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Penny Drop Game

Penny Drop-5942

Sweet Pea is 39 months old.

From: I was inspired by this penny drop game at Tired, Need Sleep.

Material:

10 Muffin tin liners, coffee filters or paper circles.
2 Crayons.
10 Pennies.

Procedure:

Let your tot color half of the circles one color while you color the remaining ones a different color.

Place all of the circles on the floor.
Stand up [...]

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Sweet Pea is 37 months old.

From: I saw this on Giving Up on a Clean House, Crunchy and Green, and Chasing Cheerios.  Also, the Montessori Color Tablets, Box #3 exercise is a somewhat similar activity.

Material:

Paint sample cards.  Select 2 identical sheets for each color you want to use.
Clothespins.
Scissors.
Glue. (I prefer these glue dots.)
Strips of cardboard [...]

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Gem Balance

Sweet Pea is 37 months old.

From: I found this quick little activity on ABC and 123 and The Shafer Family.

Material:

Popsicle or craft sticks.
Flat glass gems (We found ours in the floral section at Micheal’s)
Bowl (to hold the gems).
Tray (optional).

Procedure:

Put the gems in the bowl and place everything on a table near your tot.
Place a [...]

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DotterLetters-5

Sweet Pea is 35 months old.

From: Erika from Confessions of a Homeschooler often posts an individual Do-A-Dot letter worksheet when her tot is learning a particular letter (P for example), but I had trouble searching her site to find all of the letters.  I also searched the web, but was surprised that I couldn’t find [...]

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Rainbow Toast

Sweet Pea is 33 months old.

From: I found this really fun idea at Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds.  I had never seen something like this before and couldn’t wait to try it.

Material:

Several slices of bread.
Milk.
Food Coloring (I highly recommend the gel type instead of the liquid drops that are shown in the picture.)
2-3 small [...]

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Shannon’s Note:  This is a guest post from my friend Lori, who worked as a preschool teacher for 3 years and now enjoys staying home with her daughter.

E.G. is 18 months old.

Materials:

2 Sheets Glad Press’n Seal or Contact Paper
Tempera Washable Paints
Scissors (for the grown-up)
Q-Tips (optional)

Procedure:

Line up the different colored paints for your child
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Sweet Pea is 33 months old.

From: Color Tablets are another traditional Montessori activity.  I found a simple version of this activity in the book Teach Me To Do It Myself by Maja Pitamic and another good description in Basic Montessori: Learning Activities for Under-Fives by David Gettman.

Material:

12 color tablets, which can be purchased (high quality [...]

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Sweet Pea is 32 months old.

From: I read about this great idea for a Salt Shaker Scuplture at the very informative My Montessori Journey.

Material:

Pony beads contained in a bowl or basket.
5 or 6 pipe cleaners.
An empty spice jars (shaker jar A) or a salt shaker.
Tray (optional, but useful to contain the pony beads your [...]

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Sweet Pea is 32 months old.

From: I can’t remember where I saw these first, but I ordered some from the Oriental Trading Company several months ago.

Material:

Pegs and a Peg Board (FYI: I am currently running a giveaway for some of our extra ones here.)

Observations: I tried to show these to Sweet Pea several months [...]

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Sorting Stickers

Sweet Pea is 31 months old.

From: I bought a cheapo sticker & album set from the Dollar Store.  When I gave it to Sweet Pea, she started sorting the stickers by color all on her own.  I was pretty impressed that she had made up her own Tot School activity with it.

Material:

A sheet of [...]

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