Open ended art projects are very essential for the expression of the child! They help sp much in encouraging creativity & imagination in children of all ages! They also serve as great prewriting exercises. It gives the toddlers exposure to different textures & finger grips. A great sensory activity.
It is not about the end product of such art exercises but the enrichment during the art making process. It is therapeutic for even adults. Try it out some time :)
Here are 4 engaging & open ended art projects for kids of any age, starting from toddlers!
To facilitate arts in my home for my toddler, I had recently set up an arts corner for him. Check out this video how you can do the same in a budget friendly way!
Are you looking to introduce some geography to your toddlers? Check out this wonderful world map foam puzzle where your kid can learn about continents in a hands-on, Montessori inspired & play way method.
We started this puzzle as a pattern matching & visual discrimination activity. He continued to ask what is what, and that is how he learnt the names of the seven continents. The emphasis here is not on memorization of continent names. It is easy at this stage when the child is imitating & reproducing anything exposed to them. It can be an item song or a nursery rhyme or continent names. But this serves as a starter for introducing geography to kids - world, continents, countries etc. My son is 23 months in this video.
I supplemented this activity with the following storyline for my toddler -
We live in our house. And our house is in a society named XYZ. He knows this for a fact. Then I extended this concept from known to unknown - what he knows is house & society. I told him there are so many societies like ours in our area & the area's name is ABC. Similarly there are so many such areas in a city & we live in Pune city. I expanded this concept till the level of continents & world.
It is still kind of abstract for him but I am guessing he will get the concept soon. Also, he had been asking a lot these days, where did that uncle aunty come from, where do they live, I want to go there, we will go by car, train etc etc. So I picked up these cues by him to expand more on this concept.
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One of our Valentine's Day activities, that I had been wishing to do for long - Montessori Flower Arrangement. Not strictly as per Montessori but still we loved it :) I did not have a flower vase handy, so I used a water bottle. Montessori does not need to be expensive always! You can work with what items you have at home. Sequence of the activity -
pour water from a pitcher to the vase
remove leaves from the stem
insert flowers in the vase
if the length of the stem is too much, use scissors to cut it to appropriate length
Wipe off water spills if any
It is a great way to teach care for surroundings to toddlers, a wonderful fine motor & practical life skill. And it serves as an introduction to botany - what is a stem, petal, leaf etc. A great vocabulary builder - learning flower names. And a sensory activity, smelling the flowers, not to forget. By the way, I went to the florist shop along with my son & he loved the experience. He socialized with the florist, got to know who is a florist. He asked names of all the flowers from the florist. He gave money to the florist while we bought the flowers. There is learning happening everywhere & everytime! I have lost count of the reasons, why I love Montessori :) Watch my almost 2 year old son in action in this video! 😊
Love is in the air with the Valentine's day approaching!
Sharing our set of Montessori inspired Valentine's day theme activities for my almost 2 year old son :) Have a look & pick any ideas you like for your child! I have tried to cover almost all key areas of Montessori in this set.
Fine Motor Skills
Practical Life Activity - Montessori Flower Arrangement
Maths
DIY Logic Puzzle
Craft Work Using Cotton Balls From Activity Above
Practical Life
Quick Science Experiment - Sink & Float
Stamping & Sticker Peeling - Fine Motor
For more details about the activities & explanation, watch this quick video, which also shows my son in action for some of the activities :)
These activities were also featured on BabyChakra.com, If you prefer reading text than the video, then check out my article HERE!
Republic Day marks the day when India’s constitution came into force in 1950. It is a great time to do some India themed activities with kids to help them know & explore more about India. So let us see some hands-on Montessori inspired activities & crafts that you can do with your toddlers, preschoolers, kindergartners & elder children!
While it is a national holiday, let us make sure we show our kids the flag hoisting ceremony somewhere & tell them about the Republic day parade that happens in front of India Gate in Delhi. And these can be used as conversation starters for more activities that give them a hands-on experience about the entire celebration.
My son is 23 months old now & I have designed few more India themed hands-on activities for him. All of them are not Montessori inspired but they are all hands-on, educational & engaging.
Let’s get started!
India Themed Books
First things first! My son just LOVES books. He can go on & on reading books for long. So I searched & grabbed some wonderful books on India.
Matching States Of India
Though at this age, he would not understand what exactly a state is but this becomes a great visual discrimination activity for toddlers in general. My son loves matching activities & this one is more challenging than others he had done in the past. This printable is from mummadiaries.com & the foam pieces of states are from the India foam puzzle board.
Matching State Animals
Toddlers in general have an affinity towards animals, at least my son has. We can take this opportunity to introduce state animals to them. I have used the same printable used above. The activity is to match the animals seen in the printable with the animal figurines. Another awesome use of figurines!
Learning Regional Dances
I have used this India foam puzzle in a different way in this activity. I bought this sheet of Indian dances from a local stationary shop, the ones that are used in kids project work, 5 Rs each! Cut some of the main regional dances & laminated at home to form cards. The activity is to put these cards on to the right Indian state. It is a great way to expose kids to the rich cultural diversity in India.
Architectures Of India
I saw this sheet depicting various architectures of India in the stationary shop & this idea came into my mind. I bought two copies of this sheet. I laminated one sheet as it is & cut individual pieces from another & laminated them to form cards. The activity is to match them, again a great way to expose kids to the grand architectures we have in India.
Rhythm Sense With National Anthem
Music is great for kids & adults alike. Why not introduce rhythm along with our National anthem this Republic day? You can sing Jan Gan Man & play any percussion instrument like drums, dholak, maracas along with your child. Remember your school days; the PT drum was also used for Jan Gan Man? We can replicate that at home too, right! It is great fun for kids to play music instruments. Even if you do not have any instrument, your kitchen’s utensil & spoon would serve the same purpose!
Pretend/Free Play & Gross Motor
I made this setup of the Republic day parade using my son’s building blocks & some army themed figurines I had from a pretend play set. It has army tanks, soldiers etc. I have also put the regional dance cards here depicting the jhaankis that every state’s people put up in the parade. I will let this be a free play session & let him explore this setup. He has been asking so many questions these days, what is this, who is this, where did this come from, etc. So I am sure I am going to get a lot of questions out of this setup as well. And questions are great as conversation starters to build upon their existing vocabulary & knowledge base. I am also going to do this gross motor activity with him – doing the march-past – left right left. He now knows what is left & what is right. So this should be fun!
Indian Tricolor
Boys and vehicles are inseparable I believe. They can never get enough of vehicles. For that matter, I have also seen many girls obsessed with cars J My son can easily throw a tantrum in a toy shop seeing ANY kind of a vehicle. So this time, I thought of making our Indian tricolor using his vehicles. These days, he is into this sensitive period of lining everything he sees - vehicles, pillows, vegetables, anything. So we made this tricolor using his vehicles.
Flag Making & Coloring
We also made India flag using ruler (his current fascination) & Stokmar block crayons (a typical Waldorf art supply). Take a look below.
Air Show Painting
We also simulated the air show that happens usually in the Republic Day parade. I used the mixture of flour, water & food color & created the tricolors - safron, white & green. Then he poured the paints on the paper & used the jet planes miniatures to form patterns with these colors. We talked about how fighter planes fly in the sky & make patterns with these colors.
Hope you liked these ideas!
Wish you all a very happy Republic Day. Jai Hind!
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Makar Sankranti is the first festival in India for the month of January. It marks a significant movement in the zodiac – the arrangement of the earth’s dial around the sun – the movement brings about a change in the way we experience the planet itself! The festival is celebrated by various names & rituals in different parts of the country - Makar Sankranti, Lohri, Uttaraayan, Bihu, Pongal. It also marks the harvest season.
I have tried to incorporate the essence of these various celebrations in the activities that I set up for my 23 months old son. I had set up Montessori inspired shelf works & we also did some hands-on activities apart from the shelf. I am sharing few pics below but it would be much better if you watch the two videos below to know & understand more about what we did :)
This is the Montessori inspired shelf work video
And this is the video of all the hands-on activities & crafts we did on this festival theme.
We experienced Lohri bonfire & also made a painting craft of the Lohri bonfire with twigs & paints. We also went to the cowshed & fed cows to experience Pongal rituals. We washed the cow figurine with colored water & learnt about color mixing in this process. Then we worshipped the cow. To experience Uttarayan, we went kite-flying & my son enjoyed a lot. To celebrate the harvest festival, we also learnt how ploughing is done in a hands-on way using his tractor miniature. And my son also planted wheat seeds to welcome the spring.
You can check them out all in this video below.
Hope you enjoy the activities & the video :)
Babychakra.com also featured my set of activities as a part of their toddler learning activities series, you can read my article HERE.
If you do not have time to watch the videos, here are very few pics of all the fun we had celebrating this festival!
Do let me know how you celebrated this beautiful festival :)
Do not forget to follow "The K Junction" on Facebook page & closed Facebook group, Twitter and Instagram for day to day updates that might not always find a place on this blog. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to know more about our early learning journey, DIY & Montessori & Waldorf inspired activities for kids, kids books & toys reviews and much more!
A sneak peek into my toddler's current bookshelf - 10 book recommendations for toddlers & preschoolers! He is 23 months old right now & LOVES books. I rotate books in his bookshelf when I feel he is bored with those books. Have a look at the video to add some more books in your toddler's collection
