Back to Basics

This was a short week for homeschooling. Ian got sick with tonsillitis, had fever and received injections of antibiotics, too much stress for him. Fortunately, he recovered quickly, but shortly after, I got sick. The story of our lives, we always fall ill together.
Those facts, obliged me to take a rest from homeschooling. I added some activities during the week but kept the ones from the last week. This is the first time I did that. We do not have much space to have many activities put away, so I rotate activities every week. Another reason to do that is the short attention span of Ian with the activities.

On the other hand, after my camera broke, I had a "aha moment" and I saw myself treating Ian's homeschooling as a race. Naturally, this week, I reduced my anxiety to have Ian working everyday. Before that, although my level of frustration had decreased enormously, I had kept suggesting to Ian that he should do the activities. I've learned to respect him when he says "no" and, a great advance for me, do so without feeling upset. This week I went further and, after making a short demonstration of the new activities, I left him to choose whichever he liked. It was very rewarding when while I was busy around the house, I heard some sounds (like garbanzos falling into the pitchers) that announced that Ian was doing some of his activities. Another gratifying thing was that Ian not only picked new activities but some of the "old" ones too.

In the absence of my digital camera, I used Daddy's Blackberry and a disposable camera to take photos, just like when I started this blog. Back then I used to enjoy writing this journal as part of my personal learning process and to be a gift for me in the future. No matter how dreadful the quality of the photos, I felt that my reports were "impressive", and that is the way I feel again.

Another task I have now is to make a record of all the activities that my little super cute student has done so far. There are many activities Ian has not yet mastered and I want to put those ones out again.

Now, let's picture our week.

Practical Life

Dry Pouring Pitcher to Pitcher. This is the first Montessori exercise Ian did 6 months ago (this is a great memory for me). As part of my attempt to go back to the Montessori basic activities and reinforce them, I set it up again and observed that Ian still has the habit of not holding the spout correctly to prevent spilling. However, he is supporting the pitcher of beans with his non-dominant hand more often now, as well as paying more attention to these control errors: spillage of beans and remaining beans in pitcher.

Vaseando solidos (garbanzos esta vez) jarra a jarra

Tweezers. Ian still can't use tweezers properly. I could not find small beads and the pom-poms I was using for this activity seemed to be too big. This week I changed them for pom-poms made for me. Actually, my goal was to make black pom-poms for Ian to use when we read the counting book Ten Black Dots, but what a mistake I made! :-) .. no even close to the pom-poms Mary-Ann at Counting Coconuts  made (I follow her tutorial :-). I changed my mind and made more pom-poms for Ian to attempt to transfer with the tweezers. The colors of the yarn were the same as the lids of the empty tempera tray Ian likes to unscrew, so I used it to set up the new tweezer activity. It seems to be easier but not simple yet, he still needs several attempts until he gets all the pom-poms.

Usando una pinza para transferir pompones a una

bandeja de temperas. Ian desenrosca las tapas al empezar

y, una vez transferidos todos los pompones, enrosca

las tapas de acuerdo al color.

Sensorial

Sorting paper clips. Finally Ian is interested in sorting activities. I just need to find the objects that captures his attention and paper clips are just right. As with the activity above I am combining the activity I want to engage Ian, with another I know he likes. For this one, I used an old little box Ian used some time ago to match keys. I put the clips in a bowl, on the left side of the hook box, but Ian insisted on placing the clips inside the box, just like we did in the keys activity. Well, he follows the same order as always, first he gathers all the hand-shape clips, then the foot-shape clips and finally the star-shape clips. That's right, he is discriminating the shape of the objects but, I need to remember not to mix the clips on the hooks. Certainly, the hooks set up a requirement for extra concentration as the clips were a bit tricky to hang.

Clasificando clips por su forma y colgandolos en ganchitos.

Ejercitando sus sentidos y su motricidad fina.

Here you can see a bit of how the activities are set up around the dinning table.

Aqui se puede ver como estan dispuestas sus actividades
alrededor de la mesa del comedor

Language

Preparation for Reading and Writing

Figure Pattern Card. This activity reinforces the ability to follow a pattern from left to right. We have a figure control card and a basket with figure cards (which are duplicated on the control card). Ian had to follow the sequence of the control card, find the matching cards and place them on top of the control card. At the beginning he tended to take the pictures from the basket and looked for a match in the control card; so, we've been working together on it and he's been catching on to the idea. By the way, I used the cute figures of Sarah Kay, I love them ... Daddy asked me if this activity was for me (lol).

Emparejando las figuritas de la tarjeta de control (con fondo

verde aqui) con las de la canastita. Ejercitando la habilidad

para seguir un patron de izquiera a derecha y mejorar

coordinacion ojo-mano.

Pasting. Six months ago he disliked any activity that could dirty his hands. I've been setting up a pasting activity every so often, but he never got interested until this week. The tray I set up contains: a small bottle of white glue, a brush, a small bowl of collage scraps of paper and a sponge. This tray is placed on the table he has in his bedroom, along with paper. He learnt the steps quickly and enjoys all the process, but it is not yet an independent activity for him. I cut figures from gift wrappers for the collage pieces. When Ian is pasting he does not pay much attention to the figures, but he does when he has finished, he takes his time to admire his job (I love this part) and names the figures.

Pegando recortes de papel de regalo. Ian usa un pincel

para aplicar la goma en el recorte antes de pegarlo y

una esponjita para limpiar

Math

Sequence/Patterns Puzzles. When I saw this craft I thought It would be perfect for Ian to practice putting the numbers in order. I made two of them, one with a picture of two clownfish (his favorite fish) and another with a picture of us. I numbered each of the craft sticks and made a control frame with the outline of the sticks and its numbers. I thought it would be easier as Ian is able to recognize the numbers, but this activity requieres other abilities Ian has not mastered yet, like following a pattern from left to right. So, for now, I put the sticks in the tray always in order to let Ian just transfer them one by one in order to the frame. At first he needed a reminder to do it sequentially, but after a few practices he is doing it pretty well.

Armando rompecabezas hecho con palitos. Para facilitar la

tarea, hice un marco donde marque la silueta de los palitos.

Estos y los del rompecabezas estan numerados.

Hice dos versiones: una con una foto de un par de peces

payaso (favoritos de Ian) y una foto de ambos.

Ejercitando la habilidad para reconocer numeros, seguir un

patron de izquiera a derecha, mejorar coordinacion ojo-mano

Counting puzzles. Ian is not able to associate quatities of objects with numbers yet. He does it sometimes, but I guess it is by rote, as we count things aloud all the time. This week I put out a foam puzzle to associate quantities with numbers. I did not expect Ian to do it but instead practice number recognition and visualize how different quantities look. He loves to disassemble and assemble the puzzle while I count out each piece he takes out and puts in.

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

Making activities out of things from around the house

It seems this journey is boosting my capacity to observe our environment (as well as Ian's interests and skill levels) and quicker catch opportunities to create fun/learning materials for Ian. Of course, it has been possible because I ‘ve been taking my time to read as much as I can about the Montessori Method and, in general, about teaching a toddler at home. I can remember that when I started doing homeschooling, everything looked very overwhelming for me. Now, after four months, I feel more comfortable and I have started to enjoy this journey.

Next are the activities I set up for Ian last week following him and taking advantage of the stuff we have at hand.

Screwing/unscrewing color sorter

This was Ian’s favorite activity last week and was set up completely following him. As soon as he saw the empty tempera tray, he wanted to unscrew each lid and then put them back in the container. That gave me an idea for a screwing/unscrewing and matching color activity. I put an object of the same color of the lid inside each bottle and let Ian to follow his interests. He unscrewed the lids, took off the objects, turned the lids with the top-side up, placed the objects into them matching the colors, returned the objects to the container and put the lids with the color corresponding to the objects. He just pushed down the lids. Actually, he is able to screw the lids of bigger jars, but when come down to small bottlenecks he just push down the lids.

Replacing marker caps

Lately, my material storage has been very messy. Last week, I decided to order a little and one of the things I found was markers. When Ian was about 18 months he loved scribbling with them (and also with color pens and crayons) but, since I read that markers do not contribute to building up the muscles in children hand (like using a pencil), I put away the markers.

Ian is always attentive when I order his toys and materials, he seems to be looking for something interesting to do and, this time the markers captured his attention. As it has been a long time since he showed interest on scribbling, I let him to use them just to observe how much control Ian has over his hands muscles and if he moves the marker with a goal in mind. Well, he was able to take out the caps by himself; he grasped the marker properly (with thumb and fingers) and did mostly circular scribbles, that looks still like random scribbling.

When he finished, there were markers and caps all over the table, so I took advantage of it to teach him how to replace the caps, I told him to press the cap against the marker until he hears a “click” sound. He really enjoyed each time he heard the sound; it was his error control and the clue to celebrate his achievement. It was a sensorial exercise (visual and auditory) as well as a fine motor to strengthen the muscles of his hands.

Matching stickers silhouette

If you have been following us lately, you would know Ian is having fun with stickers. I usually peel the excess sticker paper from around the stickers before giving them to Ian. I was doing it  when I realized I can reuse this paper to create a silhouette worksheet for Ian to match the stickers. I stuck this paper on black construction paper, scanned and cut/pasted (digitally) the black silhouette in a worksheet. Probably it does not look that simple but fortunatelly I have some skills at the computer and can make that kind of things quickly. Certainly, when I got the idea I did not know if it will work but, the result was pretty good and even Ian needed a little help with the matching part, he enjoyed this activity very much.

Playdoh numbers, spatula and matching numbers

I insist, play doh is a versatile learning tool. You can create a great variety of activities for your kids using play doh. One of the things Ian has been learning with play doh lately is number recognition. I had printed number cards in order to show Ian how to model play doh snakes along the numbers. As he' not been paying attention to it, we used the cards to mach them numbers prints made on play doh. That waswhat we did. First, I put four number card in a tray provide Ian with the corresponding four foam numbers. Then I gave Ian play doh balls, he flattened them and pressed and lift-off a foam number and used the spatula to transfer and put on its corresponding number card. When he transferred the four numbers I rotate the cards and foam numbers. He likes transferring things with the spatula and this activity was not an exception. As you can see, I like to take the most of each activity to reinforce multiples skills.

Buttons sorting board

I want to remark that I am learning a lot from other blogger moms whom share their learning experiences not just their kids's. One of the things I've learned from they is to get inspiration from commercial toys to create homemade versions. This post was the one that showed me this alternative.

Well, last week I felt inspired for this toy and made a easier version using Styrofoam, tooth sticks (I cut the ends) and three sets of buttons (bears, cars and trees). I had not finished preparing it when Ian wanted to attempt it. By the way, before this activity I had tried to get Ian to sort these buttons but it lacked of interest for him. Now, even Ian struggled to place the buttons he sorted the buttons very well.

Matching vegetables and fruit silhouette

For this activity I download the printables from here. I previously tried to make matching activities in a floor mat, but as soon as I lie down the cards in the mat Ian runs away :-). As Ian has having fun playing with his “contact paper window board” :-) we used it for this activity. I rotate different set of cards each day. I cannot say Ian made the matching correctly because he sometimes did it and another times he stick the cards next to the wrong card, but he enjoyed calling out the names of the pictures and of course sticking and lifting out the cards.

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

Focused on Matching / Focalizados en emparejamiento

Most of the activities we did last week were focused on fine motor skills and matching. Matching is one of the skills children need in order to help them to become a reader.When we read, part of what we do involves matching. Children learn to match colors, shapes, patterns, letters and, finally, words.
Here you have some details about what we did.

La mayoría de las actividades que hicimos la semana pasada estuvieron focalizadas en motricidad fina y emparejamiento. Emparejar es una de las habilidades que los niños necesitan para ayudarles a leer. Cuando leemos, parte de lo que hacemos involucra emparejar. Los niños aprenden a emparejar colores, formas, patrones, letras y, finalmente, palabras.
En este post estan los detalles de lo que nosotros hicimos.

Marbles on golf tees. I've seen this activity on lots of blogs and have always wanted to do it with Ian. I put some golf tees in a styrofoam block and Ian had to balance marbles on the tees. He did it very well and was able to match the color of the tees with the color of the marbles.

Canicas y soportes de pelotas de golf. He visto esta actividad en varios blogs. Lo que hice fue poner algunos soportes de pelotas de golf en un bloque de tecnopor e Ian tuvo que colocar canicas en ellos. El lo hizo bastante bien y fue capaz de emparejar el color de las canicas con el de los soportes.

Play dough and cocktail sticks. I made balls with different colors of play dough. Ian had to put every ball onto one cocktail stick which was the same color as the ball and then transfer it to a tray. In the beginning, pricking the balls with the sticks was not that easy, but soon Ian caught the technique and enjoyed it.

Plastilina y palitos de coctel. Hice algunas bolitas con plastilina de diferentes colores. Ian tuvo que poner cada bolita en un palito de coctel que fuera del mismo color que la bolita y luego transferirlos a una bandeja. Al comienzo, pinchar las bolitas con los palitos no fue tan fácil para Ian, pero una vez que encontró la técnica se divirtió mucho.

Picture-to-picture matching. At the moment, Ian is not interested in matching picture cards, so I devised a matching activity using butterfly stickers. I scanned the stickers and printed a two-column worksheet: the first column had the butterfly pictures and the other was empty for Ian to match the stickers with the pictures and stick them in the corresponding row. He really liked this activity and used the three sets of stickers we had. Later, I tried to get him to repeat the activity with bear stickers, but as yet he does not like the changes, so he won’t even let me remove the worksheet from the table.

Emparejando imagenes. En este momento, Ian no está interesando en emparejar tarjetas de figuras, así que idee una actividad usando pegatinas de mariposas. Primero, escanee las pegatinas e imprimi una hoja de trabajo con dos columnas: en la primera columna inserté las figuras de las mariposas y la otra quedó vacia para que Ian colocara las pegatinas que hicieran pareja. Ian realmente disfrutó esta actividad y usó los tres grupos de pegatinas que tuvimos. Después, traté de que él repitiera la actividad usando pegatinas de osos, pero en este momento a él no le gustan los cambios, así que ni siquiera me dejó quitar la hoja de trabajo de la mesa.

Number recognition. I printed three number strips and had Ian attempt to stick the matching number sticker in the corresponding cell. He had done a similar activity some weeks ago and at that time he was only focused on matching the numbers, I mean he did not care if he put some numbers upside down; this time he was very concerned to place the sticker just over the number printed on the sheet (by the way, it was the same with the butterflies, he lifts off the stickers and places them over and over again until he is happy with their position).

Reconocimiento de números. Imprimí tres tiras de números y dejé que Ian pegara sobre cada número la pegatina de número correspondiente. El ha hecho una actividad similar hace unas semanas y en ese momento el solo se concentró en emparejar los números con las pegatinas, es decir, a él no le importó pegar las pegatinas al revés. Esta vez, él se preocupó de poner las pegatinas justo sobre el número impreso. Por cierto, sucedió lo mismo con las mariposas; el despego varia veces las pegatinas hasta que estuvo feliz con su posición).

Silhouette vegetables matching puzzle. This puzzle has nine vegetable pieces and each of them are in a square wooden frame which is removable too, so we can change the order of the pieces. I have been rotating this puzzle for various weeks. In the beginning Ian just removed the pieces and squares of the puzzle, but this week he was able to match some silhouette squares with the corresponding vegetable piece.

Rompecabezas de siluetas de vegetales. Este rompecabezas tiene nueve piezas de vegetales y cada uno encaja en un marco removible, de tal manera que podemos cambiar el orden de las piezas. He estado poniendo y sacando este rompecabezas durante las últimas semanas. Al principio Ian sólo sacaba las piezas y los marcos, pero esta semana pudo emparejar los marcos de las siluetas con la pieza del vegetal correspondiente.

I will link this post in One Hook Wonder where you can see how other toddlers learned using the montessori method.

Voy a vincular este post en One Hook Wonder donde pueden ver como otros niños aprenden usando el Método Montessori.

Walking around the neighborhood / De paseo por el barrio

As a prelude to the rainy season we have had some cloudy days. Early in the morning temperature has been lower than normal. Later, the temperature can reach 35 degrees more or less. So we have taken advantage for a early walk around the neighborhood.

Como antesala a la temporada de lluvias hemos tenidos algunos días nublados. Temprano por la mañana la temperatura ha estado más baja de lo normal. Después, con el correr de las horas la temperatura puede llegar a 35 grados más o menos. Así que hemos aprovechado para salir a caminar temprano por el barrio.

During our leisurely walks, we found a neighbor who has some cows, horses and chickens in house (which is usual in this village). Ian loves to stop there to observe, call and, to my surprise, to count them.

En nuestro recorrido, encontramos un vecino que tiene algunos vacas, caballos y gallinas en casa (lo cual es usual en este pueblo). A Ian le encanta detenerse ahí para observarlos, y para mi sorpresa, para contarlos.

Elections will be soon, so there are many political slogans painted on the walls. Ian paid attention to the big letters and stopped to observe every one. I believe that he thought they were numbers, because he began to point some letters and mention some numbers.

El país está en campaña electoral así que hay muchas propagandas pintadas en las paredes. A Ian le llamó la atención ver letras tan grandes, se detuvo a observarlas una por una y creo que pensaba que eran números, porque empezó a apuntar algunas letras y mencionar algunos números que se les parecían.

Another thing Ian liked was walking across each narrow structure he found.

Otra cosa que le gusta a Ian es aprovechar cada estructura para hacer equilibrio.

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.