Tot School: 17.5 Months

~17.5 Months~

As the Stink Bug is nearing 18 months old, I am beginning to transition some of our work into more "typical" Montessori style activities. Not that 18 months is a magical age or anything, it just seems to be that she is ready to be challenged in a different way, and it is a good "goal age" for my head to wrap around. I had set in my sights to begin to focus our time a little more specifically at 18 months (as long as she enjoys it) and want to continue with that in mind.

Some Montessori things that we will begin to work on include; more activities done on a mat, more pouring and transferring, and some more practical life activities. We will also begin some more traditional "direct" teaching activities. These will be more along the lines of color, alphabet, and object lessons. Sounds like a lot huh!? We will see how she likes it! All I can do is try, and if it doesn't work, adjust what we are working on!

This week we began using a mat (although I rolled it for her and showed her where to put it away) and we started our first transferring type activity.



In this activity, the Stink Bug was given two bowls. One bowl about half filled with dried split peas, and the second empty. I gave her a small scoop on the tray, and showed her how to scoop up the peas, and transfer them into the second bowl. She work on this until she was no longer interested (usually leaving some of the peas behind) but, that was ok with me.



I also modeled her the "control of error" by spilling a few peas on the tray myself, picking them up, and putting them back into the bowl. The Stink Bug did spill some peas and picked them up but, was not so diligent about getting them all picked up just yet. If you would like to learn a little bit more about control of error you can check out some good information here. I was very impressed with her interest in the activity and it was just difficult enough without overwhelming her! Yay for peas!



We gave salt dough another try this week. The last few times that I have made it for the Stink Bug to explore she wanted NOTHING to do with it. This week, she really opened up to the idea. So much so that she was willing to stamp things into it, and tear pieces off.



Gotta love learning while still in your pajamas!



She only tried to put it in her mouth once, and quickly realized just how gross and salty it was. Needless to say, she didn't try to eat it again!



The Stink Bug had a lot of fun pushing her finger into some little circles that I made for her with the bottom of a toy.



The Stink Bug also worked on her scooping skills in our rainbow rice table.



Of course, some times it's just more fun to do everything upside down!

Tot School: 14.5 Months

~14.5 Months~

We had a little distraction while taking our tot school pictures this week. The Stink Bug has a fascination for lawn mowers, especially when they involve one of her favorite neighbors. You will see that she is staring into the distance in some of the pictures....well...this was why!



We did LOTS of puzzle work this week. I love this specific puzzle because all of the fish are the same shape so, no matter where she puts the piece it will fit, even if the color doesn't match.



I also enjoy this puzzle because it has tiny little "stems"/"knobs" or whatever you want to call them. Whatever they are, they are GREAT for fine motor practice.



The second activity that we worked on was a recycled container activity. I used a cleaned out oatmeal container, and cut small holes in it that fit her alphabet blocks. You can see another oatmeal container activity here.



I figured that putting holes in the lid, as well as the side, would challenge her to move her wrist in various ways.



She really enjoyed looking at each side of the blocks before putting it into the container. This was a little bit challenging for her, because I made the holes a tight fit. I imagine that you could do this activity with just about any block you have around!



The third activity that we worked on was a spooning/transferring activity. The Stink Big loved the spoon, love the oatmeal, loved the bowls but, loved them all separately.




She enjoyed "pretend spooning" and eating it. She enjoyed running the oatmeal through her fingers.



I think I will look into giving her some more familiar materials to work with for spooning and transferring. I think I may try to use the rainbow rice, since she is more familiar with it. You can check out my tutorial for rainbow rice here.





Pumpkin Time!

You know what time of year it is! Time for silly, tooth grinned, pumpkins! In the past, I have poured hours into intricate pumpkins with crazy patterns. This year is different. Without much time, and no desire for the stuffy pumpkins of my recent past, I decided to bring back a little of my childhood. I have such good memories of pumpkins carved on a whim, and good times with my family. I really wanted some of that fun again! Why does it need to be a planned out event? On a whim I say! A whim!



Here is daddy teaching the Stink Bug how to carve a pumpkin! She was more interested in trying to eat the pumpkin seeds, and opening and closing the pumpkin lids, than listening to daddy.