"School" is in Session!

It's Spring Break for the Public schools here, so this morning we had a little play date with friends of ours (age 7 and 8) who go to school near by.

I took them into our Montessori classroom and told them that they can "play school" with the kids.

One of the girls goes to the black board on the easel and writes out the "Schedule"- Reading, writing, snack time, math and art. She then tells my kids to all take their seats. They looked a bit confused and wondered why they were being told to sit down as usually, they walk into class and go straight to a shelf and pick out an activity to do. But they sat down anyways.

The "teacher" then gave them each a piece of paper and wrote down the word CAT on each paper and told each of them to draw a cat. My big guy squiggled some random squiggle (he is not into drawing), my daughter gathered her crayons and started working carefully on her master piece, and my 3 year old took the crayons and threw them across the room and burst out laughing...

"Teacher" told him he has to sit in timeout for acting rude. He ended up running out of the classroom and into the playroom and quit "school" (he usually LOVES being in the classroom).

She then said time was up and it was now time for writing. My daughter got upset since she wasn't done and wanted to finish her picture. My big guy said he was done sitting and was ready for a snack, to which "teacher" said he had to wait for snack time. (In a Montessori classroom, there is a place in the classroom with a table and chair and some snacks that the kids can prepare and eat whenever they wish. One would think this would be the most popular place in the classroom, but the kids really only go there when they want a snack.)

Now let me just say that these 2 little girls are delightful adorable sweethearts who come over all the time, and they were just mimicking what they do at school. But witnessing my kids in a standard school environment really made me appreciate a) the fact that I homeschool them and don't have anyone else but me and my hubby disciplining them and b) that we follow the Montessori method, giving them the freedom to learn what they love for as long as they wish.

Well, needless to say, "school" didn't last too long as my kids were not interested in being TOLD what to do and for how long to do it and so it quickly turned to outside play and games for the rest of the morning... but its nice to have these little eye openers once in a while~

Wishing all a great Shabbos,

Change of Plans...

Up until about a week ago, my little ones would nap every morning between 9 and 12- giving me and the bigger kids this amazing block of time to do lots of big kid stuff together.

Well, Baruch Hashem (Thank G-d), little kids get bigger, and my little ones have now moved their naps up to the afternoon.

And so, we now have 2 new little students joining us in the mornings (they could not be happier:)

The first few mornings were chaotic, to say the least... "mommy, take the baby away, she's taking my playdo"... "mommy, the baby's taking my crayons!!" etc.

I figured that I need to come up with some little activities to keep those little hands busy as well as a special blocked off place in the classroom for the big kids (which I did using bookshelves) so we can resume our usual routine-

Here are just a few things I put together that I put out for them today and they LOVED each activity, it really kept them busy. You can also click here to check out other posts I have put up on activities for toddlers.

Using the pincer grasp, they need to take the buttons out of the slots and put them in the Tzedakah Box:

I attached Velcro to wooden blocks and made a little pad with Velcro dots. They need to pull the blocks off the pad and put it into the bin through the slot:

They need to pull the pegs out of the holes and put them into the bin. I ended up getting much more pegs, they really liked this one:

This one is a bit too advanced for them, my 4 year old love it tho:

Here's to change... L'Chaim:)

Hamantashen!!!

Afterthe past 2 days rain ordeal, I really prepared for today to be pretty much the same thing. But to my surprise and joy, we woke up to clear blue skies!!! So in the afternoon, the kids took a trip with Daddy while mommy baked away~ I was really in the Hamantash zone... check out some of the cool Hamantashen that emerged from my oven:

Potato Knishe Hamantashen (using Puff pastry)

Spinach Knishe Hamantashen (using Puff pastry)

Spanish Olive, Tomato and Garlic Hamantashen (using Puff pastry)

Dates and Cinnamon Hamantashen

Butterscotch Hamantashen

Pineapple Coconut Macadamia nut Hamantashen

Red Velvet Hamantashen

Here is my go-to Hamantashen Recipe that I use every year for Hamantshen with a savory filling. For the Red Velvet, I just used a Red Velvet cake mix instead of the Yellow cake mix and went according to the same recipe. For the non savory Hamatashen, I use Puff pastry with all different fillings.

Its all about creativity! Would love to hear some cool Hamantashen ideas that you came up with~

Happy Purim!

Rain, Shmain.......

Okay- so I live in a part of the world where its always warm and I can safely say that the sky is blue and the sun shines 90% of the year- and on days that its not shining, its cloudy but we can still play outside. And when it rains, its usually just for a little bit and then the sun comes back out again.

Well, for the past 2 days, its been raining. And raining. And raining. The first day of rain was actually quite refreshing. A nice change. It was nice and cozy. We made hot cocoa, read books, baked hamantashen. It was nice.

But today, the coziness slowly started turning into cabin fever. And when your kids are used to playing outside EVERYDAY, being cooped up for one day is manageable. Two days- things start to get a little loony (note to self- NEVER and I mean NEVER let your 3 and 4 year old play Candyland by themselves- things go flying, cards get crumpled, little game pieces will be thrown across the room as well as the game board by the unfortunate player who comes in second while the one who comes in first dances around the room singing, "I won! ha ha, I won!!!").

Living in a warm place where people are outdoors most of the time is great, except for the times that we cant be outdoors. It really limits us. The only places to go with kids here on a rainy day is the mall (thanks, but no thanks) or the Aquarium, which may very well be on tomorrows list of things to do depending on how hard it is raining.

So aside for out trip to the Aquarium, here are a few things I think we will do tomorrow- just to keep things exciting and avoid any further looniness (if that's even a word)...

• Make Playdo- (click here for an AWESOME recipe) and use Purim cookie cutters to make shapes
• Make more Hamantashen- click here for a super easy and yummy recipe (very kid friendly, easy to roll, cut and shape)
• Finger painting with half a cup of water mixed with half a cup of corn starch with a drop of food coloring. The "paint" hardens as it is put on the paper, making it have a sandy texture afterward. Paint on black paper, the paint shows up more then on white
• Found this Rainy Day Umbrella Craft, looks super cute
• Make a Lava Lamp
• This fun DIY Table Top Soccer Game (we'll make ours into air hockey)
• Magnetic TIC TAC TOE (using a cookie sheet, a piece of paper with the tic tac to lines, and magnets to play)
• A Scavenger Hunt in the house (they LOVE Scavenger hunts)

Will we end up doing all of the above- um, most probably not, but I would rather have and not need, then need and not have:)

Wish me luck!

Some Purim Activities

Yes, I know- Purim is on Thursday... but hey- this gives you 3 (maybe 4) entire days to squeeze in some more Purim Activities! Enjoy~

A Purim Sensory Tub:

Montessori Counting with the Kings Jewels:

A Purim Mystery Bag: Show the kids all the objects. Place the objects in the bag and have the kids take turns feeling an object inside the bag and guessing what it is.

Making our own Purim Costumes: Yes, I know how cute these ready made store bought costumes are... but there is something to be said when the kids wear something they proudly made themselves (no matter how it came out;) So here we have my big guy making his beard for his Mordechai costume. My princess already made her Queen Esther crown that she worked SO hard on and is so proud of.

Since it is a Mitzvah to listen to the Megillah, here is a classic Montessori listening activity that you can easily make at home.

Sound Cylinders: Each cylinder has different size beads inside so when you shake them, they each make a different sound. The aim of the activity is to pick one color cylinder, shake it and listen to it. Then from the other color, find the matching sound by listening to each cylinder until you find the exact same sound. There are matching colored shapes underneath each cylinder that tells the kids if their jars are a match. This requires a lot of concentration and is a really great activity if you child is in that zone (quiet, calm, ready to sit down and listen).

Here's a link on how to make your own sound cylinders

Fish Sorting in connection to Pieces, the astrological sign for the Hebrew month of Adar:

Classic Montessori Fish Puzzle and control chart:

Fruit sorting in connection to Shalach Manos:

Hamantash stickers: Using foam with sticky backs, kids stick in the filling of their choice, then either sort them into colors or make a Hamantash collage on cardstock

Just a little something to keep the little ones busy during school time- putting buttons into a Tzedakah Box (cleaner then real money):

Just a little something we did today- was really fun and came out so pretty. I totally forgot to take "after" photos and by the time I remembered, the cupcakes had disappeared:)

Enjoy your week~

Always,

Pleasing all the people all the time ~ A Purim Number Game

Kids are picky eaters. They all are, really. Unless you are one of these lucky moms who's kids eat whatever you put on the table then I say GOOD FOR YOU:)

But in my house, like many houses, we have those who need Ketchup with EVERYTHING, those who CANNOT even be NEAR the Ketchup bottle, those who refuse to eat anything remotely colorful (its a good thing peeled apples are white) and those who LOVE LOVE LOVE all vegetables, raw, cooked, you name it. Yes, I actually have one of those kids!

So meal time in our house can be quite the challenge. Figuring out daily meals that work with or without Ketchup, includes something with no color as well as lots of veges.

Here is a sample Dinner menu I have made up of the staple dinners in our home. It pleases everyone and no one goes hungry. I have also included a link to a blank dinner menu for you to print out for yourself, if it can be helpful in anyway. Click here to download it.

***PURIM NUMBER GAME***

Sarah from Center City Jewish Preschool sent over an adorable Purim Counting game. Click here to download the PDF- you can use miniature pegs, Do-a-dots, stamps, paper clips, crayons, markers, you name it, to identify the correct number matching of the amount of objects. I would print these out on card stock and laminate them for future use.

If anyone has any fun Jewish printables they have made and would like to share via this blog, please email them to me at Jewishmontessori18 AT gmail DOT com and I will put it up with a link to download it.

Lets share the wealth!

Wishing all a great Shabbos,

~~~A Purim Activity Pack for You~~~

Here's a link to My Purim Activity Pack- Enjoy!