After sharing several Montessori inspired toddler activities (and here), I thought it was best to try and round up some of the recent Montessori activities for preschoolers!
Cameron (3.5 years old) is not fond of me taking photos of him while he does activities. I tried to get him on video and the result was hilarious. Here are some of the works on his shelves (including some you may have already seen):
These 15 piece jigsaw puzzles are challenging for Cameron
Solar system shadow match from 2 teaching mommies – a bit hit!
Making plasticine people
Cam is creating more elaborate designs with his hammer tap a shape activity
Sorting white beans, corn kernels, sunflower seeds and pepitas with his fingers
Using his kiddie kutter to prepare a strawberry snack
Cam has regressed with numbers and lost interest. We are going back to basics and trying to have fun.
Learning the states and territories of Australia with our map puzzle and nomenclature cards from Our Worldwide Classroom
This is definitely a favourite and it requires a lot of concentration
Squeezing water out of sponge pieces with a garlic press
New language area with shape stencils (our alternative to Montessori metal insets)
Some art materials are stored up higher where Lucy cannot reach
Most of what Cameron does isn’t easy to photograph or is just part of our everyday life (food preparation, cleaning, folding, collecting firewood, sorting washing, etc) and a lot of free play, particularly outdoors. However, I hope this inspired any of you looking for activities for your preschooler! I’m linking up to Montessori Monday (you can see the sites I sometimes link to here).
Disclosure: there are affiliate links in this post. Your support is always appreciated.
Olá Racheous
Estou admirada com o trabalho que vc desenvolve com seus filhos,sou professora aqui no Brasil e tive minha formação academica em pedagogia montessoriana.Trabalhei muito, durante longos anos.Agora com meus filhos passo para eles ensinamentos que eles adoram.Aqui no Brasil não podemos dar aulas em casa para nossos filhos,então eles frequentam a escola normal e todo o conhecimento extra curricular eu mantenho em casa.Adorei seu espaço.Parabéns
Andreia
Such a wonderful and inspiring collection of activity ideas! That seed/bean sorting activity will be happening at our place soon I think!
Great collection of activities! The strawberry cutting looks fun and delish :)
Another thought – my older son also lost interest in counting, but quite honestly I didn’t care about it. I think children don’t learn steadily – when they catch some ideas (for example counting), they work on it for some time and then move their interest to another area.
For example my son learnt all the letters when he was 22 months old (in the same time when he was learning to speak) and then lost interest in this area totally. I just let it go, because it was far too early to teach him reading or writing (which is natural implication of ability to recognise letters).
I love your ideas! My children are in the same age as yours (3,5 years and 15 months), so your posts are very inspiring and useful for me.
I must try garlic press activity, it seems great!
What activity is shown just below Australia map? Hammering? And how do you feel about hammering shapes? I was thinking about buying one but these sets usually have very small nails and I was afraid of losing them somewhere at home (my younger boy still sometimes puts things into his mouths). I preffered to give my older boy real board and real, very big nails, so I can easily find them (like on these photos; nails were about 5-7 cm long: http://mapart.me/2013/06/18/vacation/)
Thank you for sharing! Most of my 3.5 year olds activities are day to day things, too. I love the sponge and garlic press activity, so I think we may add that in soon :)
Such a great roundup of activities! I’ve been planning to do the garlic press one with my own kids. I thought my kids might be too young for geography nomenclature cards, but I think you’ve inspired me to give it a try!
Hi Rachel, I really liked this post. I was interested in the mention of Cameron regarding numbers. My oldest son also went through a definite regression with numbers. I was worried so I had to really observe the situation. Is it a sequencing thing (can’t count very high)? Can he count but not write (a visual spatial thing)? Can he write but not name (a vocabulary thing)? In the end I observed it was a little bit of everything, and he was just burnt out. I felt better knowing that he is a bright boy with many strengths in many areas. We fit “maths” in unexpected places like me asking how many firemen were in his toy truck going to a fire. He would say a number (4) I would try different ways to extend the story like “if they had to bring another firemen it would be 5 and they would have to squish to fit.” I would find odd things that he loved (bugs, toy cars, the cat’s teeth unfortunately) and we would count them or draw them. Or I would write a number and ask him what food would he want of that number and we would draw the food together.
Anyway, long story short, I worried for a long time, and finally came to realize that it just wasn’t his sensitive period for maths, and that he was thriving in every other way. He is twelve now and a math wiz, although he still loves solving the odd problems like figuring out how much fuel is needed for a return flight to Mars.
Thank you so much for this comment. I’m doing similarly with Cammy. I keep reminding myself that most sources say the sensitive period for numeracy is 4-5.5 years and Cam is only 3.5.