More Rainbow Loom

Rainbow Loon Craze Continues

Heart

Silly Face

Owl

Pencils

Table Tennis Racket

Rainbow Loom Fever

RUBBER BANDS RUBBER BANDS EVERYWHERE

Yes we have been hit with the loom band fever too. Lil Muallimah has been keeping endlessly busy learning and making entirely on her own through videos online. Her favorite ones being from made by Mommy and elegant fashion 360. The tutorials are great !!!

Here are some of her Rainbow Loom Creations....

Fruits and Vegetables

Strawberry

Cherry

Orange

Grape Bunch

Pears and Banana

Water Melon

Tomato

Other Food Items

Pizza Slice

  

Candy Apple

Taco

Rainbow Ice Pop

Pie

Lemon Pie, Cherry Pie & Pumpkin Pie

What have you guys been making ?

Felt Bracelet

Lil Muallimah Sews Again

Here's a simple & neat needle work project Lil Muallimah made:

Just cut a slit in the felt for the button to pass through Voila! 

Pattern block patterns

LOVE PATTERN BLOCKS

Got pattern blockss long time ago and they have a been quite a favorite Alhumdolillah for all ages.

Here is Lil Muallim # 3 working with them.

I got the patterns from here. Just printed them out and put them in a file.

This last one was taken from here....

Tracing Maps

IMPROVISING MAP MAKING

Lil Muallim has been working with maps in Geography. Recently he's been making physical and political maps for different countries for each continent.  

I'm sure many have done this before but it was the first time in our house......What you may ask.......placing the sheets on top of each other and sticking them onto a window with removable tape!

EUREKA 

A pain staking activity just became a breeze! Alhumdolillah

Push Pinning Continents

PUNCHING OUT CONTINENTS

I loved this idea since I saw it on several Montessori blogs. I didn't have a big pricking tool or a fancy push pin, so I kept putting it off, until I had this Eureka moment and made my own push pins. Now why didn't I think of this before.... DUH!!

 I made our very own DIY push pins ready in less than ten minutes. I could not believe why I never thought of this before. I was not in favor of using the regular sized push pins. I could be wrong, but I thought the miniature sized ones were not only a safety hazard but would put too much strain on the hand on the lil ones.

Well here we are... our very own pushpins.... and cork board made by hot gluing two pieces of cork board  to make  a thicker surface for the pins to go through.

Lil Muallim # 2 sat and helped me make this as a wonderful assistant Mashallah. He even chose the colors.

He kept asking what they were for....and when I showed him , his eyes were gleaming with joy. 

To my utter surprise he loved this activity so much that he ended up punching out three Africas in one sitting!!!

Other helpful posts on Montessori Push Pinning continents can be read here (Montessori Print) and here (My Montessori Journey). 

More on making continent maps from the punched out parts can be seen here  (Moveable Alphabet) and here (My Montessori Journey)

Other related activities:

Coloring the large scale World Map

Flagging the continents

Shaping Continents

Continent Game

Continent Nomenclature Cards

Continent Tracing

Continent Shapes

I KNOW WHAT AFRICA LOOKS LIKE

In continuing our world map activities I asked Lil Muallimah which continent would she like to do first, and she chose Africa.

I gave her this printable I got from curriculum click, when it came as a freebie. You will notice her own Africa is spelled as "AfNicA" (hehe) because she had mistaken the lines of r and i as one letter making it n...,

I am totally fine with that, she will get it eventually :) If you look closely she even colored the lake in the middle, blue :) 

Then I asked her if she wanted to make it with  modelling clay ? And she said "YES!" So I grabbed her foam puzzle and we ran downstairs. 
I asked her to point out Africa on this foam puzzle I got from the $ store. (it doesn't have the same colors as Montessori maps, so ayounger child might get confused) Thankfully Lil Muallimah got it right but I do see the wisdom and benefit in the Montessori Maps.

Nonetheless the rest is pretty much clear through the pictures. She was quite enthusiastic throughout this activity and wanted to get it just right :)

the yellow tool actually came in a play dough set, my kids had got as a gift yeaaaaars ago :)

TAA  DAAAAA !!!

Don't you just love such multi level activities, encompassing, mapping, recognition, hand eye co-ordination, motor skills.....:):):):)

Other related activities:

Coloring the large scale World Map

Flagging the continents

Continent Game

Push Pinning Continents

Alhumdolillah !

Dry Pouring 1

Dry Pouring

We also tried dry pouring, with lentils. Loved it. Dry pouring is actually better introduced before wet pouring. For children with less developed motor skills large beans are even better. When my older one was small he really used to enjoy pouring the beans.

Dry pouring can be done with or without the funnel. 

This activity not only helps in bringing stability and strength to their hand and arm muscles but also teaches patience. They learn by trial and error that:

1.  if they pour too fast the funnel tube gets clogged and then they have to either gently tap the funnel a couple of times without spilling or unclog it with something thin :) (like a coffee stirrer)   
2. pouring gently and slowly, controlling the tilt of the jug makes the transfer easy with no road blocks (meaning funnel clogs :))