Make snow at home…

I found this on Pinterest but when I clicked through to the blog it opened a malware window so I am not going to link to it. Anyway, you only need 2 things for this and it is fun!

Baking soda and shaving cream, yep, that is it!

I recommend doing it in a big tub or baking tray to cut down on the mess. Pour the baking soda in then, add the shaving cream, and mix it together until you get a good constancy.

It's funny when Ebi-Kun was a toddler he went through a stage where he hated touching things, a sensory bin was his idea of hell, and now he can't wait to get his hands in there!

Anyone for a snowball fight?

Building a snowman was a bit trickier, a bit like when you try and build a snowman with powder snow, and needed some extra shaving cream…

But he got there in the end. The best bit is that it doesn't melt! The 'snow' smells lovely and actually feels cold. This would be so much fun for kids who don't get real snow!

Lots of free resources, printables and activities available in the free resources library

Click the image below to get free access pass to the jojoebi resource library

Ice Cooking

Ice Cooking On A Hot Day

I gave BabyEbi some bowls, spoons, ladles, you know, general kitchen bits and a bowl of ice and a bowl of water.

He spent a good hour 'cooking' with it. He hasn't shown any interest in spooning for quite a while but he really enjoyed this. He also liked the challenge of walking up and down the steps with a bowl of water trying not to spill any. He loved it so much that he asked to do it again the next day rather than go down to the park.

This is a great activity on so many levels. Apart from keeping cool, there is spooning and stirring, pouring and learning about water and ice, and how they react to each other.

Add coloured ice cubes for some colour mixing fun too!

Here he decided to try drawing with the ice cubes...



Mixing...


More pouring...



No need for any fancy equipment, just good old simple fun for free.

Click the image below to get free access to the jojoebi resource library

Taste Testing

Taste Testing For Kids

Yesterday we did a tasting exercise, it was fun and a great sensory activity. This is how we did it...

I set up samples of different food in an ice-cube tray



I also made four cards reading "sweet", "sour", "bitter" and "spicy"

I drew a small picture on each card to help him remember which was which. I was going to do "salty" too but other than salt itself I didn't have anything suitable to put out to taste!

First I introduced the cards one by one and gave him a small amount of food to represent each one so I knew he understood which was which.

Then he sampled the foods and decided which "taste" they were (this was really funny when he had bitter or spicy, the faces he pulled!) even though some of them he didn't like he still went ahead and tried the others, he is quite the adventurer with food!



When he had finished sampling to the food we cleaned up and then made a book.

He had four pages and we looked for foods that would be suitable for each page and stuck them on, made a front cover on which he wrote his name, punched some holes in the side and tied it with ribbon.




Luckily BabyEbi LOVES food and trying new things so he really enjoyed this exercise, I imagine a fussy eater wouldn't be happy about doing it at all.

Let me know if you tried this and how it went down.

Before bath time he got out his kids encyclopedia, he has only had it a couple of weeks and he loves it, he spends hours looking at it. Anyway, we got to the last page which was the index and he asked " What do these words and numbers mean"?

So I explained it was an index to help find a certain page and showed him how to look up something, such as crab. 

Well, you would have thought I was doing some kind of amazing magic trick, we would pick something, look up the page number and taadaa there it is on the right page.

He was amazed by it, totally enthralled, needless to say, he was late going in the bath because we were so busy looking things up!

Click the image below to get free access to the jojoebi resource library

busy making things

That about sums up the last few days. Let's see....

Wednesday I made 55 mini carrots out of salt dough, they are not painted yet so I'm not 100% sure how they will turn out, maybe I will use them for the swap depending on what they are like.

Thursday I had a great sewing day, BabyEbi was very co-operative and let me get on with it, I managed to do 3 totes, a set of photos in a nice frame all wrapped in a pojagi (not a fancy one just patterned cotton) for his great grandmother who will be 92 next week. A bib and bunny set for my sister-in-law who is due at the end of the month, I also have a matching scalloped blanket to go with it but I haven't finished that yet. A cute teddy bear that BabyEbi has claimed as his own and a birthday present for my cousin who had put in a specific request - can't show you yet in case she pops in. It turned out to be quite a challenge because I had to make the pattern up from scratch.

I am also quite excited because a friends of mine has a shop and she has asked if I would like to make some things to sell in it, hence the totes, the bags themselves are done but I want to personalise them a bit before handing them over. She also wants to sell more baby goods so I am planning on making more bunny in the bag and bib sets and some more cute bears.

Today I made some cards for BabyEbi, they are not strictly Montessori but I think BabyEbi will enjoy working with them. I got these threading beads a while back and he really likes them, if I take them off the shelf he will ask for me to get them out again. The actually threading exercise is too easy for him now and he soon gets bored so he tried to use the beads in other ways. To try and curb this I made cards increasing with difficulty with a picture of the beads threaded and he has to copy the picture picking out the right colour and shape of bead. We will see how it goes.......

sound cylinders tutorial

Wow, it has been a week since I posted last, a busy week of making Christmas presents that I really need to send by the end of the week, I have a couple more to do but my sewing machine is having one of her "turns" so progress is slow, maybe she is sulking because she heard a rumour that Mr Ebi will buy me an up-graded model for my birthday *grin*

This morning I managed to make some sound cylinders for BabyEbi

They are not as beautiful as the expensive wooden ones you can buy but they work just as well. 

I basically took some card tubes and filled pairs with different fillings. Dried beans, rice etc. Then taped up the ends with duct tape. Make sure each pair had a red and a blue end.

PRESENTATION:

1. Take the box/basket of sound cylinders to the rug and put it on the middle of the rug. (Can be done at the table too)

2. Take out all cylinders and line them beside the basket, place all the blue together and all the red together then explain to the child what you are going to do.

3. Pick up one blue cylinder this will act as the control, shake it once, close to the ear (do not shake it like a maraca), listen to the sound then let the child listen to it.

4. Take one cylinder from the red line and shake the cylinder to see if it is the same sound as the control one. Let the child listen to the sound and ask the child if they are the same or not.

If it is the same but the pair together in front of the basket/box.

5. If they are not the same but the red cylinder back and repeat step 4 until you find a matching pair. Continue doing the same activity until all the cylinders are matched.

6. Mix them and let the child do it.

7. Once the activity is complete, replace the cylinders into the box/basket and take them back to the shelf, tell the child that he/she can now work with the cylinders whenever they like.

The direct aim of the exercise is auditory discrimination of sound, indirectly it is preparing the child for music.

The exercise can be made more difficult with the introduction of more cylinders and then grading them from quiet to loud.

Click the image below to get free access to the jojoebi resource library

cylinder blocks

Babyebi got his cylinder blocks out yesterday, usually he works with 2 blocks, he has once got 3 blocks out but got bored half way through but yesterday he got all FOUR blocks out.

I helped his lay them out in a square then he sat and did the whole exercise by himself, I love catching him when he is in that deep concentration phase. He has actually started looking into the holes to see how deep they are instead of just dropping the cylinder in and hoping for the best. I must admit, I was surprised that he stuck at it and did them all, he did have to take a couple of minutes time out, to jump up and down on the sofa but then he returned to his work.

Taking all the cylinders out

Trying to find a cylinder to match the hole.


Just look at the concentration on his face!


Putting everything away

another rainy day - soft tree project

I stumbled across soft trees flickr group

the other day and thought, what a nice idea. So when we got up today and realised it was going to be an indoors day I thought

we would have a go at making one. I found some green fabric and cut a circle out of it then a cone shape, making sure that the bottom edge of the cone was slightly longer than the circumference of the circle. Cut it out, sewed up the edge then sewed the circle to the bottom edge, leaving a gap to turn it the right side out. Is this making sense?

BabyEbi then helped me stuff it then as he had his snack I sewed up the hole that was left for the stuffing and dug out some suitable bits to decorate the tree with...a beautiful result, I think - but then I am biased!

colour tablets (shopping game)

Baby Ebi can already match the 2nd set of colour tablets with no problem so I introduced him to ext. 2 (I think it is ext 2). Anyway, he lays one set of the colours out on the floor, top to bottom then the other cards get put randomly in the next room. He has to see which is the first colour then go and fetch the corresponding one from the other room, put it in his little basket then place it next to the first tablet. If he picks up the wrong colour he has to take it back and bring the correct one. It sounds quite simple but for a two year old, he sometimes forgets what he has gone in the other room for hahahaa (happens to us all!)

We have also done this exercise with other cards such and the fruit and art cards.

cards laid out on the floor

going to look for the next card



bringing the card in his basket

Keeping up the Montessori side of things

It has been a hectic few weeks, this week especially but I have tried to keep some time on one side to work with BabyEbi, lovely as he is, he isn't really of much use when if come to packing, as I put things in the box he is taking them out!

I moved one of his shelves into the tatami room since the back room is now the packed box room and kept some of his favourite things on it.

(click on the image to enlarge it, not the best quality becuase I used my phone camera, sorry!)

The latest edition is the counting basket. He has recently taken to counting everything, I don't have a spindle box yet so I used a basket that I got in a swap with Meg and put 10 similar objects in it, each time he has had it out I swap the contents. I think at the moment it has 10 blue seahorses, we also have 10 mini apples, 10 raspberries, 10 mini pegs, 10 shells... keeps him on his toes, he never knows what will be in there next. His counting is getting better, he almost always gets to 10 without missing number 5 now.

My plan is to pack the shelf up last then unpack it ASAP at the other end and find it a home to try and make the transition as easy as possible.

mini touch boards

I found these mini cheese boards on sale in the craft store. They are about 9cm x 5cm and there were 6 in the pack. I stuck sandpaper (3 different grades) on them to make matching pairs. Then put matching coloured stickers on the back as a control of error. Sadly some of the glue soaked through the sandpaper. They fit perfectly in this little Cambodian basket, a cute little addition to the shelf.

metal insets

Recently BabyEbi hasn't bothered with these but then he got them out again the other day. He really likes this shape even though it is one of the harder ones to do. He calls is "cho-cho" which means butterfly in Japanese.

I was really chuffed to discover that 15cm origami paper fits just right in the holder which is great, not only does it save me time cutting the paper out, it is also cheap as chips and comes in lots of pretty colours.

Dr. Montessori analyzed the movements which are connected with writing and developed the Metal Insets for directly preparing the child for handwriting.

The Metal Insets exercises strengthen the three finger grip and coordinate the necessary wrist movements.

The exercises also advance proficiency in lightness of touch and evenness of pressure through drawing activities. The Metal Insets invite unlimited geometric design possibilities. BabyEbi isn't able to use the inner part yet but he uses the outer part quite well, especially easy shapes like the square and triangle.

Smelling Bottles

This was quite an easy one to do. I actually bought 12 bottles, 6 pink, 6 blue but only made up 3 pairs to start with.

In each bottle I put a cotton wool ball then added a couple of drops of essential oil - real essential oils, not those nasty chemical ones, heaven knows what are in them and I don't really want my child snorting dodgy chemicals.

So we have a peppermint pair (one is a pink bottle on in a blue one), lemon pair and a tea-tree pair. For a control of error, so the child can check for himself if he is right or not, I put stickers on the bottom. The idea is that the child smells the first pink bottle and then tries to match it to one of the blue ones. BabyEbi didn't quite get the concept yet. His reaction to the lemon one was "nice", the peppermint "hmmm" and the tea-tree he screwed up his face, pushed the bottle away and said "NO". hahahaha.

I don't have any other essential oils so I am thinking of using baking essence when he is ready to have more scents added.

Mystery Bag

I am trying to do mini projects at the moment, just small things that take an hour or so to make/put together.

So, last night I made a mystery bag, I used to use one when I was teaching so from experience I decided to make the top elasticated which, will hopefully stop the object being pulled out before it has been identified (and stop cheeky older kids from cheating which was always a problem with team games).

It actually takes me longer to get the sewing machine out and set it up than it does to make the thing! I am hoping I can steal a corner in the new house to set up a crafting area.

BabyEbi loved the bag, we sat with it for nearly an hour, I had to keep going and finding more mystery objects to go in it.

What you need to play the Mystery Bag Game

A bag
several objects of different shapes, sized and textures.

To play, one of you puts a secret object into the bag. The guesser then puts their hand into the bag without looking and feels the object and tries to guess what is inside.

Model descriptive vocabulary...

"It's smooth, one end is spikey, it's cold... it feels like a hedgehog..."

This will help your child to learn how to describe things too.

Take it in turns and the great thing is this can be played with any age, get the grandparents and big brothers and sister playing too!

Lots of free resources, printables and activities available in the free resources library

Click the image below to get free access pass to the jojoebi resource library

Sorting

I went to the ¥100 yen shop yesterday and put together a new sorting activity, very cute.

The fruit and veg were actually on strings for some kind of decoration, I just unstrung them (so they do have little holes in them). Finished it off with a basket made up of 4 dividers and a little shopping basket.

It is a basic sorting activity but I will probably use the same equipment to make a shopping game and these will be great to use for counting too.

The pieces are quite small so he will also be working those little pincer muscles ready for when he starts writing!

Check out my 50 Easy Sensory Activities To Do A Home Post and

50 Fine Motor Skills Activities To Do At Home Post

THERE ARE ACTIVITIES THAT YOU CAN USE FROM THE FREE JOJOEBI RESOURCE LIBRARY, SIGN UP BELOW TO GET YOUR ACCESS PASS.

   

Free Resource Library

Sign up for the newsletter and also get free access to the Resource Library, with printables and trainings to help you create a happy and stress-free home. 

• Keep the kids busy and learning
• Get organized so you have more free time

Join over 5000 library subscribers...

I understand that the resource library is for newsletter subscribers only. 
You can unsubscribe at any time.

Thank you!

You have successfully joined our subscriber list.

The Pink Tower

I introduced BabyEbi to the Pink Tower a couple of weeks ago.

Today he was really into it and although he didn't quite get it right he made a good attempt.

I'm not sure why, but when he has finished he has to do a little dance and a jump! I certainly didn't do that after the presentation I gave him.

The Pink Tower develops:
* Visual and small muscular perception of dimensions.
* The cubes represent the concrete concept of the numbers of 1 through 10.
* Helps to make smoother and more coordinated movement.
* Math readiness by introducing concepts of smaller, larger, prepares for the decimal and number system.

It also helps prepare the child for more complicated maths that he will come across at a later stage, such as the cube root. 1000 smallest cubes make the largest 10th cube. 8 of the smallest cubes make the second cube, 27 of the smallest cube make the third cube, 64 of the smallest cubes make the fourth cube, 124 cubes make the fifth cube, and so on.

Geometric Solids

Boy, was I a busy girl today?

I went over to the ¥100 yen shop to buy one or two bits, ended up spending ¥2500 - oops!

I found some fab little baskets and now wish I had bought more. I put together a folding activity with 3 different towels in a basket and I found 5 wooden shapes for my geometric solids set. Also picked up some blue paint and what I hoped was overcoat - all I understood on the label was "paint" and "up/over".

Painted the solids as BabyEbi ate lunch (takes him an hour) and then did the overcoat when he had dinner, I was pretty impressed with the result, especially since the whole lot only cost me ¥840! Just have to work out where I can get the other shapes from now...

sorting colours

I introduced babyEbi to colour sorting this week, he picked it up straight away and has got the activity bag out several times. He has also been sorting other toys into colours, completly unprompted.

Some great finds

I rode over to the recycling shop today, funnily enough it is called "Book Off", it's sister shop is "Hard Off" the one I went to also has a kids clothes/toys section, sadly, it is not called "Kid Off". Anyway, I made some great finds, I was actually looking for some kids tabi socks to send to Meg in Mexico, I didn't find any but I got a lovely wooden butterfly puzzle, a rooster puzzle, some threading beads and two beautiful books (more on them later).