Bathtub Painting

To make Bathtub Paint all you need is:

•  1 Cup of body wash
• 1/2 Cup of Cornstarch
• 1/2 Cup of Water
• Kool-Aid (food coloring will give you brighter colors)

1. Mix the cornstarch and water in a {sauce pan} until it is dissolved – it should still be a bit pasty, but not clumpy. Then bring the cornstarch water to a boil – stir constantly to get out all the chunks
2. Add the soap and mix, heating on medium until just boiling. The soap should have a gel-like consistency as it cools. 
3. Add Kool-Aid. {I guess that food coloring has the best results- I just didn't want it all over hazel's body.}

 *You can store your paint in an airtight container. The paint will separate slightly when stored, so be sure to stir well before use.*

Independent Play: Quiet Boxes

Winter is here in full force, and it's brutal!  Temperatures have been below freezing for a solid couple of weeks now.  After two weeks in (comparatively) warm Texas, Utah feels like the arctic tundra.  The cold temperatures and nasty air quality mean that we have been spending a lot of time entertaining ourselves indoors. 

I ran out of ideas this week and decided to put together plastic tubs of activities that would encourage independent play.  Here are some items that would be great to keep your preschooler busy during these short (and looooong) winter days:

1. Match it Game

2. Lace and Trace Game

3. Woodland Connectagons

4. Mighty Mind

5. Big Book Of Big Machines

Keep Those Little Fingers Busy.

This was a really fun, simple project papa shared with us this Christmas while we were busy making Christmas crafts. It was a project that they had done in school. All you need is:

    *A bowl of milk
    *Food Coloring
    *Dish Soap
    *A Q-Tip

         Drop the food coloring into the bowl of milk, then dip your Q-Tip into the dish soap. Then you can use your Q-Tip to poke into the colored milk, and the color will disperse away from the soap. It leaves little circle ripples where ever it touches. Hazel absolutely loved this activity!

Great Gift Guide For 3-5 year old

a) wooden bead kit {$24.95)/ b) pattern blocks and boards {$19.99}/ c) camera {$44.95}/ d) hand bells {$34.99}/ e) feel and find kit {$29.95}/ f) sneaky, snacky squirrel game {$16.00}/ g) cash register {$26.41}

     I had a little panic attack this weekend when I realized how close we are getting to the holidays! Yikes, I have not been prepping like I usually do.. I threw this little gift guide together for the rough age group of 3-5 years old. I am trying to think outside the box this year for hazels gifts, and here are some of our top favorites.

Montessori Birthday Celebration and Fall Challenge

O and A celebrated their third birthdays this week.  In their Montessori classroom they celebrated by holding an earth marble and walking around a candle representing the sun.  The parent or teacher talks about the first year of life, and then the child walks around the sun.  This is repeated for each year that the child has lived.  It is a cosmic and magical representation of the time that the child has spent on the earth.  As they walk, the class sings this song:

The earth goes around the sun, the sun
The earth goes around the sun
It takes 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days

As a teacher, I have led many of these walks around the sun, but none was as emotional for me as O's and A's.  I am so lucky to have two happy, healthy, handsome boys!


p.s.  I am going to take part in Joanna's Fall Challenge this week:  To not watch TV for a week, or at least, cut way back.  Wish us luck, and feel free to join in!

Montessori Reading List

My love for the Montessori method began before I could even read.  Some of my earliest memories are of a large classroom with all of my favorite works (activities).  As I grew older and more aware, I remember the satisfying sound of the rice as I would pour it from one glass pitcher into another.  The painted cubes of the pink tower felt substantial and important as I placed them one on top of another as carefully as my 4 year old hands could manage.  Perhaps the most important memory I have from my six years as a Montessori student was the respect and love which I was given by my teachers.  As a result of these heart-achingly beautiful memories and foundations of self-worth, I was drawn back to the Montessori method as an adult.  

I now strive to create these same sort of memories for my own children, both in my home and in the classroom.  Some days are easier than others, and I am pretty sure I will never live up to the idealized memories of my childhood.  I have to try though.

The following is a list of a few books that have been great resources as a Montessori parent:

Montessori From the Start: The Child at Home, From Birth to Age Three by Paula Polk Lillard

How to Raise an Amazing Child the Montessori Way by Tim Seldin

Unconditional Parenting: Moving From Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason by Alfie Kohn

Dr. Montessori's Own Handbook by Maria Montessori

Happy reading, and Namaste!

Everyday Storytelling

     Storytelling is something that I am asked to do all day. Almost every time we are in the car for longer than 10 minutes, I hear 'moma, tell a story!' I make up all of our stories. They almost always involve a forest, any kind of animal, and something specific that happened in our day, or week even. Little foxes end up getting lost from their mother at the park, a bird hurts his wing and has to go to the doctor to get it checked out, three kittens have to learn to share a toy that they find in the sand. My stories are very simple, but can go on for 10 or more minutes. Even when driving with multiple children in my car, everyone stops to listen to the stories. It may be the different voices that I do, or the dramatic emphasis' that I put into the animals and their specific problems, or solutions. At any rate, story telling has saved our lives many-a-tired drive home from nana's house. My two year old likes to choose the animals for the stories, and from there we just improvise.

     A few months ago we bought Tell Me A Story cards from eeboo. We LOVE them. They give children the chance to tell their own story. Each card has different artwork on it, and in each pack all the cards have a similar theme. Kids who are not yet reading love the chance to 'read.' I highly recommend them, they make improvising a story very easy - with a photo to nudge the story along. The cards come in several different sets; Little Robot's Mission, Animal Village, Fairytale Mixup, Circus Animals Adventure, and the one that we have, Mystery in the Forest.