Wild Animals in Africa Activity Tray

I have found this activity to be enjoyed by children ages 1.5 through 6.  A great way to learn the shapes and names of our continents is to make activity trays that teach the children something about the continent.  Learning about wild animals can be very enjoyable for the little ones.  If you are a Montessori teacher or teach at a school that recognizes continents in different colors, this is also a great way for the kids learn the colors of each continent.

What You'll Need:

-A tray

-Craft foam sheets 

-Green Felt (Or whatever color you teach with to recognize continents in your program)

-Wild Animal figures 

-A bowl or container for the figures

-Scissors

-Marker or pen

-Sheet of paper

-Tacky Glue or another adhesive that works with felt and foam sheets 

Steps:

-First, glue your sheet of felt to a foam sheet.  Let it set to dry.

-Draw up your continent on paper the best you can or have a printed copy of it and cut it out.  Make sure it is large enough that all of the animal figures will fit on the surface.

-Take the sheets that you glued together, and put the felt side face down on a table.  Lay the cut-out shape of your continent on the foam, but make sure that the image is flipped or reversed as this is the back side that will be facing down in the tray.  Trace it with a marker or pen.

-Cut it out and there you have your continent.

I chose to put the foam on the bottom of the felt, to make it a little more durable.  It also grips better to the foam surface under it.

-Take an uncut blue foam sheet and place it at the bottom of your tray to represent water.

-Add the animal figures with a container or bowl and offer it to your kids.  

-You can add labels to the continent and for the animals, especially if you are working with an older age group.

A Montessori Note on Why I Chose to Teach Africa First

For you Montessori teachers and parents, I wanted to explain my underlying reason on why I chose Africa as the first continent tray to offer my students, ages 1.5 through 3, and not North America (which is the continent we live in).  As you may know in many classrooms, it is helpful to first teach the continent that we are from. I too agree and I do talk with the children about where we live, but I tend to break things down in different ways to reach a point.  During circle times, the kids were first shown a sand paper globe to recognize land and water, and then I began showing them the most typical maps and globes where the land is all green and the water is blue.  If you know your Montessori, you know that continents on a Montessori globe are all different colors to help the child learn their continents.  Africa is the color green on a Montessori globe, and since the kids are still learning the concept of land and water, I felt that this color was best for that as they begin to recognize continents.  This age group is very visual and they respond best to real and natural imagery (such as the most natural colors on maps).  Showing them the Montessori multi-colored map would be a little harder for them to understand right off the bat, but while many of the kids have grasped a better understanding of the earth we live on, they are being introduced to the concept of the Montessori multi-colored map.  

Pushing Pins into a Pin Cushion Activity

Pushing pins into a pin cushion takes coordination and careful handling for ages 2, and sometimes up to age 6 or older.   This is a preliminary sewing activity that the students in our Montessori studio absolutely love.  It's an activity that is seen in many Montessori environments.  A very thorough lesson is given to children first before handling sharp objects such as pins.  We explain that if we are not careful, these items could be dangerous.  Many children also realize that in most cases, it is a privilege to use such objects at this age. They recognize that we are trusting them to handle this material properly and they take pride in that.  Of course, we are always observing them, but we find that they are most respectful to material that typically wouldn't be offered to them elsewhere.  This lesson teaches children safety and a respect for materials in the classroom.  In addition, it is great for the fine motor skills!

Extension for Pushing Pins into a Pin Cushion

After the kids have had some practice with pushing the pins in, challenge their coordination by adding beads.  Show them how to put the pin through the bead hole before pushing the pin into the cushion.

Jars, Containers and Lids used to Create a Fine Motor Skill Activity for Kids

Age level: 1.5 through 6.

Take different sized Jars and Containers with lids, put them on a tray or basket, and offer this simple activity to your classroom.  Step by step, show the children how to open the jars and containers and then show them how to put the lids back on each one.  When putting the lids back on, it helps to have one hand holding the jar down and the other hand twisting or pressing the cap down. This is great for children's fine motor skills and they really enjoy these simple kinds of work.  

This was a lesson that I came across while studying and teaching the Montessori Approach.  The idea was presented and got me thinking of some extended ways to keep it fresh:

Rotate the containers and jars and present them in different ways to spark new interest.  Remove or keep the labels on recycled jars, or create your own labels, perhaps to teach about colors.  In addition, you can have an item in each Jar that the child may take out and play with before putting the object back in.  For example, a block or a couple Legos can be placed in each jar for the child to build with before putting them back in the jars.  To teach children about color, color coordinate the jar labels to the colors of blocks or Legos.  For children ages 2 through 4, it might be best to keep the work simple as the more steps they have the harder it is to remember and to follow through.  Older children from ages 4 and up might enjoy more steps to work.  You could incorporate language by labeling each jar with a letter from the alphabet and add small objects in each jar that begin with that particular letter.  The child may take out each object and play with them, and when it is time to clean up the items, that child will be challenged to think about which letter each object begins with.

I suggest keeping it simple and starting with the easiest types of containers for the young children to simply gain the concept of putting lids on.  Later, you can always add more jars and containers that are a little trickier to put back on, followed by any extensions that will challenge them.

Dig Through Your Recycling Bins for Material You Can Use for Your Classroom!

I was given a hard time by friends and family for hoarding things, but once I proved them wrong, some of them started following my footsteps.  Now, as many of you educators know, it is helpful to collect these items as they will certainly be useful.  Jars, containers, and even cardboard could be enough to start building your own classroom.  Just try to be as organized as you can about it and keep this "junk" out of other people's sight until you are ready to use it.  I have proven over and over again that saving recyclable items can be very useful in the classroom.

Just a few ideas off of the top of my head include:
-Using Cans for messy art activities to hold paint brushes, water and paint
-Using containers to separate small items for art projects and activities such as beads, stones and shells
-Cans and yogurt containers can be used to hold crayons and colored pencils

These are all common sense ideas that many educators already use, and there are so many more ideas all over the web.

Saving these items can also be useful around the house.  I will likely be posting some ideas on my blog below:

 DIY Sweet 'N Simple with Angelique

 Stay tuned and start collecting.

I have lots of fun ideas that I will be sharing here.