Montessori Activity: Inserting Ice-Cream Sticks

Age: From 1 year old

Objective: To train fine motor skills in a fun way

Materials:

1. Piggybank with opening at the top

2. 5-10 ice-cream sticks

3. 1 tray (optional)

Directions:

1. Demonstrate to your child how to do it.

2. Invite your child to try

Additional Information:

Don't be discouraged if your child is not interested or could not do it. Each child develops differently. Our Little FECS only did this activity at 2 years old, while our Baby FECS is doing it at 1 year old.

Video Demonstration:

Here is a video demonstration by our Baby FECS

21 May 2017 (1Y6D)

8 July 2017 (1Y1M22D)

Montessori Activity: Home-made Spindle Boxes - Counting & Numeral Regconition

AGE: From 4 years old (after mastery of The Number Rods and Cards)

MATERIALS:

1.     A box containing 11 compartments clearly labeled from 0 – 10 for each compartment

2.     1 container with 55 popsicle sticks as “spindles”

3.     Number cards from 1 - 10 as labels for the compartments (or you can also just write the numbers on the compartments)

4.     1 container with 9 elastic bands or pipe cleaners (optional)

OBJECTIVE(S):

1.     To reinforce the child's understanding of number names, numerals and quantities.

2.     To teach the concept of zero as an empty set and its corresponding symbol.

3.     To demonstrate that separate items may make up a single quantity.

4.     To reinforce the natural sequence of the numerals.

5.     To provide a sensorial feel of the quantities with increasing number of spindles in the child's hand.

PRESENTATION:

1.     Name the Spindles, point out the slots and the numerals one at a time, and have the child say the number’s names.

2.     Explain that these numbers will show us how many spindles to put into the box.

3.     Point to the no. 1 (have the child read it if he is older), say: “One” and put 1 spindle in this box.”

4.     Repeat for the other numbers and ask the child to count the spindles before placing them into the box. (If the child so wishes, he may tie them with the elastic bands or the pipe cleaners before placing them into the compartments, but it is not compulsory.)

5.     Continue until all spindles are in the box.

6.     Look at slot 0 and notice that it is empty.

7.     Tell the child that "0" is the empty set or "0" receiving nothing. Say: “This is zero. Zero means nothing. That is why there is nothing in this spot.”

VIDEO DEMONSTRATION:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojb93sGFvMU

TIPS:

1.     Have the child take out the two spindles from slot 2, count them and tie them with a rubber band and put them back in the slot 2. Repeat for the other spindles and count each bundle through from 0 - 9.

 

2.     Play shopping by pretending that the number cards are money representing $1 - $10, and that you are going to buy spindle. Pretend that each spindle costs $1. Give the child $5, and ask him how many spindles you could buy. He should answer 5. Ask him to give you 5 spindles from the fifth compartment, count them and give it to you.

CLEAN UP:

1.     Then take out the Spindle 1 from the slot and place it gently back into the basket.

2.     Take out the other spindles group by group, and after taking off the rubber bands, place them one by one (counting as the child does this) back into the basket.

3.     Ask the child why there was no spindle in slot 0.

4.     Have the child put back the material on the shelf.

CONTROL OF ERROR:

The exact number of spindles is provided. If counting has been incorrect, there would not be sufficient number of spindles left.

NOTES:

1.     This activity is best done on a child’s size table.

2.     Give child the chance to answer, so you need to pause and waiting for him to reply.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

I saved all the office canteen take-away dinner containers and use them for compartments for the "spindles", and I bought the popsicle sticks from the hobby shop as "spindles". It saved a lot of money buying the real thing. Even better still, the traditional Spindle Box stops at 9, but if you make your own, you can make it up to 10.

 
J (3Y11M21D) tried this today in Chinese, and he could do it very well. He later suggested turning this into a shopping game (see Tips section), and this game was stretched to 45 minutes. This game is not so challenging for him in Chinese, as he knows all his numbers now. I will try it in English someday instead.

REFERNCES:

http://www.infomontessori.com/mathematics/numbers-through-ten-number-rods.htm
http://faculty.fullerton.edu/syen/mts/math/2-2.htm
http://www.moteaco.com/albums/casa/casamath.html#anchor2979127
Basic Montessori Learning Activities for Under-Fives

http://amzn.to/1phXJRe

11 November 2019 (3Y5M24D): C tried this for the first time today. I said the number and she placed the spindles one-by-one into the box. I counted with her along the way.

Thereafter, she decided to work on the number jigsaw puzzle that we bought while in Australia: 

Montessori Activity: Learning Number Recognition with Popsicle Sticks

Age: From 3.5 years old

Activity Duration: 5 - 15 minutes

Materials:
1. 1 bag of 20 popsicle sticks labelled at the top with number 1 - 20 with a pen
2. 1 piggybank
3. 1 tray

Directions:
1. Call out a number and ask your child to find the stick with that number.

2. Ask your child to put it into the piggybank.

Tips:

If you have two sets, you can play a game of who can complete it first.

Additional Information:

Joshua (3Y5M19D) tried this today, and he thoroughly enjoyed it. It is not too easy and not too challenging, one of the few times, when I got it just right. Joshua got most of the numbers 1-10 correct.

 

For the teen numbers, I have to give him clues such as 17 is 1 and 7 together. I will call out no. 17 and tell him to look for the number with 1 and 7. He could find them and place them into the piggybank.

 

 

Popsicle sticks are available from Amazon:

Montessori Activity: Playdough Number Line

Idea from Tot School

Age: From 4 years old

Duration: 5 - 15 minutes

Materials:
1. 1 container of 20 popsicle sticks labelled at the top with number 1 - 20 with a pen
2. 1 container of playdough
3. 1 tray

Directions:
1. Tell your child that you are building a number line and invite him to roll the playdough into a long line.

2. Find the no. 1 stick and stick it onto the start of the playdough line.

3. Ask your child to find the no. 2 stick and stick it next to no. 1.

4. Do the same to the rest of the sticks arranging them in numerical order.

Additional Information:
I got this fanastic activity for teaching the tens and teens numbers from Tot School. Joshua (3Y5M6D) tried it with Amy on 11.8.2012. Amy enjoyed it a lot and went on to complete it, but Joshua got frustrated mid-way. Next time I will only display 1-10 for Joshua.

References:
http://totschool.shannons.org/?p=5397

Popsicle sticks are available from Amazon:

Montessori Acitivity: Inserting Ice-Cream Sticks

Inspired by Having Fun at Home

Age: From approx. 1.5 year old

Activity Duration: 5-10 minutes

Preparation Time: 3 minutes

Objective(s):
1. To train the child’s fine motor skills
2. To teach the concept of full and empty

Materials:
1. 10 ice-cream sticks in a container
2. 1 Piggy-bank
3. 1 tray

Directions:
1. Show your child how to insert an ice-cream stick into the piggy-bank.

2. Encourage your child try it.

Additional Information:
I have some ice-cream sticks at home and a piggy-bank. So today, I let J (2Y4M26D) tried this game. At first he was very thrilled by all the teddy bears, and started to count them. He could do it rather well, but needed to be reminded to point the stick down, instead of inserting it horizontally. Soon he got tired of inserting them one-by-one and went for the fast way by taking off the lid and pouring the ice-cream sticks into the can. He shaked it to listen to the sound.

References:
http://havingfunathomeblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/popping-posicle-sticks-into-oatmeal-can.html