Doing dishes with Daddy

Geekling loves to help around the house.  He loves to help with cooking, sweeping, vacuuming, watering plants, feeding the animals (cat, dog and chickens) and now doing the dishes.

 Drying dishes with Daddy

Following Montessori guidelines, we try to provide him with child-sized utensils where possible.  He has his own small broom, a miniature vacuum cleaner (that does actually work) and a little watering can.

Pick of the toy store, and my little Montessori man choose the broom!

He is really becoming very helpful at home!  Each meal he takes his empty bowl or plate to the kitchen, and will usually offer to take ours too.  He feeds the cat and dog most mornings and evenings, if the door is opened for him he will go out, get the dog's or cat's dish and then get the dry food from where its stored, measure and tip in the correct amount.  One of us parents usually adds the wet food though.  He also loves collecting eggs from the chooks and putting them in the box in the kitchen.

There are lots of websites around with lists of toddler appropriate chores for anyone wondering what their little man or lady is capable of contributing to the home.

Let's explore outer space!

Geekling has been loving stars and the moon for a while now, so I put up some of those old style Glow-Zone glow in the dark star stickers and a set of planets in his room.  I bought them second hand (but in unopened packets) ages ago and had planned to wait til Geekling was older and we could plot out constellations together, but I just felt in my heart it was suddenly the right time - and I'm so glad I put them up!  Geekling is enthralled by them!  I made sure to put the solar system up in the right order and put up a few of my favourite constellations so we will hopefully have fun finding them a few years down the track.

Since the stickers went up he's requested "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and a lullaby book of his talking about catching stars, so I think I'll nip down to the library in my lunch break tomorrow and borrow some kids books featuring stories about space and maybe a couple of simple reference books.

So the next question is - what other space-themed activities should I gather up to feed my son's new obsession?

Counting Coconuts did a whole month's theme on it and have some amazing ideas - matching planets, a space sensory box, practical life activities pouring star-shaped pasta and sweeping star sequins, counting with star stickers, punching stars with a small punch... a fantastic resource!

Fairy Dust Teaching has a gorgeous looking Galaxy Playdoh - I must hunt down some black food colouring to make some!

First Schools has some printables and activities in a space theme.

Now... is it too soon to introduce him to Star Wars & Star Trek?

Stay tuned for our space adventures!

Rainbow rice!

I had to pick Geekling up from daycare a couple of weeks ago as he wasn't well.  While he was napping, I made up a batch of rainbow rice for him to play with in the afternoon and he was positively thrilled with it!

I used 2 x 1kg bags of jasmine rice.  They were on special for $1 each.  I divided into the number of colours I wanted (5) and then put each portion in a ziplock bag with a couple of squirts of hand sanitising alcohol and quite a few drops of food colouring.  Then I shook until it was evenly coloured and lay it on baking paper to dry.  You can substitute hand sanitiser for white spirits like vodka but it will take longer to dry.

Here it is before Geekling got to it:

Its become a permanent addition to our sensory box fillers.  I initially gave him some different sized cups, scoops and spoons (including slotted ones that the rice slowly sifts through).  I've since used it with rainbow foam letters buried in it as an alphabet find-the-letter activity, and today with plastic easter eggs to fill and shake.  It still looks great even all mixed up and when we're done I tip it into a large ziplock bag and put away for next time.

After shot coming soon!

Insta-snow sensory tub

Geekling has never seen snow, having lived only in the tropics.  I've only seen it on the ground when we travelled to Russia in Winter, it was hard and dirty.  I've still yet to see fresh snow falling.

This was such a fun tub, although very messy!  Next time we play with it, we'll set it up outside I think.  I am hoping to let the insta-snow dry out and reuse it, next time with ice cold water, and perhaps coloured water.

Excuse the poor lighting.

Eating neatly with cutlery

Geekling has recently mastered eating with metal cutlery.  It seems like it suddenly 'clicked'.  He cleans out a bowl of yoghurt at light speed with a spoon and he's just gotten the hang of a metal fork.

It is a good Montessori practical life lesson each meal, plastic forks are useless!  You will also see he uses a regular ceramic bowl - Now we must stock up on some appropriate sized glassware and be rid of those plastic cups.

Op shop Montessori bargains

Purchasing Montessori materials can be expensive if you shop at Montessori stores and sites, but if you keep an eye out you can find similar items at markets and op shops.  Here is my haul from a local op shop last weekend that cost a total of $14 (and that included some shorts and a tshirt for Geekling also!).



I plan to use the metal trays to present tasks and activities, the scoop, funnel and seive in sensory tubs, the ceramic jugs for pouring activities and the egg cups are for our weekend breakfasts but may paint or polish the two unfinished ones.

Ditching the stroller

In keeping with our decision to implement the Montessori method, we are making great progress with 'weaning off the stroller'.  To be honest, its more about weaning hubby and I off it than weaning Geekling off it.  Most of the time he would much rather get from A to B under his own steam.  We've been guilty of using it for our own convenience (and in some cases, sanity), particularly in getting him to and from daycare.  But no more.  Now we will only use the stroller if we are planning a big, long day out somewhere (such as a show or festival).  It is an exercise in patience for mummy and daddy many times, walking at a child's pace (even though Geekling seldom walks, but runs as fast as his chubby legs will carry him) and stopping many times as his attention is caught by something other than the path ahead.  It would be so easy to say "don't stop, we must hurry" or to scoop him up and carry him, but we truly want to encourage his interest in the world around him and natural curiosity.

Why does the Montessori method shun the use of prams and strollers?

Aside from the general principle of allowing a child to interact freely with their environment, Montessori methods prefer not to use strollers because a child does not learn skills like walking by being strapped into prams and carriers and high chairs most their day.  They learn by being given the chance to attempt and practice these skills through being allowed to safely move freely.  Yes, Geekling already knows how to walk, and run, but these skills are still stepping stones to further skills that he must be able to practice at every possible opportunity.  Every day he is perfecting his balance, soon he will learn to jump, skip, hop and more.  We do not want to hold him back for the sake of our convenience.

This does make shopping with him more difficult, with the exception of shopping at Bunnings where he can push a baby trolley around the store.  He's getting quite good at steering them!

Water Beads

After being inspired by Play At Home Mom, I purchased a heap of these cool water beads on ebay.  They are made of non-toxic polymer gel and start off a little smaller than mustard seeds but when immersed in water will swell to the size of large marbles.  They feel jelly like and last forever - if they start to shrink I just immerse them in some more water for a couple of hours.

Showing various stages of growth/absorption

Water bead sensory tub and sorting into ice mould 

Water beads in the bath - trying to 'catch' them with slotted spoons and a seive

On our recent trip to our local market I saw many stalls selling these water beads for a couple of dollars a packet (which makes about 1 cup of beads) - I bought ours for $2 for 10 packs including postage, and they're the same brand!

I am saving the packs of clear beads to do an upcoming experiment by colouring the water they grow in to see if they take on the colour.

Our version of the Pink Tower

I would dearly love to purchase some more Montessori materials for Geekling but just can't justify the investment given that he parties at daycare 5 days a week and is home with us only 2.  His old daycare was a Montessori centre and had their own Pink Tower, but he is now in a different centre.

For anyone who doesn't know what a Montessori Pink Tower is, it looks like this:

There is a lot more information around on the method behind the material for anyone who is interested.  I recently purchased the poor-man's version, being a set of very sturdy alphabet cardboard stacking/nesting boxes by Melissa & Doug, and would you believe they arrived at 8:30am roughly two weeks ago on a day Geekling was home sick - they really cheered the little guy up and they are a current favourite.  Here they are stacked up, and I promise an update with an action shot soon!

Egg carton treasure hunt

One of my favourite ever blog posts from Chasing Cheerios (which inspired ) is one in which each cavity of an egg carton is painted a different colour, then a garden scavenger hunt takes place to find items to match those colours.

(Much like this picture from Family Fun)

I've come across so many more similar posts recently that I had to collate them:

Chasing Cheerios
Dream a Lil Dream
Preschool Lesson Plans
Mommy Press
I am Momma, Hear Me Roar

I just love this idea, and can't wait until Geekling is able to sort by colour.  He is able to match containers with lids, and shapes to solve the Shape-o so hoping to work in this soon, especially as Spring isn't far away :)

Button Snake

I made this button snake for Geekling last night after seeing it on Counting Coconuts, a fabulous Montessori blog I've recently found.  It was so quick to make!  I just cut up some felt squares and snipped slits in the middle of each, sewed a big button on the end of some thick ribbon, then sewed the other end of the ribbon into a loop to help keep the squares on and to make it easy to carry.

Geekling doesn't really get it yet, but not to worry.  I will reintroduce it in a week or so.

Free activity sheets & Montessori materials online in Australia

I came across Bright Tomato Learning on How We Montessori, and although the materials are not cheap (most Montessori materials are either expensive or shipping them from where they are would be), I am thrilled to find an Aussie web based supplier.  They do have some very reasonably priced items though, and I note they also sell the touch tablets I have previously posted about.

They also have a fabulous page of free printable downloads - activity sheets, matching activities and traceable alphabet.  Geekling is a little young for these - I can't wait to engage him with these things one day.

Geekling's new bed

A while ago I posted about Geekling's newborn nursery.  There are so many things I would do differently since learning more about the Montessori Method but I don't have a time machine and even once I had become interested in Montessori concepts such as a floor bed, we were having so many other problems with sleep and illness for a while there that I was hesitant to make any big changes.

But Geekling had shown he was ready to move on from a cot.  He'd slept successfully at his grandparents place in an identical toddler bed, and begun sleeping on mattresses at one of his daycare centres.  He can climb in and out of the bed just fine so we decided to take the plunge.  Since Geekling can get in an out himself, we consider this getting 'back on track' with the Montessori method in his environment.  This is Geekling's room at the moment:

We have a large couch cushion sitting beside his bed in case he rolls out also, but of the handful of times he has wound up out of bed since moving to this bed he has intentionally gotten out of bed.  We have moved the rocker that used to be in his room out to the loungeroom where hubby has claimed it as a gaming chair, and in its place for some time has been a bookshelf full of books and toys - Geekling loves to grab a book, toddle off to an open area, sit down and 'read'.  We often leave him to his own devices to find him surrounded by books he has 'read'.

He is very good at getting in and out of his new bed, although sometimes he chooses to sleep in some odd positions...

Head down, bum up!

We have more changes planned for this room in the coming months to help it grow with Geekling - stay tuned :)

Touch tablets and toothpicks

I bought these Melissa & Doug touch tablets from The Toy Bug a while ago on sale, and recently got them out.  Geekling isn't at the matching stage yet, but he was still fascinated by them and loves feeling the different textures.

We have also progressed from paddle pop sticks in a travel mug to toothpicks in a toothpick container.  I then swapped the toothpicks for coloured matchsticks to be a bit safer (although I still wouldn't let him play with these unattended, obviously!).  He puts the sticks/toothpicks through the biggest hole but eventually he may move on to putting them through the smaller holes.  Its also a great small activity that I can carry about in my handbag for when Geekling needs an activity when out and about.

Paddlepop sticks & a travel mug

This idea came from one of my favourite blogs, Chasing Cheerios and was so cheap!  I pilfered six paddlepop sticks and bought a pack of two travel mugs from Big W for $2.97.

I was amazed that Geekling picked it up immediately and would happily sit on the floor picking up the sticks, inserting them into the travel mug one by one, occasionally knocking the mug over but happily righting it again before continuing.  When complete he would bring me the mug saying "ta, ta, ta" until I would open it, let him grab all the sticks out then put the lid back on and give it back to him to start again.

I'm really impressed with his growing ability to focus and work on a task from beginning to end with little if any assistance.

Making shopping fun!

I hear lots of horror stories about shopping with children, especially toddlers.  I suppose we've had a few public meltdowns, but to be honest I suspect most of them were due to unplanned hold ups extending the trip into meal or sleep times.  Geekling has always loved shopping centres - something about the bright lights and vibrant packages on the shelves all vying for attention?  Now that he is mobile, Geekling really enjoys shopping with us, although he often refuses to sit in the trolley or be carried - he wants to walk everywhere!  It slows us down a little, but he takes such delight in it that we certainly don't mind.

One problem we are having is that he wants to pick things up off the shelf and hand them to us (or occasionally try to make a run for it with his new item :).  This has already caused one breakage - although it wasn't Geekling who broke the goods, it was me!  When he went to grab a ceramic mug from the shelf of the $2 shop, I swooped in to stop him, and my handbag swung straight through between my arm and my body and broke one of the very mugs I was trying to save!  I happily paid for it and took the broken cup home to use as crocks in the bottom of a pot so it wasn't wasted, and I certainly was glad we were in a $2 shop rather than somewhere fancy!

We are going to try to involve Geekling a little more in 'helping' with the groceries - we discovered this weekend that the cat food is the perfect height for him to remove from shelves so we let Geekling pick the 5 cans that will feed our family cat (Z) this fortnight.  He did so well! Z is a fussy kitty and will only eat casserole or mince style tinned food, so we did put one of his selected tins back as it was not the right type, and he did chose one in a different brand to our usual that we kept so it will be interesting to see what Z thinks of his selection.

I wonder what other aisles have products we buy at his height?

Homemade Pat Mat

I made Geekling a pat mat once before following a bathroom clean out - Hubby had a jar of hair gel that he had only used once years ago.  Rather than throw it out, I tipped it into a zip-lock bag and watered it down to the perfect consistency and added some red food dye.  Sadly, the only zip-lock bags I had at the time that were large enough were vege steamer bags and had instructions and branding all over them.

Now that we have some nice big plain zip-lock again, last night I snipped a corner off the old one and squeezed the contents into a new plain zip-lock bag, added a little more water and dye, and some glitter.  I taped it to Geekling's highchair tray.

Then the agonising wait til morning to see if he liked it.

Success!  Geekling loved it.  He was fascinated by pressing it and having the thick liquid content move about to reveal the white of the high chair tray underneath.  When he is a bit older a homemade mat like this will be great Montessori style aid for teaching him letters as the large letter can be drawn on the underside of the mat in permanent marker or on a piece of paper under the mat for him to trace.

I think the same thing could be achieved using shampoo, conditioner or any number of bathroom lotions (the latter two of which would be more opaque).  You'd probably need little or no water added if you used these substitutes.