya que el no puede pegar con goma aún, uso papel de contacto para crear un paisaje con las flores, gras, palitos de nuestro pino y algunas figuritas de animales. Cuando crei que habia terminado su proyecto, pegué el papel de contacto en su ventana, pero a él debió gustarle mucho esta actividad porque siguió cambiando sus paisajes todos los días.

Painting a rock. Rock painting is a fun and easy art activity, ideal to do alfresco on a hot-summer day (we did it in the backyard). This was the first time Ian painted something of three dimensions and it captured his attention. First we washed the rock; Ian wanted to scrub it with a scrubbing brush, he tried for a while but it was not easy as it looked, so he asked me to help him. Once the rock was ready, he sat to paint. He chose the colors of the paints he wanted to use and I poured them for him on a tray (otherwise he drops too much paint). He used paintbrushes and sponges to paint. At the end he asked for the scrubbing brush to wash the rock.

Pintando una piedra. Esta es una actividad divertida y fácil de preparar, ideal para hacer al aire libre en un día de verano (nosotros lo hicimos en el patio). Esta fue la primera vez que Ian pintó un objeto de tres dimensiones. Primero, lavamos la piedra; Ian quiso escobillarla, trató por un rato pero resultó no ser tan fácil como parece así que me pidió ayuda. Una vez que la piedra estuvo limpia, él se sentó a pintar tranquilamente. Escogía los colores que quería usar y yo se los ponía en su bandeja (de otra manera el derrama demasiada pintura). Ian usó pinceles y esponjas para pintar. Al final me pidió la escobilla dar a su piedra un acabado final.

Getting ready for the Father’s Day / Preparandonos para el Dia del Padre

Mexico celebrates Father’s Day the third Sunday of June and we are getting ready to make Daddy feels how much we love him. For that, we will give him a special card, a special cake and a special meal.
Today we finished the card. This is what we did:

1. I used wood scraps and foam letters to make stamps with the words “Dad” and “Ian”.
2. For our heart stamp, I cut a heart shape from craft foam, glued it to a cardboard square and joint it to a round drawer pull using velcro dots.
3. I printed a cute photo where Ian is hugging Daddy
4. I wrote and printed a funny and lovely poem (I hope so). For obvious reasons Daddy cannot correct my writing, so probably the poem (as this post) will not be free of mistakes :-)
5. Ian mixed different colors of paint with glue, made the prints in a poster card and spread glitter.
6. I cut the best letters and hearts prints (because the printed words were not legible enough)
7. I glued the letters, hearts, poem and photo and Ian helped me to stuck them in a new poster board. This part was crazy, Ian got very excited when he saw the photo and he almost forgot what we were doing.

I am sure next year Ian will need just a bit of help to make a card for Daddy.

México celebra el Día del Padre el tercer domingo de Junio así que nos estamos preparando para asegurarnos de que Daddy sienta cuanto lo queremos. Para ellos vamos a darle una tarjeta especial, una torta especial y una cena especial.

Hoy día terminamos la tarjeta y esto es lo que hicimos:

1. Use pedazos de madera y letras de fomi para hacer sellos con las palabras “Dad” e “Ian”.
2. Para el sello del corazón, corte un corazón de fomi, lo pegué en un cuadradito de cartón y uní esto a un jalador de cajón usando velcro.
3. Imprimí una adorable foto de Ian abrazando a su Daddy.
4. Escribí un gracioso y amoroso poema (al menos eso espero) en inglés. Por razones obvias Daddy no podrá revisar mi escritura, así que probablemente el poema (así como este post) tendrá algunos errores :-)
5. an mezcló diferentes colores de tempera con goma, hizo los estampados en cartulina y les echó escarcha.
6. Recorté las mejores letras y corazones (porque las impresiones no quedaron muy claras)
7. Puse goma en las letras, corazones, foto y poema e Ian me ayudó a pegarlas en otra cartulina. Esta parte fue caótica, Ian se emocionó muchísimo cuando vió la foto y casi olvida lo que estábamos haciendo.

Estoy segura que el próximo año Ian sólo necesitará un poquitito de ayuda para hacerle una tarjeta a su Daddy.

Fewer expectations, less frustrations

Last week, instead of setting up the all activities together, I prepared them during the course of the week as they came to my mind. This way my expectation was minimal as well as my frustrations. I was more relaxed and it seems Ian sensed it and was more willing to do the activities. These are what we did:

La semana pasada, en vez de preparar todas las actividades juntas, las hice durante el curso de la semana a medida que se me ocurrian. De esta manera mis expectativas fueron mínimas así como mis frustraciones. Estuve más relajada y parece que Ian pudo percibirlo; él estuvo muchisimo más dispuesto a hacer las actividades:

Placing pegs in a counting apple tree. Ian is not using the board to count yet, but to practice pincer grasp and eye-hand coordination skills.

Colocando pijas en un árbol para contar manzanas. Ian aún no está usando este tablero para contar, pero si para mejorar su habilidad para agarrar cosas pequeñas con los dedos indice y pulgar, y su coordinación ojo-mano.

Pushing cloves into styrofoam. I marked 12 dots in the piece of styrofoam to show Ian where to put the cloves. He had trouble placing the tiny cloves into the dots and pushing in the styrofoam and, although he completed the activity by himself, he did not want to repeat it anymore.

Metiendo clavos de olor en tecnopor. Marqué doce puntos en un ppedazo de tecnopor para mostrar a Ian donde colocar los clavos de olor. El tuvo dificultades para poner clavos de olor (son tan pequeños) en los puntos y para meterlos y, aunque completó la actividad por si solo, no quiso repetirla más.

Placing beans into shapes. I carved three different shapes into styrofoam and gave Ian a bowl of beans to place along the grooves of the shapes. It was harder to take out the beans than to put them in. He enjoyed naming the shapes and tracing them.

Colocando frejoles en formas geométricas. Para esta actividad tallé tres formas geométricas en tecnopor y las pinte con los colores primarios. Luego le di a Ian un tazoncito con frejoles para colocarlas a lo largo de las formas. Fue más difícil sacar los frejoles que ponerlos. Ian disfrutó nombrando las formas y trazandolas.

Squeezing a bottle. I filled a ketchup squeeze bottle with water colored with red food coloring. Ian had to squeeze the bottle to fill the spaces of an ice-cube tray. He liked this activity and did it sseveral times over two days. He cannot do it neatly, he always has spills (and refuses to use the sponge to clean up), so I will rotate this activity in a few weeks.

Exprimiendo una botella. Llené una botellas de ketchup con agua pintada coloreada colorante de alimentos rojo. Ian tuvo que exprimir la botella para llenar cada espacio de la cubeta de hielo. A él le encantó esta actividad y la hizo varias veces durante dos días. Sin embargo, no lo pudo hacer de manera limpia, siempre hizo derrames y se negó a usar la esponja para limpiar, así que repetiremos esta actividad en algunas semanas más.

Hanging clothes on a clothesline. I set up a clothesline knotting a piece of plastic wire between two chairs and a tray with folded handkerchiefs and a bowl of clothes pegs. Ian was more focused in unfolding and hanging the handkerchiefs than placing the clothes pegs. He did this activity over three days and the last day I replaced the handkerchiefs with Ian’s socks. I want to teach Ian to fold clothes before trying this activity with the handkerchiefs again.

Colgando ropa en un tendedero. Armé un tendedero atando un pedazo de alambre plastificado entre dos sillas y preparé una bandeja con pañuelos doblados y una canastita con pinzas de ropa. Ian estuvo más entusiasmado desdoblar y colgar los pañuelos que en poner las pinzas de ropa. El repitió esta actividad por tres días. El último día remplacé los pañuelos por medias de Ian. Quiero enseñarle a doblar ropa antes de repetir esta actividad con los pañuelos.

Mortar and pestle. Ian wanted to help me to grind crackers using the mortar and pestle. Even though the mortar and pestle we have are too big for his little hands, he can grind the crackers. Then he tried to pour the ground crackers into a bowl and I had to stop the activity as the mortar (and the pestle) are made of stone and are too heavy.

Usando un mortero. Ian quiso ayudarme a moler galletas usando el mortero. Aunque el mortero es muy grande para su pequeñas manitos, él pudo moler las galletas. Luego trató de vacear las galletas molidas en un tazón y tuvo que detener la actividad ya que el mortero está hecho de piedra y es muy pesado.

Buttoning. I made a felt mat with buttons of different colors and cut felt squares of the same color as the buttons and snipped a slit in each little felt square. I thought that once Ian learns how to button he will use this mat for color matching, but he could neither button nor unbutton; he was very impatient to begin so he did not pay attention to my presentation. I have taken off this activity for a while. I will try with a button snake; it looks easier for Ian.

Abotonando. Para esta actividad cosí botones de diferentes colores en una pedazo de fieltro y corte cuadraditos de fieltro del mismo color de los botones y les hice una abertura. Pensé que un vez que Ian aprenda a abotonar pueda usar este material para correspondencia de colores. Ian no pudo abotonar ni desabotonar los cuadraditos. El estuvo muy impaciente por empezar la actividad que no prestó atención a mi demostración. He reservado esta actividad para más adelante.

Table mat and napking ring. Ian was not very interested in this activity when I introduced it two weeks ago. As he is getting used to using the table mat to do some activities, I left the mat with the ring, in this way Ian can learn how to roll (and unroll) the mat as well as place the ring in a more natural way, I mean as part of a routine activity. He needs help when he just starts rolling the mat and he is placing the ring ably.

Individual y anillo de servilleta. Ian no estuvo muy interesado en esta actividad cuando se la presenté hace dos semanas. Ya que el se está acostumbrando a usar el individual para realizar algunas actividades, dejé el individual con el anillo a su alcance, de tal manera que el pueda aprender a enrollar (y desenrollar) el individual y coloarle el anillo de una manera más natural, es decir como parte de una actividad rrutinaria. Ahora él sólo necesita ayuda cuando el empieza a enrollar el individual y está colocando el anillo habilmente.

Cleaning window. I wanted to teach Ian to clean his bedroom window. I provided him with a sponge, hand soap, a spray bottle and a squeegee. He was doing pretty well until he discovered how much fun it was to use his hands; so, I changed the activity into an sensorial one, giving him fingerpaint. He expended a lot time playing with the soap and the paint on his window.

Limpiando la ventana. Quise enseñarle a Ian a limpiar la ventana de su cuarto. Le dí una esponja, jabon liquido de manos, una botella con spray para rosear agua y un rodillo de goma. El estuvo haciendolo muy bien hasta que descubrió cuan divertido era usar sus manos; así que cambié la actividad a una sensorial: le dí pintura de dedos. El pasó bastante tiempo jugando con el jabon y la pintura en su ventana.

Number recognition. I put out a Number puzzle and a Shape Sorting Clock. Ian is recognizing the numbers pretty well.

Reconocimiento de números. Ian está reconociendo los número muy bien. La semana pasada disfrutó jugando con un rompecabezas de números y un reloj para clasificar formas.

Eraser dot painting. When I saw this rainbow painting activity I thought that Ian might not be able yet to do it, so I looked for a clip art of a tree and added some blank dots. Ian dipped the eraser in the red paint and dotted the paint along the white dots.

Pintando puntos con un borrador. Cuando vi esta actividad para pintar un arco iris con puntos hechos con borrador de lapiz, pensé que Ian no podría hacerla así que busqué un figura de un árbol y le agregué unos circulos blancos. Ian sumergió el borrador del lápiz en pintura roja e hizó puntos sobre las circulos blancos.

Hide and seek stones. Ian likes to insert little stones into play-dough and remove them later. The deeper the stones, the more difficult it was to extract them. That play-dough was not that soft, so this is a good activity to strengthen his fingers.

Encondiendo y buscando piedritas. A Ian le gusta insertar piedritas en plastilina y luego sacarlas. Mientras más profundas estén las piedrecitas más difícil es sacarlas. La plastilina que usó no estaba tan suave así que fue una buena actividad para fortalecer sus deditos.

To see what other toddlers have been doing using the Montessori Method visit One Hook Wonder.

Para ver que están haciendo otros niñitos usando el Método Montessori visité One Hook Wonder.