We have officially been open for one month now and we have the amazing chance to look after our baby daughter (9 months old) and two other little girls a few months older than our daughter.
So this month, we will work on language with the farm animals.
We, unfortunately, do not live close to a farm so we will try to help the children in our care to get different type of material they can work /play with:
-a basket with a few farm animals – we are not trying to overwhelm them with too many so right now, we have 4 animals: a cow, a horse, a sheep and a pig. We let them play with those as much as they want in total freedom (they are solid). We also take time with each of them individually or in group, to introduce the name of each animal (in English or French). Depending on the age, we can do a 2 period-lesson and see progress happening.
-A sensory book of farm animals – this one has pictures of different animals and has at least, the 4 animals which are in the basket. They can look at it on their own and at times we also read it to them. The sensory part is not forced on them, we like to help them discover this extra on their own.
Work on hand-eye coordination:
As we have a 9 months old baby and 2 very young toddlers, our shelves reflect where they are at. We are trying to be quite minimalist even if we want everybody to find a little of everything they need. On our shelves, you can find:
-egg and cup (from Beginning Montessori)
-Stacking ring (from Beginning Montessori)
and I love it because it grows with them, they provide different types of rings. We are now using the 3 brass rings and will soon move on to the set of graded wooden rings.
–the object permanence box – which the oldest master but they are still enjoying it as our daughter is working on it a looooot and makes huge progress with it.
-we also enjoy the Grimm’s stacking cups
-our toddlers enjoy the challenge of the coin box
-and last but not least we have on display the red square puzzle – from single shape puzzle. This one gives a good challenge to our toddlers and it’s so much fun observing them work with it.
I will follow up soon with more on movement and music !!! Stay tuned ! Do not forget to have fun !!!
Chez Mahe Montessori Blog 