The Work Plan

Monday, December 19, 2011

Counting Down To Christmas:Montessori Monday

Some of you Lucky Ducks are already on school vacation. Not me!! Not until Friday. I am not complaining, because I am going to have so much fun with the children this week They are planning the party events and it sounds like a whole a lot of fun. I never did this before but I know on Friday there is going to be Pajama Wearing. They talked me right into it. Here are some last minute trays I put together.

Using a mortar and pestle to crush peppermints. We will be watching the Polar Express on Friday and the kids talked of peppermint flavored Hot Cocoa, so we will be using this to add as topping on marshmallows or whipped cream whatever is your preference. Lots of fun practical life skills in this work, unwrapping the candy a point of interest.

 Peppermint puzzles that I downloaded from the blog Our Country Road. I found lots of inspiration from this blog, you have to go check it out!! I made two trays to make it more doable for all the kids. For the children who want to combine the works, that is great too,

 I added this work to our scissor practice tray. The printable was a part of Homeschool Creations in the Gingerbread Baby pack.


                                                                             
To see other children doing activities inspired by the Montessori Method please visit One Hook Wonder and Living Montessori Now for Montessori Monday.
                                                                     

6 comments:

  1. I hope we get around to crushing peppermints this year. In your experience, is a two-year-old able to do this without too much frustration?

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  2. Perfect! Its all about the size, a two year old did work with this today and had a blast. The tray was too heavy for him to carry though. Hobby Lobby has a miniature size mortar and pestel that I wished I was able to purchase in their science section.

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  3. I absolutely love the peppermint grinding idea! So perfect! We were grating cinnamon sticks this time of year when last I was in the classroom, but this would have been a brilliant addition!

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  4. Lovely ideas- peppermint grinding is great! I guess it could be done with a number of things and then the final product could be used for a variety of cookie decorating?!

    I introduced scissors to my 24 month old last week...so far he didn`t really get it and just got frustrated {they were toddler friendly scissors but still a bit hard}- looking forward to when he gets a handle on them so we can try other activities. Any hints for introducing them in a non frustrating way for him?

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  5. Hi Lulu! I do know that past experience working with toddlers is that if the activity is frustrating, it is best to wait until a later time. I do find that ripping paper towel/colored napkins is a fun starting point before scissors, add some glue to collage the torn papers and you may have a very happy toddler who will want to repeat this activity over and over. I hope this helps.

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  6. Thanks for the comment! I love your peppermint themed activities! I think my Boogie is too little for crushing peppermints this year but that is an awesome idea for next year. I am going to pin it so I don't forget :) I think we might do a candy cane week next Christmas because he will be older and we will probably actually let him eat them :)

    Merry Christmas!

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