Walking on Water and Mentioning the Unmentionables!

Today we started out by extending A.'s scissor cutting activity(Motor activity,S ensory). I added thicker pieces of paper, thin plastic squares, stiff ribbon, raffia and some yarn. When I was putting it all together I tested out all of the materials by attempting to cut them with her scissors myself. I tried to emulate what I thought her skill and technique would be like and found all of the objects to be cut quite easily. A. had a different experience however! She was getting very frustrated and started to tilt her scissors to the side and rip everything apart. The stiff ribbon , thick paper and raffia seemed to have just the right balance of being challenging but not to the point of frustration. Yarn and plastic were verging on tantrum level frustration so those will be saved for future use! Lesson learned: start off easier than you think they may be ready for because you can always increase the challenge. Now I may have alienated her from cutting with her scissors for a while because I made it too challenging. ;0(

I remembered that A. had lids with built in stamps from a paint set that had long ago been used up and discarded. (Sensory, Motor) We pulled them out and she created for a while. I watered down some paint and poured it into a sponge set on a plate. She learned to gently press the stamp onto the sponge to pick up a bit of paint and then leave her mark. Not bad for a first try. Next session I think I'll make two different colored sponge pads for a more dramatic effect!

Inspired by Jen at Montessori Beginnings, I made up A. a fishing hole. (Motor) So Cute! It consists of:

A plastic tablecloth cut out in a pond shape, sea creature finger puppets with paperclips slipped onto them, A dollar store fishing rod with a magnet "hook", Basket for the creatures, Tray

She caught them all in no time, probably helped immensely that she can walk on water!

I attempted to extend A.'s Sorting By Category activity (Cognitive) by adding another category. She now has pompoms, balls and clothespins. Well that was done in about 15 seconds so I think I'll either have to add about 3 more categories for a total of 6 or start doing a category matching activity such as match the baby animal to the mommy animal. It was interesting to see A.'s developing Order of Mind. She chose to pick out one category and put it in a bowl and then move on to the next category and the next after that. I wonder if this means she will start to finish one type of food on her plate and then eat the next one in succession. I myself like to sample a bit her and a bit there!

A couple of months ago I introduced lacing beads to A. (Motor)She seemed interested but grew frustrated easily. I think part of the problem is that I neglected to reintroduce it enough times. So I've backtracked to using a chopstick instead of the lace as suggested by my inspirational friend Jen. It was a great hit. Soon We'll get back to the laces and if I do it right I'll be hearing "A. did it!" instead of "It's too hard, it's too hard!!!" accompanied by wildly flapping arms.

This is not a practical life activity as endorsed my Maria Montessori! When I state that I'm going to go get dressed A. likes to race ahead and pull out my "unmentionables" and give them to me to put on. Today I neglected to tell her I was going to get dressed and she came in while I was half done. Not seeing how she could help, she proceeded to put on most of my underwear. She managed to get one on correctly and the rest ended up on her hips.

To understand the amount of underwear she managed to get on (18 to be exact) check out the wad on her backside in the mirror! My underwear never looked so cute. I also just noticed that it looks like her feet are disappearing into the carpet! wooooaaaahhhh.....

Cutting it up with the Juice Queen

The day before yesterday was a beautiful day. Now don't get me wrong. Everyday is a beautiful day, however yesterday had that flow that happens when your child/children are happy, easygoing and self-motivated. Happy Happy day! We woke up and right away A. pulled her paper cutting activity (motor skills) down and set to work. I didn't have the heart or inclination to stop her so that she could get dressed and eat breakfast. If she wants to work on something and we don't have any pressing plans then she can go to it. (please pardon the low photo quality. Camera was out of batteries and this is what you get when you try to use your cheap webcam for photos!)

Little tummy soon realized it was hungry so still not dressed she had her fruit. I then asked her if she would like to glue the resulting small pieces of paper from cutting that we had been collecting in a container every time she did the paper cutting activity (motor skills, creativity). By this time it was overflowing. That sounded like a good idea to her so with gluestick in hand (we tried the squeeze bottle but it was almost too difficult for me to get the glue to come out) furious pasting ensued. And I'm not exagerating, it was a furious pace with quick gluestick strokes and paper slapping down onto the artwork. I guess creative inspiration took over for the methodical, thoughtfull approach.

yeah, batteries! Camera in fair working order. Here's the resulting masterpiece. It of course had to be put up on the fridge asap! ( In this collage I see a man rowing a boat, a chicken, and an old lady holding a machine gun. What does that say about me I wonder?) What do you see?

Later in the day, did I say it was a beautiful day? Sunny on the inside and sunny on the outside, we went out to do some gardening. After watering which A. is gloriously happy to do (haven't met a 2 year old who isn't) we decided to harvest some herbs.(motor skills, sensory, practical life) This required giving the oregano plant a good haircut and smelling it's scent for future identification. Aayla ran into the house and came back with her paper cutting scissors so this was all her idea. Way to go mom, why didn't you think of that?! This is actually a picture of her trimming the oregano plant the next day after the newly exposed underleaves had scorched in the sun. She wanted to clear the plant of it's damaged leaves so one by one with meticulous care this time she did just that.

Today, alas, it's a rainy day. Even so I keep hearing "Playground"?, "Go to the playground"? Wet playground equipment may need to be experienced to be a deterrent. However maybe she'll like it and then I'll be in trouble! As on most mornings A. makes her own "juice"(practical life, motor skills). It's a great activity which she is very exuberant about. She has her cup, a packet of powdered fizzy vitamin drink which I open for her, a shot glass with a liquid mineral supplement (raspberry flavor being the favorite), a shot glass with her liquid chlorophyl supplement and a shot glass with her liquid kinder vitamins, a small jug with water and a spoon. She pours everything into the cup and mixes it with the spoon to see the fizz. Drinking it may take place immediately or drag on throughout the day but most days I'm happy to say she gets her needed nutrients!!

Here's A. doing her Sorting By Category activity(cognitive skills). You initially choose 2 different categories such as "animals" or "office supplies" for example. The objects in a category are identical but vary by color so that the child won't try to sort by color. Each object is sorted according to category into 2 bowls. I've only given her 2 categories, each with 5 identical objects. I'm way behind on adding another 1 maybe even 2 categories to make it more challenging for her. As it stands she has 5 pencil erasers and 5 pompoms. Tonight I'll add another category and reintroduce it to her tomorrow. Until then... Happy Montessori mommying!