Midweek Creations - Fireworks Painting

This is a simple paint craft perfect for any celebration involving fireworks. Enjoy!

What you'll need:
black construction paper
pastel colored paint
old kitchen scrubber
glitter and glue (optional)

Pour a small amount of paint into a shallow container. Help your child dip the rough bristled end of your kitchen scrubber into the paint and then make a few quick strokes on the black construction paper to make a firework burst. Once the paint dries, you can cover the painted areas with a little bit of glue and have your child help sprinkle some glitter on top to give the fireworks some extra shine.

Montessori Mondays - Transitions

Transitions are tough for everyone, but especially for young children because often they have no control or foresight of what event will be coming next. Yet transitions are everywhere and some are just plain unavoidable. Here are a few tips to make transitions less of a main event and easier for your little one to process. If you have any tips of your own, please feel free to leave a comment for other readers.

• if you have a regular schedule throughout the week such as snack, outside time, lunch, nap, snack you can create a picture sequence book of your child doing these activities and then look at them before the day starts in the morning so you child knows exactly what will be coming next and a change in activities will be less of a surprise
  
• in addition to a sequence book it is important to give your child some verbal "warning" before a transition; most toddlers don't understand the concept of time as we do so instead of saying "1 more minute" you can say "once I get done putting these dishes away it will be time to pick up your materials and get ready to go to school"
• it is important to try and plan out transitions as much as possible, especially if they are regular happenings, so that big transitions become an activity in and of themselves for your toddler
  
• if the transition is out of your control, for example waiting for food to be served at a restaurant, have a few small, consistent back-up activities planned ahead of time - crayons and paper, i spy activities, small fingerplays - just remember to give your child a cue again so that once the food does arrive he will know it is time to stop the activity and eat

Friday Notables - Cookie's Week

Cookie's Week by Cindy Ward is one of those perfect books for toddlers. The text is short, has a simple repetitive pattern, and features a very cute and mischievous cat.
The book follows a little black and white kitten named Cookie over the course of a week who simply can't seem to stay out of trouble, for example "On Monday, Cookie fell in the toilet." which is then followed by the result of Cookie's actions, "There was water everywhere." Tomie dePaola does a beautiful job illustrating the moment right before Cookie gets into trouble and the following mess and disorder that ensues. Although you rarely get to see a full illustration of cookie (often it is a tail or a paw), dePaola's pictures capture the curiosity and resulting surprise of a little cat. Chances are after a few read-throughs, your toddler will be able to begin predicting what will happen next to Cookie and may start adding their own commentary to Cookie's mishaps such as "a mess!" or "Oh no!"

Midweek Creations - Texture Boards

Texture boards are a great extension for a basic skill like coloring for many toddlers who have really begun to show control over direction and pressure when using the crayons. I recommend creating this project while out of the reach of children because it does use hot glue which could cause burns. Enjoy!

What You'll Need:
8 x 11 or larger piece of cardboard (I like to use the large rectangles from a recycled cereal box)
Hot glue gun and hot glue

Very simply, create a pattern on the cardboard with the hot glue. Feel free to get creative with your design although geometric shapes do tend to work best and allow you the opportunity to talk about different shapes. Once the hot glue has cooled the board is ready to introduce to your toddler. You may have to help them place their paper over the texture board the first few times and show them that a design will now come through their artwork.

Montessori Mondays - Real Life Pictures

Within a Montessori environment is an active pursuit to keep materials and objects as real as possible thus most materials are made of wood or stainless steel and children use water, paper, rice, and beans for practical life work. Another big, but sometimes overlooked, goal for Montessori environments is to provide as many real-life pictures or real looking illustrations of people, animals, and objects. The idea behind real life pictures is to ground a child in reality and introduce symbolism at a very basic level. To clarify, Montessori was not opposed to imagination and creativity, but believed that children first need to be able to have a clear grasp on what reality is to create a solid paradigm for learning about the world before creating their own variations on the world. Real life pictures are one of the most basic forms of symbolism that many of us take for granted, but small children are naturally drawn to real life or real looking pictures. When reading a book with toddlers, one that shows real life pictures of animals almost never needs text. The children are absorbed in the image. However, many books with cartoon illustrations that show animals out of proportion or color are often more driven by the text and, in my experience, tend to be less popular. This is not to say eliminate all illustrations and art from your child's world, but instead provide real life pictures for everyday learning and introduce art in activities such as "matching like images."

Montessori Mondays - The Perfect at Home Shelves

Earlier this week I posted about creating a special section for your child to keep his own cleaning supplies and many of you may want to also begin displaying your child's toys and materials on small shelves like you would find in a Montessori environment. Unfortunately, shelves specifically designed for children can be expensive or time consuming to make. A great solution to this problem are wooden shoe shelves that you can find in many stores today. They are the perfect size for young children and since many are small can stand alone, be placed together, and can be easily moved when needed for cleaning. I would recommend finding some with more rounded corners just in case your child tumbles towards the shelves at some point, but there are many cost effective varieties suited to almost any decor.

Midweek Creations - Father's Day Hammer

If your child's dad has his own workshop in the back of the garage, here is a great gift even small toddlers can make that will last a long time. Enjoy!

Here's what you'll need:

• a hammer with a wooden handle
• paint and paintbrush
• sealant spray

Allow your child to paint the hammer's handle however she likes. Just be very observant as the metal part of the hammer is sometimes sharp. Once the paint dries, spray the handle with a sealant spray that you should be able to find at a craft store to help preserve your child's artwork.

Montessori Mondays - Cleaning as part of Practical Life

An important part of Montessori practical life work is to provide an opportunity for children to learn to care for their materials and environment. Around the age of one this need to care for and take ownership of a space surfaces, especially if your young child sees you cleaning and caring for things on a daily basis. While you don't want to give your child access to all the same cleaning chemicals and materials you use, you may want to set up his own little cabinet, shelf, or space in the closet for items that he can use to help clean. As you are setting up this separate space for him, it is important to talk about why some chemicals and cleaning supplies are only for adults to use. Here are a few suggestions of items that you may want to include in your child's cleaning space:

• small dustpan with broom
• small spray bottle and clean cloth for cleaning windows
• baby wipes for helping you wipe down their materials
• dusting cloth
• small towels (washcloths are the perfect size for small hangs) for wiping up spills (I like the idea of color coding these, for example: blue towels for wiping spills on tables and brown towels for wiping up floor spills)
• small laundry basket for placing dirty towels in
• small pair of gloves (if you often clean with gloves, chances are your toddler will want his own pair too)

Friday Notables - Nuby Nibbler

Today's Friday Notable is a product known as the Nuby Nibbler. This is a great alternative to your traditional plastic teething rings as it allows you to place pieces of frozen or cold fruit in a small net that helps assure that your child won't choke on the fruit and yet be able to use even the back gums to gnaw on the fruit. While some reviews say the net is difficult to clean after use, many recommend this over similar products that use a net as it is removable and replaceable nets can also be purchased. The Nuby Nibbler can also be used to begin to introduce solid foods to a young toddler transitioning from baby food. Best of all it is BPA free. Check out the product more by clicking here. Have a great weekend.

Midweek Creations - Butterfly Hands

This week's creation is a fun and simply piece of art that will be fun for your child to explore with. As with many art projects I post on here, there are lots of opportunities for variation. Enjoy!

Here's what you'll need:
Popsicle stick
construction paper
crayons and/or paint
stickers (0ptional)
tape
scissors

Let your child decorate his piece of construction paper with the crayons and/or paint. After the child is done and the paper is dry fold it in half and trace one of your child's hands with the palm right next to the folded edge of the paper. Cut out the tracing being sure not to cut through the folded edge near the palm. Open the cutout to reveal a butterfly and let your child decorate it a little more with stickers. Once done, tape the center fold of the butterfly onto one end of a popsicle stick and show your child how to move the popsicle stick up and down to make the butterfly fly.

Montessori Mondays - The Subject of Praise

I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. I apologize for not posting at all last week as we were just beginning summer school and I wanted to devote my time to that.

There is a huge amount of research and parenting resources on the subject of praise and punishment. Today, I want to share how the Montessori method approaches appropriate and inappropriate actions. If these ideas strike a cord with you, either positively or negatively, I encourage you to do some of your own research into the Montessori method as well as other approaches to education. Enjoy!

Very simply put, within the Montessori method external praise and punishment is kept to a minimum and wanted behaviors and actions are modeled and then acknowledged simply and quietly while unwanted behaviors and actions are quietly acknowledged and then redirected.

To delve into that idea more deeply take a look at these points.

• When Maria Montessori was initially forming her ideas through observation she noticed children learned best through an intrinsic reward system of being able to seek out training and time to work on activities that they choose themselves and were interested in. She believed external rewards should be minimal, taking the form of a nonverbal quiet cue such as a smile, to allow the intrinsic reward of meaningful work remain prominent. This is why many Montessori works are self corrective and allow children to discover solutions by themselves rather than receiving an external evaluation from an adult. This is also why adults in a Montessori environment often assume the role of a guide rather than a traditional teacher.
• It is important not to reward unsuitable behavior with direct attention, but any behavior that could cause harm or disruption to a child or other child should be addressed. If a child is being disruptive, you should gently and quietly try to distract and redirect the child to a more suitable activity. A vital part of this approach is to help the child identify the feelings that may have lead to him carrying out the unsuitable behavior. If distracting and redirecting do not work initially, then you can try gluing, or keeping the child close by, until the child calms down enough to talk and find a more suitable behavior.
• Lastly, our attitude should always be positive, patient, and supportive of independence, whether in looking for ways to redirect unsuitable behavior or letting a child make his own choice and solve the problems of that choice on his own. The tone in our body language and words should always be in quiet, calm support of this attitude and we should always model the behavior we want to see in a child. If we do make a mistake or become upset, it is also important to acknowledge our behavior and the reasons behind that behavior to a child just as we would help him work through unsuitable actions.