Making a Mask with Bhoomi!
Let’s watch a video of how to make a mask with Bhoomi! You can use commonly found materials at home. Click to see the video!
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Latest Dispatches
Under 3
Oatmeal and Yogurt Bread With Maria!
Maria baked delicious oatmeal and yogurt bread for Saint Patrick’s Day! She wanted to share their very special family recipe. Please click “view” for the recipe and more photos.
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St Patrick’s Day Art with Jen!
Here’s a video of Jen from our Under 3 classroom at Coatsworth making St. Patrick’s Day art with her daughter! Let’s make the most of our time at home with our families! (Please click to see the video.)
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Sensory Exploration (Colored Cooked Spaghetti)
Sensorial exploration is a main component of the Under 3 community. The classroom is composed of sensorial activities that the children are able to work with every single day. Sitting, standing, or at a mat,
the child is able to work independently with various materials including pasta, rice, oatmeal, feathers,
cornmeal, sand, and quite often water. In working with these various materials, the children are able to
enhance their sense of smell, touch, sight, and hearing. Children are also able to partake in dramatic
play with a collection of animals and scoops and explore the different facets of expressive language.
Washing a Table
Practical life activities allow the child to develop fine and gross motor control, self-confidence, thinking outside the self, and a feeling of being productive and belonging to the community. Practical Life involves care of the self, the environment, and grace and courtesy. Here, a child is using a sponge and bucket of water to clean a table. Very helpful!
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Painting
Painting with watercolours is an independent and creative activity offered in the classroom. Fine-motor skills are used to hold the paintbrush and make strokes, dots, lines, etc. onto paper. The process of having to first dip the brush into the water, then into the paint, and finally onto the paper develops sequencing skills. Furthermore, painting allows for exploration of the self-creative process while fulfilling the need for sensorial stimulation. After working quietly to create a masterpiece, the child then tidies up the activity, remembering that the paper towel goes in the garbage, the painting goes on the dry rack, and the paint supplies go back on the shelf.
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Self-Regulation and Micro-Environments
Learning to self-regulate is a large part of life in the Under Three Montessori classroom. One way we help children to self-regulate is by providing activities and micro-environments within our classroom that help them to up-regulate (when they need to be energized) and down-regulate (when they need to be relaxed).
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Nature in the Classroom
“Solicitous care for living things affords satisfaction to one of the most lively instincts of the child’s mind. Nothing is better calculated than this to awaken an attitude of foresight.” -Maria Montessori
(Please click “view” for more details on nature in an Under 3 Montessori classroom.)
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Polishing a Mirror
Practical life activities give children the opportunity to participate and contribute to their community. They involve care of the self as well as the indoor and outdoor environment, grace and courtesy, and control and refinement of movement. Taking care of our classroom by polishing a mirror gives us a sense of belonging and being a productive citizen in our community.
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Cutting Snips with Scissors
Cutting with scissors encourages the child to use two hands simultaneously while fostering concentration, fine motor skills, and hand-eye coordination. Learning to manipulate one’s fingers, hands, wrists, and the scissors in order to cut a thin strip of paper into many smaller pieces can be quite a challenge. Children really enjoy the cause and effect element of this activity.
Please click “Cutting Snips with Scissors” for the photos.
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