Storytelling is an art & Indian mythological stories are a treasure. Instead of just telling the story verbally, this time try telling it with the help of props to your kids. Here is the birth story of Lord Ganesha, how he got elephant head. Check out my DIY storytelling setup with props in this article.
Watch this video below.
This is how I narrated the birth story of Lord Ganpati this Ganesh Chaturthi to my 2 year old son using his toys and playset items.
Let me know in the comments, how you found this storytelling setup!
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With the recent rare phenomenon of Super Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse, kids have been pretty amazed with the eclipse phenomenon. This is a perfect opportunity to make a hands-on model & activity showing how exactly the solar & lunar eclipse occur. This DIY solar system model is super simple & you can make use of things at home to make it. This is a perfect Astronomy starter for kids.
Solar system models are a great way to demonstrate how an eclipse works, and can be constructed with varying complexity for all ages. By setting up the sun, moon and Earth, parents and teachers can demonstrate the phases of the moon as well as an eclipse.
Things Required
Sphere 1 - Sponge ball or yellow smiley ball or an orange
Sphere 2 ( smaller than sphere 1) - Ping pong ball or lemon or small thermacol ball
Wire that can be bent easily but is stable enough. I used pipe cleaner
Aluminium foil
Red gelatine paper
Stack of books or an elevated platform
Something to put the sponge ball on, I used a diya lying around at home
Torch
How to Setup
Sphere 1 represents the earth & sphere 2 represents the moon. I used a sponge globe for sphere 1 and a small thermacol ball for sphere 2.
Wrap aluminium foil over sphere 2 so that it reflects light falling on it in a better way. Moon reflects the light falling on it. This step is optional though.
Pierce a little hole & insert the wire (I used pipe cleaner) into the earth, bend it at right angle, then again bend it at right angle & then insert it into the moon. Align the wire such that earth & moon are in front of each other with their equators aligned horizontally. Refer the picture for clarity.
Place the earth on a stand, I used a diya
Take a stack of books or an elevated platform (I used a small stool) & put a torch on it. Torch represents the sun. Adjust the height of the book stack such that the torch light falls at the equator of the earth.
Switch off the lights of the room & switch on the torch.
With this setup, you can explain first how the earth goes round the sun by moving the earth manually.
You can also explain rotation of earth & tell how days & nights happen when sunlight falls on a specific part of the earth.
Now by taking the moon round the earth, you can how how differently the moon shines at different alignments because of the angle at which sunlight is falling on it. You can explain moon phases with this setup.
Now to explain lunar eclipse, you can align sun, earth & moon in a line respectively. Of course you have to revise your own concepts first before you start explaining verbally about this setup, kids have deep strange questions!
In a similar way, you can explain the solar eclipse as well.
To show the blood moon in some sense, you can take red gelatine paper and put it in front of the torch. However this is not the real explanation of blood moon. It occurs because earth’s atmosphere absorbs all the colours in the spectrum instead of red & hence very little percentage of sun’s rays (in red spectrum) reach the moon during eclipse & it appears to be red.
Hope you liked this simple to set up activity to explain earth’s rotation & revolution, moon’s revolution, moon’s phases, lunar & solar eclipses.
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Make your own quick & cheap DIY fake snow at home using just two ingredients & gift your child hours of free play & pretend play fun. Watch the video below to see how to make your own DIY fake snow for kids.
We did this activity as a part of our winter theme unit. My almost 3 year old son enjoyed it to the core playing with the fake snow & building snowman out of it. I also included polar animals figurines to his free play / pretend play. You can find more of our Winter Themed activities HERE in this YouTube playlist.
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Check out this small & simple setup that you can easily for kids of any age to welcome Spring. We in India, celebrate harvest during Spring & for that I got my son stalks of Sorghum & Wheat & showed him in a hands-on way the steps from harvest till the flours reach our homes for consumption.
I set this up for my almost 3 year old son & he absolutely loved it! Take a look at this video below & grab some ideas :)
Just like our Winter activities HERE, our playlist for Spring activities is HERE & it will include Spring storytellings, crafts, activities, festival celebrations & whatever we do this Spring season. I will keep adding those videos in this playlist. So do keep a check! Related - Check out this amazing story & activity book that celebrates the Spring festivals in a hands-on way & shows how there is unity & diversity in India - My Hopscotch Journey. Grab your copy from HERE!
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Watch this simple setup & a hands-on activity on solar system & see how I gave a simple lesson on planets, their sizes, positions & orbits to my almost 3 year old son.
We talked about the sizes of the planets, arranged them according to their sizes & then made orbits using colored wooden blocks, one orbit of one color, then arranged the planets according to their positions round the sun, we also learnt why mercury is the hottest & Neptune is the coldest of all the planets because of their relative positions from the sun.
Watch this video below to know about our impromptu setup.
Book that my son loves & that is mentioned in the video about solar system is - The Party In The Sky.
Source of the wooden cutouts of the solar system - Mumma Diaries.
What activities have you done to introduce solar system to your kids?
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"Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome."
This quote holds true for everyone in life, whether they are adults or children. How we get to a destination is very important. Similarly, when children set out to learn a certain “something”, the journey to learn that is critical. Skola Learning Journeys are therefore designed to be informative and intuitive for kids. Experience these journeys as they open up new avenues in your child’s learning abilities.
When little children are taught alphabets for instance, how did they go about learning them?
Was it rote learning? A for apple, B for ball?
Did they experience anything hands-on?
Did they touch and feel the alphabets?
Did they learn that apple starts with a sound that the alphabet 'A' makes or just memorized that A is for apple?
Did they just memorize a fact that c-a-t is cat or learnt why it is so? And whether this was done in a hands-on & age appropriate way?
Was the learning child-led or forced upon?
Undoubtedly, each route of learning creates a different type of learner, and certainly a route that is hands-on, inviting, involving and enriching would create the wisest & confident learners because their journey has been most meaningful and enriching, gaining something at each step of the way.
For young children, true happiness comes from doing an activity, not completing it and finding an answer. Their focus is always clearly on the process and not the outcome.
Learning is always joyful & purposeful when it is led by the child himself & he voluntarily engage in some activity. So it is our job to give them a prepared environment with age appropriate materials so that they enjoy their journey of learning in all the areas with greater zeal & enjoy arriving at the answers on their own.
We adults have different journeys running simultaneously in our lives like journey of a parent, a professional, a daughter etc and every journey teaches us something different. Similarly a child is into multiple learning journeys at any point in time. A child may be perhaps -
Learning to count objects
Becoming familiar with the sounds in a word
Starting to use his finer muscles of hand
Becoming aware of the colors in nature
Every child is unique in the way they start and move through these journeys. Learning is never a single occurrence, learning even one single concept involves a series of steps.
Every Skola journey takes children systematically through a series of experiences that are incrementally challenging enabling them to discover and learn something new at each stage. Every stage is facilitated by a toy, playing with which, will allow children to challenge themselves in an interesting way.
An example of a learning journey through counting is:
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We have almost come to an end of this super informative FREE video series. Thank you so much for your encouragement, shares, feedback & comments on the previous videos. Coming Friday, last video in this series, it is going to be the tour of CULTURE area of Montessori in our FREE Guided Virtual Tour of a Montessori House Of Children, #TourOfMontessori, 5-part video series! So sign up now HERE.
If you still do not know what it is all about, then check out THIS post & you can sign up for FREE for this super informative series by clicking HERE. In return, you get 5 videos right into your mailbox!
Click HERE to watch the Practical Life tour teaser video & HERE to watch the Sensorial tour teaser video.
Hurry, you do not want to miss it and it will NOT be free forever :)
Here are my home based / DIY setup related to culture area of Montessori that you can also easily do at home if your child is not going to a Montessori school.
Do not forget to follow us 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-inspired activities for kids, kids books & toys reviews and much more!
Thank you so much fellow parents for loving the first three videos of Practical Life, Sensorial & Language tour. I loved reading your feedback, keep them coming please. Coming Friday, it is going to be the tour of math area of Montessori in our FREE Guided Virtual Tour of a Montessori House Of Children, #TourOfMontessori, 5-part video series! So sign up now HERE.
If you still do not know what it is all about, then check out THIS post & you can sign up for FREE for this super informative series by clicking HERE. In return, you get 5 videos right into your mailbox!
Click HERE to watch the Practical Life tour teaser video & HERE to watch the Sensorial tour teaser video.
Hurry, you do not want to miss it and it will NOT be free forever :)
Do not forget to follow us 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-inspired activities for kids, kids books & toys reviews and much more!
Thank you so much fellow parents for loving the first two videos of Practical Life & Sensorial tour. I loved reading your feedback, keep them coming please. Coming Friday, it is going to be the tour of language area of Montessori in our FREE Guided Virtual Tour of a Montessori House Of Children, #TourOfMontessori, 5-part video series! So sign up now HERE.
If you still do not know what it is all about, then check out THIS post & you can sign up for FREE for this super informative series by clicking HERE. In return, you get 5 videos right into your mailbox!
Click HERE to watch the Practical Life tour teaser video & HERE to watch the Sensorial tour teaser video.
Hurry, you do not want to miss it and it will NOT be free forever :)
Do not forget to follow us 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-inspired activities for kids, kids books & toys reviews and much more!
Thank you so much fellow parents for loving the first video of Practical Life tour. I loved reading your feedback, keep them coming please. Coming Friday, it is going to be the tour of sensorial area of Montessori in our FREE Guided Virtual Tour of a Montessori House Of Children, #TourOfMontessori, 5-part video series! So sign up now!!!
If you still do not know what it is all about, then check out THIS post & you can sign up for FREE for this super informative series by clicking HERE. In return, you get 5 videos right into your mailbox!
Click HERE to watch the Practical Life tour teaser video.
Hurry, you do not want to miss it and it will NOT be free forever :)
Do not forget to follow us 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-inspired activities for kids, kids books & toys reviews and much more!
This is a quick post to let all you people know that we have successfully launched our brand new FREE Guided Virtual Tour of a Montessori House Of Children #TourOfMontessori This is a 5-part video series!
This is the teaser video of Practical Life Area tour.
If you still do not know what it is all about, then check out THIS post & you can sign up for FREE for this super informative series by clicking HERE. In return you get 5 videos right into your mailbox!
Hurry, you do not want to miss it and it will NOT be free forever :)
Do not forget to follow us 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-inspired activities for kids, kids books & toys reviews and much more!
Do you have music instruments in your child's toy collection? If not, then you should seriously consider adding few instruments today!
My 26-month-old son surprised everyone with his self-discovered beat pattern and that motivated me to share with everyone so many benefits of music instruments, specially percussion, in early childhood! Being a singer & musician myself, I cannot be happier to see the beat sense developing so beautifully in my son :)
Check out this video to know some awesome benefits of introducing music instruments to your child!
It was me 2 years back who sowed the seeds and would patiently wait for the greens to grow. Now it's my toddler's turn :)
My then 25-month-old son sowed Fenugreek seeds and we harvested fresh and lovely Fenugreek leaves after few weeks. He said he will eat methi paratha with those tender methi leaves! He loves it! And that is why I chose Fenugreek so that he is able to appreciate the process from start to end - from sowing seeds to watering the plant to seeing micro greens to seeing mature leaves to harvesting to actually consuming it happily.
He now knows how important trees and plants are for us, specially in hot summers these days, trees provide us shade. And of course, that plants give us food.
This generation kids need to know the importance of going green so much more than our generation for obvious reasons!
My now 26-month-old son sowed Spinach seeds recently, here is a sneak peek of our cute gardening exercise.
Gardening in itself teaches a lot to kids of all ages, starting from toddlerhood! Let us look how does it benefit -
Multisensory Learning
Montessori focusses on learning through multiple senses because that is how toddlers learn! While gardening, kids can touch & feel the soil, seeds, water, leaves. They can see beautiful colors of nature. They can smell the earth & the plants & flowers! They can hear the lovely birds chirping on the terrace & the wind blowing. And of course, they can eat what they plant (conditions apply)
Motor Skills
As seen in the video above, a lot of large & small muscle movements are required end to end. A great way to enhance gross & fine motor skills while working in nature, no frills activity, no activity box needed!
Sequencing
A very important skill to master, in addition to using puzzles or printables to teach the lifecycle of a plant, it would be great if we can give toddlers a hands-on experience of the same. They would remember this for ever then.
Science
According to the age, we can talk about basic science concepts like photosynthesis, composting, worms, insects etc. And further, we can supplement it with book readings. This can be a starting point of deep conversations with the toddlers. They are super curious & answering their questions related to gardening would be fun science lessons.
Life Lessons
Caring & Responsibility, patience, cycle of life, confidence, focus - all these deep & profound lessons can be learnt while gardening, taking care of the plat & seeing it grow.
Healthy Eating
If kids grow their own food, and are involved from end to end, they are likely to eat better & of course healthy.
Hands On Maths Lessons
From counting number of seeds to sow to measuring the right depth to sow the seeds to counting petals in a flower or leaves in a green to measuring the height of a plant, maths is everywhere. And gardening in every way is helping the child to sharpen his maths skills.
Bonding
A Sunday morning sowing seeds with mom or dad - the child will always cherish such beautiful memories. Gardening gives us a chance to bond beautifully with our kids & have great conversations.
Relaxation & Mindfulness
Gardening for me is like a meditation. It is therapeutic. It relaxes & helps us to become mindful of our surroundings our nature. And it is the same for kids too. Read my post HERE about 6 ways to develop mindfulness in kids.
I would love to know how & what did you do with your kids in your terrace garden! Hop on to our facebook page or closed facebook group to be a part of this parent-tribe :) And do not forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel, I would love to see you guys in my next video!
Today, I am sharing with you the hands-on learning activities that I set up for my 25 months old son on his Montessori inspired shelf! Hope you like them & get some ideas from the same.
I have listed the sources of the materials & printables used in the activities in the description box of this Youtube video. Do subscribe to this blog & my Youtube channel to get the updates first!
I would love to hear your comments how you found the activities!
If you prefer to look at just the pictures, here they are -
Easter is here & since I want to raise a multi-cultural child, we not being Christians does not stop me from telling my 26 months old son about Easter, its story & its significance.
Easter or Resurrection Sunday, is a festival and holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in the New Testament as having occurred on the third day of his burial after his crucifixion by the Romans at Calvary. It is the culmination of the Passion of Jesus, preceded by Lent (or Great Lent), a forty-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance. Source - Wikipedia
I thought & looked around for activities for my son based on Easter theme but most of them were egg based. I do have his Montessori shelf setup with some egg-themed activities (Will cover the shelf in a separate video) but I wanted to make something more meaningful to make him learn the real meaning of Easter. So I came up with this DIY Easter garden. I have shared the setup & details in this video below. Hope you like it :) I would love to read your comments!
If you are here, you might be interested to look at my Christmas Nativity Storytelling setup as well, that I had set up last Christmas for my toddler - HERE & HERE as well.
And now some pictures of my son with the Easter Garden setup!
Listening to crucification story
Putting Jesus inside the tomb
Putting the stone to close the tomb
Bonus, now a super fun activity with Easter egg & kinetic sand! Just put some kinetic sand into the Easter egg & shake shake shake! Open it & see an ellipsoid :) Watch the video below for details.
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Here are our Montessori inspired shelf activities for the next couple of days that I set up for my 2 year old son. Watch the video for the details & the sources of materials I used in the description box of the video on YouTube.
Source of the wooden puzzle shown in this video - search for facebook groups named "tiara toys", "ionica toys", "kidstop". All of them have this kind of wooden puzzle in various designs.
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!
