Early Mapping Skills - Picture Copying

This simple learning activity doesn't take many materials or preparation, but it boosts all sorts of cognitive abilities in your little ones...

Tot School - 17 Months

H is 17 months old.  I have to gush about the photo above - aren't those sweet little hands just the cutest?  The learning spurt is still in full swing and we've been doing many different activities to stimulate all the senses and practice fine motor skills...

Making Soap With Kids

I bought a soap-making kit back in December, hoping to make holiday presents for everyone with the kids.  We ended up going to visit my in-laws a week earlier than planned, so the soap making never happened.  Instead, we made soaps as a little Valentine's Day activity.  The girls (3.5 years old) and I had so much fun.  It's such a great sensory and fine motor exercise for kids with even a little science thrown in...

Montessori Monday - Counting Corners with Pushpins

My kids love pushpin activities - they provide great fine motor practice for the pincer grip used in writing.  Today I switched things up a little by including some shapes cut out from construction paper and inviting L and E (3.5 years old) to use the pushpins to count the corners..

Cooking with Kids: 10 Ideas

One of my favorite thing to do with my kids is to let them help me cook and bake.  I've been cooking with the twins since they were 20 months old.  Sure it takes twice as long, and the results are often less than spectacular, but it's really all about the process and I love watching how focused they can get as they work on those fine motor skills.

Here are ten of my favorite Cooking with Kids blog posts from the past year...

Tot School - 16 Months

Baby H is 16 months old.  I have to admit that I'm super-excited about him reaching the age where he understands more and can do focused activities.  It's been hard dividing my attention up between three young kids, especially when his older sisters are doing things that are, frankly, more interesting for a parent to engage in.  Although H is perfectly content exploring various toys on his own or watching me work with his sisters, I've still managed to carve out certain times of the day just for him.  I really enjoy our special one-on-one time playing and learning together.  I usually don't "spoil the moment" by taking out my camera when I'm playing with H, but I managed to capture a couple of the homemade games and activities we've been doing..

8 Montessori-Inspired Learning Activities with a Battleship Game

Games that are meant for older kids can be used for fantastic early learning activities for the younger set.  I recently found a travel-sized Battleship game for $5, and my 3-year-olds have been having a great time using it for all sorts of neat Montessori-inspired educational activities.

Baby School - In and Out / On and Off

Baby H is 14 months old.  He is now walking around unassisted (he's not a baby anymore!), and is constantly imitating sounds and trying to communicate.  He makes up his own funny games to play and has a wonderful sense of humor (constantly trying to play tricks on his mom and then laughing).  I didn't do a special theme this week, but tried to give him lots of opportunities for practicing "in and out" and "on and off".  He's definitely trying to say those words (although they all sound alike).  Here are just a few of the things he's been doing that I remembered to take pictures of..

Welcome to Baby School

Baby H is 13 months old.  Most of H's day is spent observing his sisters playing, but I always try to fit in some new learning experiences that are geared just towards him (mostly sensory explorations and Montessori-inspired activities).  I figure that it's time for H to get his own Baby School weekly post showing all the neat things he has been discovering lately.  I didn't get a chance to capture all the cool activities we've been doing this week, but I'll share a handful of them..

Colorful Beads Made from Magazines

I remember making beads out of the Sunday comics in an art class at age 9 or 10.  I tried a similar activity with my own kids - making beads out of magazines (or catalogs in my case), and not only did the girls (3 years old) absolutely love creating them, but they also turned out beautiful...

Montessori Practical Life Snack: Banana Skewers

This Montessori-inspired snack takes no prep-time, and kids get great practice with fine-motor skills making it themselves.  Here are the steps..

Discovery Bottles for Baby H

I wanted L and E (3) to make Baby H some presents for his 1st birthday so they would feel included rather than jealous.  They made these great Discovery Bottles for him.  I didn't share this post earlier, because I was planning on making them cooler by adding some glitter (and wanted to include photos of the results), but I haven't had time to pick up the glitter.  The process of creating these gifts was a good fine-motor activity for H's older sisters...

Homeschool Preschool Week 3

L and E (37 months) have just completed their 3rd week for "Homeschool Preschool".  We're still trying to stick with a daily routine, but it's become a lot more flexible.  There are days when they clearly want to play without me, so I let them play while I get some work done.  Other days, L will refuse to call me "Mommy", just "Teacher" and both girls beg for their activity boxes.  We just go with the flow..  Here's a review of the types of learning experiences we've been doing...

School Supplies Activity Tray

I'm like a 'kid in a candy store' when it comes to discount school supplies.  A year ago, around this time I found a ton of clearance pencils, erasers, and pencil cases in a craft store, and made a little activity tray for the girls (who were 2 at the time).  For this activity tray, I showed the girls how to place the pencils in the pencil boxes, and how to put the erasers on the pencils.  This year, I reintroduced the tray to the kids and we made up even more games with it...

Playing with Pushpins

Recently, I purchased some inexpensive corkboards and pushpins for the girls to play with.  Since pushpins (or thumbtacks) are sharp and a major choking hazard, I introduced this as a very special activity for "big kids only", supervised the whole time, and made sure we stayed in one place and put every pin back in the box when we were done.  It was a fun, inexpensive activity in creativity and fine-motor skills...

Misc Preschool Activities

When I was going through my photos I realized I've taken a few pictures of activities that we've been doing this week that either I've already blogged about, or are not really worthy of their own blog post.  Here's a glimpse of some of these miscellaneous preschool-level learning activities that L and E (35 months) have been doing ...

Fine Motor Skills Practice with Playdough and Whole Cloves

I love activities that involve multiple senses.  This one combines fine motor skills work with the lovely aroma of cloves.  We've been going through the Story of the World, and just finished the chapter about the start of farming in the Nile Delta.  I decided that it would be fun to invite L and E (almost 3) to plant some 'crops' next to a playdough river using whole cloves...

Using Buttons to Make Decorative Bowls

Last week we took out our Sensory Button Tray and made decorative plates and bowls using buttons and Model Magic (this would work with Salt Dough or any air-dry clay as well).   Here's what we did ...

Threading Beads Fine Motor Activity

I made a little beading activity for the kids using various plastic, foam, and felt beads and buttons.  They set to work right away and had such a good time making their own necklaces...

Plastic Egg Painting (and washing)

One activity L and E absolutely adore is painting their plastic toys and animals and then giving them a bath.  This week we switched things up a bit by painting plastic Easter eggs.