Ask a mother, she would agree how important it is to keep young kids (toddlers & preschoolers) engaged at home, especially 2 to 3 year olds ;) With the rainy season around, it is all the more necessary to have some activities for them indoor at home to reduce screen time. Being a Montessori mom & an early learning enthusiast, I set up my son's shelf activities at least once a month. Some of them are DIY too.
Here are some ideas that you can borrow from the current shelf that I have set up for my son. He is 28 months (2.4 years) old right now & I am homeschooling him currently. Early learning has become my passion after my son was born.
Here is the video of his current shelf and I have explained all the activities in detail. This kind of set up helps to keep my son screen-free. They are fun learning activities that we all can do at home.
I usually try to cover various areas (as suggested by Montessori) when I set up the activities like fine motor, logic, practical life, sensorial, language, math, open-ended play etc. But I do not necessarily have all of them and try to follow my child's interests always. In past, I have tried to include every area in principle and then my son would not touch some of the activities at all. There are so many ideas floating around on the net, specially pinterest, that it is so easy to get overwhelmed. So it is best to stick to what you think your child would like & what would suits his skill set. Every child is different & so are their interests & skill set at a given age.
Here are few glimpses of our setup in pics, if you do not prefer a video.
Rhyming Words
Human lifecycle puzzle
Magnetic Blocks
Montessori Sensorial - Brown Stairs
Vegetable Puzzle
Pretend Play - Aeroplane Set
Eduedge Puzzle
Eduedge Puzzle 2
Pretend Play - Building A Wall With Bricks & Cement
Pretend Play - Army
Hope you liked the ideas & I hope this will help you in reducing the screen time of your child (if you are trying to do that)
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Sharing some Montessori inspired educational activities that I had set up for my 26 months old son around Easter time. Do checkout my Easter storytelling setup HERE.
Hope you found some ideas for your child from this video.
If you prefer seeing pictures of the activities, then here are the pics!
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 -
My 2 year old son is currently so much interested in doing puzzles & open ended play with blocks. So I set up him Montessori shelf with interest led activities. Take a look in the video below for ideas & some great toy recommendations too :)
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.
Montessorishelfwork - activities I have set up for my 20 months old toddler . It includes activities for practical life,fine motor,maths, sorting,matching,logic,puzzle,visual discrimination etc. Have a look!
The Ganesh festival is an elaborate 10 day affair and celebrated very fondly in Maharashtra. Families bring home Ganesha's idol, decorate their house and perform the rituals before finally immersing the lovable God. Since the whole festival is filled with fun and celebrations, it’s no surprise that kids somehow have a special affinity towards Ganesha! They even instantly fall in love with Him, maybe because they find his appearance friendly & inviting?
Likewise, my 18 months old son is very fond of elephants, so much so that he even calls it 'ant'! Around Independence Day last month, I introduced him to some Gods that are worshipped in India, and Ganesha was one of them. He instantly fell in love with Him. So this Ganesh Chaturthi, I thought it would be a great idea to set up some Ganesha themed Montessori Inspired activities for kids his age.
Want to know more?
My activities were featured on BabyChakra. Click HERE to have a look!
With Navaratri & Dussehra around the corner, you must be wondering how to tell your kids about Navaratri. Well, the Montessori approach has an answer. In a Montessori setup, children are exposed to different cultures and countries in a very hands-on way. If you are looking for activities & crafts you can do with your toddlers & preschoolers this Navratri & Dussehra season, you are at the right place!
When I wanted to let my 19 months old toddler experience the beautiful festive spirit of Navaratri and Dassera, I refreshed the Montessori learning principles in my head and planned out activities for my son, according to his age, skill set and interest. Now, I simply can’t wait to share them with you all! All these activities have been chosen such that they represent the culture and traditions of this 10 day festival. You can easily tweak them according to your child’s interest and age or even a bit as per your own culture!
Here is the video that explains the set of activities!
If you are an image person, here are some quick images of the activities that I did with my son -
CULTURE - A DIY bow & arrow made from hula hoop connectors & a twig. I used this as a prop while telling the story of Lord Ram & Raavan that how Lord Ram was so good at using bow & arrow.
ART - Some sticks that we collected from garden, we painted them with tempera paints & used them to play dandiya :)
FINE MOTOR - Hand drawn Durga Mata faces kept inside plastic sheet. The activity is to peel off bindi & put it on the right place on Durga Mata.
MATH - One to one correspondence of keeping one flower in one cavity using a clothespin. A pre-math activity & a fine motor skill to use the clothespin.
PRETEND PLAY - People observe fast during Navatri season & hence I came up with this pretend play setup with his toy fruits & a balance. He became a fruit seller.
SENSORY - Pulling out the flower petals & making water rangoli
MATH - Hand drawn Raavan face with numbers written on his 10 heads. Wooden number cutouts to match the numbers.
SORTING - sorting marigold flowers according to the color
PRACTICAL LIFE - Punching holes in mango leaves & threading them to make a toran for Dussehra.
I am going to make a separate blog post on some books that you can read this Navratri & Dussehra festival to your kids.
My activities have also been featured on BabyChakra. Click HERE to check them.
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!
Here are some quick to set-up Montessori inspired fun educational activities & crafts for kids for this beautiful festival of India - Janmashtami that marks the birth of Lord Krishna.
After watching my social media news feed full of little Krishnas & Radhas, in the afternoon, I quickly brainstormed within myself & came up with some ideas for Montessori inspired activities based on Janmashtami theme from whatever stuff I had at home. After that, collecting the materials from all over the house & arranging them was just a matter of an hour or so, and I did this when A was taking his afternoon nap. The activities basically weave together the traditions, stories & rituals of Janmashtami, and also provide opportunities for the toddlers to practice their skills in different areas.
All we did were we made some beautiful memories! Trust me, we had lots of fun! I hope I was able to offer my son some insights about this festival & Lord Krishna with these activities. Here is the video that explains all the activities.
This set of activities was also featured on Baby Chakra, so if you are not a video person, you can see some pictures & details HERE.
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!
Here are some ideas of Montessori inspired fun educational activities & crafts for India's independence day for kids. Also mentioned are India themed books for kids that you can read aloud.
I am following Montessori & fun learning philosophy for my son who is 18 months old now. This independence day, I set up India theme activities for him. Here is a quick video of all the activities on his Montessori shelf.
Now this is another YouTube video showing how he enjoying doing these activities!
Hope you liked our independence day celebration in this special way :) Please share how did you celebrate independence day with your child. I would love to know!
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!
