Open Shelving: Please Touch!

It's important for toddlers to be able to reach stuff they are allowed to use and to NOT be able to reach stuff they are NOT allowed to use.  That's why my house has a ga-zillion step stools and the teenagers' rooms are as secure as Fort Knox (safety gates galore).

For things it's okay to use I have lots of different kinds of open shelving--most of it cheap.  In the photo above there are tons of those melamine closet organizers along one wall of our hallway with a picture ledge from Ikea a little higher.  Sometimes it holds books, right now it holds Dressing Frames.

On the other side of this hallway:

I do have some special shelving that I splurged on (you can see one in the left of the above photo).  The specialty shelves fit the Montessori equipment perfectly and sometimes go on sale at Lord Equipment Company.

In the kitchen I have cheap shelves from office supply stores that kinda match (during sale season I think they were about $17 at Office Depot?).  I also repurposed several cubbies from Target that we've used in the kids' closets off and on.  In the sunroom there's one long bench that can serve as shelving.  I've seen makeshift classrooms with long wooden boards and cinder blocks used as shelves, but you'd have to be pretty sure that no one would be getting hurt around those!   As long as it's safe for the purposes intended, any affordable solution you can imagine will work.

Baby Jonathan, who is 14 months young, is old enough to know where to get his books and--MORE IMPORTANTLY!-- where to put them away.

This cubbie from Target is perfect for toddlers to independently get their things and to return them when finished.

For the older kids it's nice to have adjustable shelves that are still low and stable but which can accommodate even big books.  The baskets along the top (from Pottery Barn) are used to separate the four levels of easy reading books.

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Montessori Lite: Cards and Counters

Normally this work isn't introduced until a child is about 4 (it's 5th in the Number Work Progression), but Alleluia REALLY wanted to work with it--I think she likes the way these materials FEEL--so I gave in.

This is easy and cheap.  Go to Michael's (or Hobby Lobby or any good arts and crafts store) and buy card-sized pieces of wood.  These are for the numerals 1-9 and all you need to do is sand them a little before painting the numbers in red.  For 10 I had to buy one of those little wooden signs that hangs from a door knob (also from Michael's)--you know, those kind that can say "Please do not disturb" or whatever?  This will have to be cut down into a rectangular shape that is roughly twice as wide as the 1-9 cards.  No biggie--it's super thin wood and even good kitchen shears can cut through.  Sand it and paint.

You may want to polyurethane the cards if they will get a lot of use.

Even numbers have two columns of counters.....

...while odd numbers have the last counter in the middle.

For the counters:  you can use anything that is a uniform shape and color, but watch out if you have a child who puts everything in his mouth!  (Usually this work isn't presented until well after the age when this is a problem, but ya never know.  Plus, think about younger siblings or visitors).  I just bought those cheap glass stones you see in the dollar stores and in craft stores.  I've seen people use pebbles, poker chips, acorns--pick something you and your child like to handle.  I store these in a locked "Math" cabinet.

For a container in which to store the counters I used a heavy glass tea light holder.  I like the sound the counters make when you return them to it.  Only problem is, it makes carrying this work on a small tray a little heavy for a toddler.  (Oh, the tray was from Michael's, too, and you've seen this extra big mat before--it was sold as a table runner at Pottery Barn.)

Neat sound!

Rolling up the mat is part of returning the work.

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French for Toddlers: Tea Party with Grandma

Here's another short dialog in French.  Made by Ellen Green, it is a fanciful conversation about a tea party with Grandma.  Enjoy!

French for Toddlers: Teaparty with Grandma

And here are some awesome flashcards:
Quizlet French Flashcards

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H2Oh! A Toddler's Best Friend

 Whether you have a backyard or not, a baby pool or just a really deep dish of water in a cramped condo, did you know that water can be your best friend?  Toddlers and water together require careful supervision, but they need little help from us to provide entertainment and, sometimes, learning!

We like to toss different things in the water and guess what will float and what will sink.  An occasional ice cube is a cheap toy and no worries with storing it (just watch out for choking).

If the kids like to play with squirt guns, show them how to fill them up by submerging the empty ones in water until bubbles stop coming up.  You can explain that the water is taking the place of the air.

The feather floats!

Get a watering can that's small enough for your kids to use.  Water wheels are fun, too, and can be used with sand as well.

You can buy a spider (this wire and bamboo kitchen implement) in the kitchen essentials aisle and use it to fish ping pong balls out.  We have tons of shells that we put in the water and in our sandbox, but I didn't notice how beautiful these barnacles were until they were all wet.

This big piece of driftwood floated for a little while, but when we returned from doing errands it had sunk.  It was the topic of conversation with even the older children:  Why would it sink?  (It was waterlogged!)

Extensions

• lessons on the three states of matter:  gas, solid (toss an ice cube in), liquid
• "painting" bricks and dry wood with water
• point out bubbles everywhere (inside the ice cube, in a boiling pot of water, in the pool when you kick really hard, etc)

Bubbles and water go together......

A vaporizer that makes mist can be fascinating!

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Re-posting a Great Toddler Table Washing Idea

This looks fun!  A fun and realistic approach to teaching toddlers table washing.
From Chalkboard to Strollers.

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Peel n' Chop: Pho

I told a friend we had eaten pho last night.  She waited, look puzzled, and then asked, "Faux what?"

Har de har.  We had pho, the Vietnamese soup often served with rice noodles.  Here's the recipe (we substitute steak for beef knuckle):  Pho

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Ice Cube Trays -- Never Leave Home Without One

Two-year-olds love teeny tiny things AND they love to sort.  Enter the lowly ice cube tray.

I used to let the kids collect all manner of junk on our walks, but then we'd have broken seed pods, dandelion seeds everywhere and gravel at the bottom of my purse.  When I started to use egg cartons and ice cube trays things got a little more "organized" looking and we'd announce we were adding these specimens to our Nature Center under the stairs when we got home.  With the compartments it all looks so official, like a museum.

But wait--there's more.  You can use them to sort all manner of teeny tiny things at home (in this case, Barbie shoes).  Just one warning:  G.I. Joe's manly boots won't fit :(

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