Thursday, January 19, 2012

A Quick Capture

I need to get more photos of Ava.  I think it's time to check out the weather reports and pick a day for a trip outside with my camera and Ava.  Here are just two quick "snapshots" I got while she was playing today.  Both were sharpened a bit in photoshop but that is it.





Counting and Sorting Beads

I've been looking at a lot of Montessori preschool activities and one of the things I really like about them is the fact that they really don't require any expensive equipment, kits, etc.  While I would like to pick up some supplies to help which mostly can be reused I am for now just using what I can find around the house.  

Today's activity was to count beads and then we also used pretty much the same materials to then sort the beads by color.  These are the supplies I used for today:

  • Multicolor Beads (Bigger ones might be easier for smaller hands but Ava did ok with what we had)
  • Cupcake tins (I didn't have any egg cartons on hand)
  • Felt scraps (cut into little squares)
  • Foam numbers (I left the adhesive on so they didn't stick to the tins)
This morning while Ava watched her morning cartoons I gathered all of the supplies for today's activities.  

 For our first counting activity
 Some art fun with fingerpaints
 and her workbook
and then I grabbed my munchkin.  I had her identify the numbers in each cup.
 Then I explained that she would add the correct number of beads to the cup according to what number was in it.  I'll probably pick up some marbles or beads that are all the same color to use next time just to simplify a bit.



Next, I removed the numbers and replaced them with little colored scraps of felt.
 She really liked this one and made it into a game.  After she would sort them she would remove the felt scraps and mix them up into new cups and try again.

After she finished her "games" she had a snack and then was ready for some art time.  Today was nothing fancy............just some construction paper and finger paints.





She followed this up with some coloring while I fixed her lunch.  Since then it's been a bit of random playing while I get a chance to sit and do this post :)

In a bit we will probably break out the workbook for a while.  In fact she is getting bored so I should probably go now so I can see what she wants to do next.