Montessori Maths Activity: Fishing 123s with Jar Lids

This was prepared for J on 16 August 2011, but I didn't manage to take more pictures.

 8 years later, this was prepared for C, and I managed to take pictures, which I documented :-)

Age: From 2 years old (Level 2)

Activity Duration: 5-15 minutes

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Objective(s): To train the child’s hand-eye coordination skill

Materials:
1. 1 toy fishing rod
2. Jar lids written with 1, 2, 3...
3. 1 bowl to contain the fished jar lids and some toy fishes
4. 1 basin containing water
5. 1 tray

Directions:
1. Call out a number and demonstrate to your child by fishing the number on the lid with the fishing rod.

2. Ask  your child to use the fishing rod to fish out the same number of fishes based on the number called.

2. Call out another number and let your child try to fish for the number.

Cost:
Plastic fish rod: 20 DKK (4.80 SGD or 3.80 USD) at Chao Chao at Lyngby Station

Additional Information:
I got this idea from seeing a toddler playing with the toy sold in Amazon. Baby FECS tried this on 12 November 2019 (3Y5M26D). I taught her how to carry the Montessori tray containing this activity from the shelf upstairs to the bath room. She did it all on her own, making it all the way upstairs and into the bathroom without any accident :-)

She enjoyed the activity a lot. She couldn't really recognize the number yet, but it will take practice and repetition to learn the numbers. But she enjoyed fishing the fishes out of the basin of water and into a bowl. Towards the end, she poured back all the fishes she "caught" back into the "pond" - the basin of water.

12 November 2019 (3Y5M26D): Carrying the Montessori tray from the playroom...

and up the stairs she went... :-)

We place the lids with Chinese numbers and the fishes into the basin and then poured in water... 

I asked her to fish for the number "1* in Chinese.

I asked her to fish for one fish, corresponding to the number "1" lid.

I called a number and asked her for fish for that number that appeared on the lid. She needed to bit of help to identify the correct lid and then fished it.

Then I asked her to fish the corresponding number of fishes again.

This was repeated until all the number lids and fishes were fished out :-) 

She then chose to pour back all the fishes and number lids back to the "pond" i.e. basin of water and start another round of the game :-)

Montessori Activity: Letter Rice Tray

Age: From 2 years old.

Activity Duration: 5-10 minutes

Preparation Time: 1 minutes

Objective(s):

1. To develop the child’s five senses.
2. To develop the child's language skill.

Materials:

1. 1 deep baking tray or dish
2. 500g of rice (1/2 packet)

Directions:

1. Write a letter, for example “a” and pronounce its sound.

2. Encourage and let your child try and repeat the sound after you.

Total Cost: Rice: 8 DKK (1.50 SGD) for 1 packet at the supermarket

Additional Information:

You can also use sand for this. For younger toddlers, just allow them to play free “writing” on the rice.

I bought the cheapest pack of rice from Netto supermarket

Montessori Activity: Homemade Fabric Box

Age: From 2 years old

Objective(s): To refine the child's sense of touch through matching fabrics according to the texture by feeling with the child's fingers.

Materials:

1. The Fabric Box contains different pairs of fabric such as:

• Cotton
• Wool
• Jute
• Silk
• Linen
• Velvet
• Satin
• Leather
• Rayon
• Demin

2. 1 blindfold (optional)
3. 1 mat

Presentation:

1. Mix the pile of fabric randomly.
2. Take the 1st piece of fabric from the top of the pile.
3. Feel it with your hands.
4. Take the next piece of fabric from the pile and compare if they are the same through touch.
5. If they are not the same, i.e. they don't match, put the 2nd fabric aside to the right of the pile.
6. Continue to compare one fabric at a time until a match is found.
7. Place the matched pair on the top left corner of the mat.
8. Continue matching in the same manner until all pairs are found.
9. After your child has gained sufficient experience, use the 3-Period Lesson to teach the name of each fabric.
10. To increase the challenge, use a blindfold for your child to rely solely on his touch to match the pair, instead of sight (optional)

Video Demonstration:


Here is a video demonstrating the above presentation:

https://youtu.be/Uk8np8g7w4g

This video shows another way for the child to work with this material:

https://youtu.be/bx653dnQjeo

Additional Information:

I did not introduce this to J, when he was a toddler. It was too much work, and I am not good at making things. But I would like to do this activity with Baby.

I am currently on maternity leave, waiting for the baby to arrive. As such, I have attempted to make my own Fabric Box. I cut out the pieces from unwanted clothes, scarves, towel, etc. I re-used a wooden box, which came with chocolate, to store the fabric.

It has taken me the whole night yesterday to make this. I am glad I have completed it.

References:

http://www.infomontessori.com/sensorial/tactile-sense-fabrics.htm
http://www.montessorialbum.com/montessori/index.php?title=Fabrics
http://teachingfromatacklebox.blogspot.dk/2013/08/montessori-fabric-matching-part-1.html

Pictorial Demonstration:

Mix the pile of fabric randomly.

Take the first piece of fabric from the top of the pile. Feel it with your hands.

Take the next piece of fabric from the pile.

Touch and

compare if they are the same through touch.

If they are not the same, i.e. they don't match, set the second fabric aside to the right of the pile.

Take the 3rd piece of fabric from the top of the pile.

Feel it with your hands.

Compare if they are the same through touch.

If they are not the same, i.e. they don't match, put the end piece of fabric aside to the right of the pile.

Take the 4th piece of fabric from the top of the pile.

Feel it with your hands.

compare if they are the same through touch.

If they are the same, place the matched pair on the top left corner of the mat.

Continue matching in the same manner until all pairs are found.

Return the fabric back to its box after use.

After your child has gained sufficient experience, use the 3-Period Lesson to teach the name of each fabric.

You can also make this activity more challenging by using a blindfold for your child to rely solely on his touch to match the pair.

How to Make This Materials:

Our Montessori Fabric Box is homemade:

They are made from the materials from old clothes, scarves, cloth bags and towels.

I use the Montessori metal inset as a template for the size. 

Each fabric piece is 10 x 10 cm. 

I use an old chocolate wooden box to store the fabric.

Place the fabric box in a tray, ready for the child to bring to the table or mat:-)

This is how it looks like inside :-)

Our fabrics consist of:

1st column: Spandex, towel, net and felt (focus on providing a clear difference in texture)

2nd column: Satin, cotton, polyester, linen (focus on providing the increasing degree of coarseness)

3rd column: Silk, Thai silk, another kind of silk & bath cloth

Last column: Demin

I did not have velvet at home, thus velvet hasn't been included.

Healthy, Tasty, Nutritious & Economical Edible Palydough

Makes the size of 1 tennis ball

Ingredients:

1. 3/4 cup grahams flour
2. 1/2 cup water
3.. 1 TBS honey or syrup
4. 1/2 cup ground oats
5. A few drops of food color (optional)

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together.

Additional Information:

Our Little FECS have been asking me to make edible playdough for him, since he tried out for the first time, when he was 3 years old. I have made edible playdough out of nut butter, but they are very expensive.

I was trying to find some healthy, simple and cheap way of making edible playdough, but couldn't find it on the net. Most of them are super duper unhealthy - some even is made from just sugar icing!!!

Surely it cannot be so difficult to make healthy and tasty play dough. So I started experimenting using some flour, water and honey... then I added ground oatmeal and it still feels good like play dough, at the same time, it was tasty and healthy. Most of all, it is very simple and uses only three to four ingredients :-)

I prefer the natural color, but our Little FECS often asked to have them in multi-colors.

I grind the roll oats myself. To make it even more nutritious, you can also sprinkle in brewer's yeast and wheatgerm.

Graham flour, ground roll oats, honey/syrup and water

31 May 2015 (6Y2M26D) - J decided to use the edible playdough to make biscuits instead. So we added in an apple and made it into apple biscuits :-)