Kitchen Play...Work, Rather

Bobcat and Jaguar both were mesmerized by washing the dishes and playing in the water. As you may already know, it is very important to give young children the opportunity to engage in water play...or work...however you want to look at it. The bath tub, a pool, near the waves on the shoreline, at the edge of a lake, splashing in a puddle, playing in a water table outside...these are all wonderful and vital experiences. Since winter is very chilly where we live and far travels aren't in the cards for us lately, we have only the indoors to play with water. The bath is always a place of amusement for these 2, but now we have discovered the kitchen sink. For my 22-month-old, it is a place of sensory experience and a learning zone for science. My 4-year-old gets the benefit of coordination and both sensory and practical experience. You can guarentee there will be somewhat of a mess, but it is easy to clean up, it's just water.

Recently, I decided to fill the big bottom drawer in our kitchen with various cooking utensils, tupperware, and pots and pans with their lids. This is mainly for my youngest, but his bigger brother decided to get involved. Bobcat learns how to match, create different noises, to nest, to stack, to clean up....Jaguar flexes his imagination pretending to cook many different dishes as he sees Mommy doing all the time. This is also a great opportunity for them to get into stuff, as young ones will inevitabley do...well, mainly Bobcat. It is better to set them up for learning success and preoccupation rather than to constantly shew them away from exactly where they want to be, the room you are in at the time.

Recap of our Kwanzaa Celebration

Kwanzaa is a non-religious holiday that honors African-American people and their heritage. Everyone can join in the Kwanzaa celebration, which lasts for 7 days from December 26 until January 1.

Kwanzaa was started in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga, an African-American teacher. He wanted to help African Americans learn about their African history, culture, and customs.

Dr. Karenga took the name for the holiday from the Swahili word "Kwanza," which means "the first fruits of the harvest." The extra "a" was added so the name would have seven letters to match the seven principles of Kwanzaa. First harvest, when crops are gathered, is a time of great celebration in many regions of Africa. Like the first harvest, Kwanzaa is an exciting and joyful occasion.

Jaguar and I worked on many things to celebrate and to learn about Kwanzaa. We read a few books, and read stories to exemplify each meaningful day therein.



This is the Kinara that Jaguar made from homemade playdough, which was crusty in texture by the 7th day. A kinara is similar to that of the Jewish Menorah used on Hannukah to represent each day of the celebration. The middle candle is supposed to be black, the left three red, and the right three green, but we made due with leftover birthday candles used on our prior menorah.

Jaguar made a Bendera, which is the African-American flag that is displayed during Kwanzaa. The black represents African-American people, the red symbolizes their struggles, and the green stands for a happy future. We used dollar store felt and scrap yarn from my stash, and Jaguar sewed the 3 strips together. He utilized popsicle sticks to make the flag's handle. Sewing is great for dexterity and coordination, even for a 4-year-old.

African quilts are a customary part of the culture. Making quilts is a wonderful part of gift-giving during Kwanzaa. Jaguar and I picked out different African designs off of the internet, sized them, and printed them. He then meticulously colored each patch to his liking and put them together to form the perfect African paper quilt.

Jaguar created a woven place mat with common African colors, and he used this as his book cover. Within his book, he has numerous pages that include crayon-colored images of Africa, Kwanzaa scenes, and more. He also did matching activities, letter fill-ins, word fill-ins, write the Kwanzaa words, and more.



Happy (Belated) Kwanzaa!!!

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Hanukkah-Inspired Family Feast

We decided to have a Hanukkah dinner so I compiled a few recipes and created a perfect feast for a family of five. Going clockwise, the menu included Golden and Red Beet Soup (though, I can't find any golden beets at my local grocery stores this time of year, and our local farmer's market runs only until the end of October...thus, it is more like Red Beet Soup), Apple Fritters (these were superb), Matzo Balls (these are like tasty dumplings), Potato Latkes (this, in addition to the apple fritters, is customary during Hanukkah because fried foods are an important element to celebrating the tradition), Beet Greens sauteed in butter (I had these leftover from the beets I utilized and I thought we definitely needed some greens in the meal), and Roased Turkey (well, I cheated a little here....I bought one of those fresh roasted turkey breasts from the store). Anyone can put together a beautiful Jewish meal for the family. It is a great way to learn about this unique custom to actually observe the wonderful holiday of Hanukkah. Food and family gathering are are key experiences in learning about other cultures. One can simply perform an internet search for Hanukkah recipes or find a recipe book at the local library or at a book store. Lynx and I will be making Sufganiyot (basically jelly doughnuts) in a couple days, even though Hanukkah is now officially over this year. We are drawing it out a little longer.

Montessori Christmas Activities the Dollar Store Way

Montessori "jobs" for kids, or learning activities, can be adapted to any holiday or theme. Christmas time is filled with many possibilities. Currently, our family is on an extremely tight budget with this less than satisfactory economy. So, I have come up with a few educational ideas from simply visiting my local dollar store. I have many more ideas than listed here, but here are a few that Jaguar, and Bobcat for that matter, have tried.

I bought a package of small drum ornaments and a package of large ones. He used them as building/stacking blocks.


Jaguar also sorted the drums in categories, such as by color and by shape. Simple, but great for mind organization and the ability to discern differences and similarities.


We bought a package of Christmas erasers and utilized them for a simple matching game. Great math skill in the preschool years.



We grabbed a package of foam Christmas trees and some Christmas-theme foam stickers. Jaguar meticulously decorated his Christmas tree. This is a great spacial activity because it helps promote an awareness of placement and design.


We picked up a package of Disney Christmas stickers and stamps. Jaguar and Bobcat went to town with decorating their work. This stimulates creativity and imagination.


In the meantime, Bobcat found the tinsel and decided to begin decorating the tree. I thought it was a brilliant idea on his part and it is a great practical life activity to engage in decorating the Christmas Tree with family.


There are many more activities to come within the realm of Christmas, but right now we are working on Hannukah. So, we will get back to Christmas after the eighth day of Hannukah, and then Kwanzaa thereafter. What a festive month December is!!! Have fun creating jobs for your young ones.

Nutrition Lessons - Part II

The kids were getting bored of the original setup of the living room shelf, which is to be expected. So, I decided to change it to the parallel of our theme (or one of them): Nutrition. We have tons of wooden and felted food, so I decided to decorate the shelves with yummy and nutritious food. In addition, Lynx's human body puzzle is placed in the mix, just in case Jaguar gets interested in our parts and bodily functions (he was today at Bobcat's doctor appointment). There is a healthy veggies and fruits ABC book atop the shelf. There is also a wooden vegetable puzzle down below.

As I mentioned previously, I was going to be taking the food advertisement cut-outs to utilize them for a food pyramid. Jaguar took each of the cut-outs and decided what food group they each fell into, and then he pasted them in place.


Jaguar took his Melissa & Doug pizza making set and sorted the toppings. There are 3: mushrooms, peppers, and pepperoni. He organized them into 3 bowls. Bobcat did this earlier in the day, but nto quite as thoroughly.

This activity required Jaguar to sort felt food into the 5 main groups: Fruits, Veggies, Grains, Proteins, and Dairy. He enjoyed figuring it out.


The last nutrition-related activity with Jaguar today was the traditional baking of bread. We made a banana walnut bread in the bread maker. It was really tasty, but not as tasty as it could be....I have yet to find a bread maker recipe that I personally recommend. Regardless of the outcome, the process was fun and enriching for Jaguar. :)

Top Holiday Gifts for Baby to Age 12

Baby
~Soft, cuddly animals or dolls, preferably made with a natural material.
~Stackable blocks or rings.
~Short tunnel for crawling practice.
~Soft baby rattle, preferably in an organic material (they are going to be chewing on it).
~Wooden cars or animals with wheels (great concept to learn at this stage).
~Nesting blocks, eggs, dolls, or bowls.
~Balls.
~Knit, crocheted, sewed, felted, or quilted item made especially for the baby in your life.

Toddler
~Wooden Blocks.
~Sandbox.
~Dolls.
~Tricycle.
~ABC Blocks.
~Step Stool.
~Wooden puzzles.
~Hand and finger puppets.
~Dress-up clothing and accessories.
~Variety of shapes of larger wooden building blocks.
~Wooden cars and animals with wheels.
~Books with short sentences. These should be about how things really are in everyday life. It is better to introduce fantasy after age 3, according to Montessori.
~Play toys that simulate real life: Kitchen sets, strollers, tool sets, etc...
~Knit, crocheted, sewed, felted, or quilted item made especially for your little one.


Age 3-6
~Child sized broom and dustpan and mop.
~Child sized kitchenware.
~Child sized gardening tools.
~Books that are a little more intesive. These books can be more imaginative now.
~Simple painting and building kits.
~Molding clay.
~Stencils and other drawing supplies.
~Connectable building sets.
~Art easel and other supplies.
~Wooden lacing dolls and animals.
~Practical life frames, such as lace tying, buttoning, zipping, etc...
~Age level games like checkers.
~Wooden train or car/street set.
~Marbles, jacks, jump rope.
~Again, knit, crocheted, sewed, felted, or quilted item made especially for your preschooler. This can be inspirational to their own interest in crafting.
~Materials for beginning knitting or sewing.
~Musical instruments.
~Dollhouse or treehouse.
~Bicycle.
~Fairly large letters for manipulation.



Age 6-9
~Knitting, sewing, quilting, looming kits and/or materials.
~Art activities.
~Basic pottery-making set.
~Musical instruments.
~Building construction sets.
~More coplex puzzles, like science or map selections
~Wooden puzzles that deal with fractions.
~Age appropriate science sets.
~Gardening/botany kits or supplies.
~Globe.
~More complex building sets.
~Sports equipment.
~More complex games, like chess.
~Archery set.


Age 9-12
~Stilts, unicycle, or a pogo stick.
~Trampoline.
~Sports equipment, like a snow board or stuff for volleyball or soccer.
~Chapter books, literature, poetry books.
~Sewing Machine.
~More compex crafts, like candle making.
~Craft supplies. For instance, yarn and accessories for the young knitter or lots of fabric for the experimental quilter.
~Wood working supplies (tools, materials, , accessories, books) for an aspiring woodworker.
~Musical instruments and a variety of music...or lessons.
~Architecture sets.
~Challenging, developmental games.
~Science and Nature sets.
~Journal or notbook for writing.

Making Montessori Materials - Part II

Sensory experiences are critical to developing children, especially in their younger years. According to Maria Montessori, among these sensory experiences are not only smell (olfactory), sight (visual), touch (tactile), taste (gustatory), and hearing (auditory), but also weight (baric), temperature (thermic), muscular awareness of shape (stereognostic), and colour (chromatic). Today, Jaguar and I utilized Montessori scent bottles to flex his sense of smell and ability to match common aromas. I could have bought an expensive Montessori set, but I decided it would be easy to make on my own. I saved 8 baby food jars from Bobcat and filled them with 4 different spices: parsley, oregano, basil, and nutmeg. I then made a blindfold for Jaguar to wear while he matched each smell with only his nose and his hands manipulating each jar. He had fun doing this, and once he properly matched everything, we took off the blindfold and rematched the smell with his ability to see what he was smelling, and we also named each spice so he knew exactly what he was sensing.

Making Montessori Materials - Part I

There are so many ways to save money when homeschooling your child or just giving them gifts that are developmentally geared for their age. One way to save is to make your own materials. Though there are many things that would be easier to buy premade, there are also many other things that could be created with improvisation and the right materials. I have made a couple items so far, with many more in mind...hopefully to be made before Christmas.

This is a set of counting beads that I made for Jaguar as a Christmas gift. These are great for all sorts of mathematics. I simply utilized beads, wire, and a cheap craft box. These are just flashcards I made, mainly for Jaguar. I used old magazines, other publications, and computer images. I simply glued them on index cards and organized them in a recipe box from the Dollar Tree. There are about 7 of each letter. There are so many ways to discover language and reading with these cards, and they are fun to make!

Likewise, I decided last night that Jaguar can easily begin learning to read the clock. So, I made 24 cards, each with a clock on them. Half of them have the time on every hour and the other half has the times on every half hour.

There will naturally be more items. I have already made one zipper frame. I have yet to make make at least 4 more. I plan on making puppets for Bobcat, as well, and a fabric box and matching ricebags in various textured fabric....My husband plans on making a pink tower, brown stairs, maybe even a dollhouse..... We will see in later posts as these couple of months progress.

Halloween and Autumn Creations With the Kids

This last holiday weekend brought lots of fun and business for the kids. Halloween and Autumn are always a fun focus to initiate the colder season to come.

Lynx particularly enjoyed the sewing projects he did, which is wonderful because it helps to center him. He designed and sewed a felt monster and sewed the face on a felt skeleton. This was his first experience with sewing ever. Lynx also is in the middle of putting together another monster with precut pieces.

Jaguar was busy making pipe cleaner finger puppets, matching ghosts and their different facial expressions, counting pumpkin seeds, sorting colored spiders, free painting with fall colors, making leaf pattern decorations, and more.

The boys also painted fall tree silhouettes on a sunset background with watered down paint and straws for the trees. I did one, too, because it looked fun.

Lynx helped me make homemade pumpkin pie…it is the best! Once you have pumpkin pie from an actual pumpkin, you never want to go back to the can (although that can be pretty good too). We also made cranberry sauce and apple cinnamon peanut butter "sushi". They were simple, but very tasty.

Bobcat played with his treasure tray full of autumn themed sensory stuff and walked through a pile of fall leaves.

Before we went trick-or-treating, I sewed some bags for all the boys to decorate with fabric paint and potato stamps cut in the shapes of pumpkins.

Of course, I had the boys carve a pumpkin. We had one pumpkin and I went back to the store Halloween morning only to find all the rest of the pumpkins were completely wiped out. So, Jaguar carved one side, and Lynx designed and carved the other side.