Montessori Activity: Sorting Colours/Farversortering/颜色分类 [yán sè fēn lèi]

Age: From 2 years old

Activity Duration: 10-15 minutes

Preparation Time: 3 minutes

Objective(s):
1. To train the child’s fine motor skills
2. To teach colours

Materials:
1. 1 big bowl of 4 sets of 4 different colour wooden or plastic blocks (green, yellow, red and blue)
2. 4 small rice bowls of same colour *
3. 1 tray

* It is important that the colour of the 4 small bowls are the same, so as not to confuse the child that it is number sorting and not colour sorting.

Directions:
1. Demonstrate to your child by sorting one set of the 4 colours into each of the small bowls.

2. As you go along, recite the name of the colour.

3. Encourage your child to try to sort the other sets of the colours into the correct bowl allocated for that particular colour.

4. Pour back all the blocks into the big bowl and repeat the game.

Additional Information:
J (24M9D) tried this for the first time today. Our aim is to teach him to group each of the colour blocks together. But to our great surprise, he not only sorted the colour, but he also tried to stack them successfully, but sometimes unsuccessfully because of the round bowls. I should try to get him some flat-bottomed bowls next time. Furthermore, we discovered that he knew that the triangle shape should be on top, in order to stack more layers below. Everyday, he is giving us new surprises. It has been very fun setting up all these activities for him. J poured the blocks back into the big bowl, and then started to sort them again, more and more without us giving him the lead by putting in the first colour block. He looked at us, to get our approval, before putting the first block into each bowl.

Montessori Activity: Transferring with Dropper/Overførsel med Pipette/使用滴管[shǐ yòng dī guǎn]

Age: From 2 years old

Activity Duration: 5-15 minutes

Preparation Time: 3 minutes

Objective(s):

1. To train the child’s fine motor skills
2. To teach colour

Materials:

1. 1 dropper
2. 2 bowls (preferably identical)
3. Water in one bowl (preferably coloured)
5. 1 basin (optional)

Directions:

1. Demonstrate to your toddler by using the dropper to transfer the water from one bowl to another slowly and repeat.

2. Encourage and let your child try it.

3. Then demonstrate to your child by wiping the tray dry using the towel.

4. Encourage your child to try wiping.

Tips:

1. Talk about the colour as you teach.

2. Vary the colour the next time you carry out this activity.

3. When your child is older, and use two bowls with 2 base colours and use the dropper to mix the colour into a third bowl.

Cost:

Total Cost: 42 DKK (9.90 SGD)
Dropper: 20 DKK (4.75 SGD) from the pharmacy in Lyngby
Basin: 22 DKK

Additional Information:

We let J (24M6D) try this activity this evening. Basically it was a hit and run. If he got it right, it was by coincidence, but he enjoyed the game very much, and was very motivated.

8 November 2019 (3Y5M22D): We did this activity for the first time. She was enjoying it very much and she could do it well, albeit with much concentration and it took effort. Thus, it was the right level for her. We didn't use any basin. I felt that she won't fill it. It went fine. In general, she has been enjoying all the Montessori practical life activities I set up for her. So that was very nice.