Montessori Activity: Matching Colours

Age: From 2.5 years old

Objectives: To teach colours, shades and tones.

Materials:
1. 1 bowl containing 10 paint swatches of different colours and shades of matching pairs.
2. 1 tray or mat.

Directions:
1. Go through one round and name each of the colours of your child.

2. Hand one colour to your child and say “can you match this green colour?”

3. After one round mentioned in point 2, invite your child to match the pairs himself and ask, “What colour is this?” Encourage your child to say the name of the colour.

4. To mark completion and a sense of achievement, ask your child to wave the empty bowl after he has finished.

5. Thereafter, go through one round of naming the colours together, and if your child wishes, ask him to repeat the name of each colour after you. If you are a bilingual or trilingual family, take this opportunity to name the colours in 3 languages at this stage. It also provides variation to this activity.

Additional Information:
Joshua tried this for the first time and he enjoyed it. The curriculum right now at Joshua’s kindergarten is on colours. So this activity is good to reinforce what he is learning at the kindergarten. We named the colours in 3 different languages, English, Mandarin Chinese and Danish.

Completed :-)

Cost:
Paint swatches: 1 set of 10 for 16.99 DKK from Søstrene Grene.

You might be able to get free paint swatches from your local paint shop. We couldn't. If not, you can also get it from Amazon:

Or this original one from Montessori, but it is pricey:

This is a very known Montessori Activity. We adapted ours from one of the Montessori books:

Montessori Activity: Matching Picture Puzzle

Pumpkin puzzle from 1+1+1=1

Age: From 2.5 years old

Objectives:

1. To teach matching skills

Materials:

Pumpkin puzzle from 1+1+1=1

Additional Information:

Joshua (2Y8M) tried this today. He was having fun, but not exactly matching the pumpkin. I didn't touch on any Maths from this puzzle today. He is not ready yet and didn't show any interest.

Montessori Activity: Matching Family of Farm Animals

Inspired by My Montessori Moments

Age: From 2.5 years old

Activity Duration: 5 - 15 minutes

Materials:
1. Farm animals printables from My Montessori Moments

Directions:
1. Show your child by putting a family set of animals, for example, the Daddy Bull, Mommy Cow and Baby Calf on the table.

2. Match it by picking the correct individual family member from the stack of individual animal cards and match with the family card.

3. Encourage your child to try with another set of family members.

Additional Information:
This is a fantastic activity. I saw it from Lori of My Montessori Moments and love it straight away. Joshua tried this some time ago, but wasn't interested. However, on 19.8.2011 (2Y5M19D) he picked this activity himself and successfully matched all the animals.

References:
http://mymontessorimoments.com/2011/01/28/farm-animal-families/

Montessori Activity: Matching Containers with Lids

Inspired from Montessori Moments

Age: From 2 years old

Activity Duration: 5-15 minutes

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Objectives:

1. To train the child’s fine motor skills.

2. To train hand-eye coordination.

3. To teach about different sizes.

Materials:

1. 3 - 5 plastics or metal containers and bottles with lids

2. 1 Tray

Directions:

1. Demonstrate by taking the lids out of the container one-by-one and then putting the lids back.

2. Hand your child a container, and then hand him the lid.

3. Encourage him to try to put the lid back.

Additional Information:

For younger children, start with one container first, and add more for complexity along the way and let your child try to match the different lids with the respective containers.

J (2Y2M14D) tried this on 20.5.2011, and he managed to match all the lids correctly. He also managed to screw in the cap for the bottles correctly, though it wasn't as easily. Then he wanted me to fill in some water into the bottle.

References:

http://mymontessorimoments.wordpress.com/2010/08/31/little-hands/

Montessori Activity: Matching Shapes/Matchende figurer/形状分类[xíng zhuàng fēn lèi]

Age: From 1.5 year old (Level 1)

Activity Duration: 5-10 minutes

Preparation Time: 3 minutes

Objective(s):
1. To create a fun way to identify picture and name the picture.
2. To teach language skills.

Material(s):
Wooden puzzle with different shapes in different colours.

Directions:
1. Show your child how to fit the correct wooden shape into the correct place on the puzzle, and say the name of the shape.

2. Encourage your child to try.

Cost:
Wooden Puzzle: 20 DKK (4.90 SGD) from Tiger.

Additional Information:
I was very happy when I found this in Tiger!!! It is very cheap, very educational, very well-made and well thought out! The holes are marked with the shape to clear vision. The wooden pieces also protrude out for from the hole, instead of just lying flat, for better sensory feel. J tried this activity for the first time on 19 march 2011 (2Y14D) and had no problem with all the other shapes, except for the triangle. He took some time to learned it, as the triangle is not of equal length on all three sides.

Montessori Activity: Matching Pictures/Matchende Billeder/图片匹配 [tú piàn pǐ pèi]

Age: From 1.5 year old (Level 1)

Activity Duration: 5-10 minutes

Preparation Time: 3 minutes

Objective(s):
1. To create a fun way to identify picture and name the picture.
2. To teach language.

Materials:
Matching picture card board game for 4 players.

Directions:
1. Each player picks a mat and the cards are spread out face down on the table. The youngest player begins and the game continues clockwise. The first player picks a card. The player shows the card to the other players and puts it on its mat if a matching picture is found. If the picture on the card does not match, the card is put back on the table. The player who first covers his or her mat wins the game.

2. The simple version is to just let your child match the picture on the mat for younger toddlers :-)

Cost: 30 DKK (7.20 SGD) from Tiger.

Additional Information:
Tried this game with J (the simple version) and he could match the pictures. But he is such a perfectionist like mommy and daddy that he got frustrated when he could not place the picture fitting on exactly the same spot as the matching picture!!!