Leather Stamping {Art Friday}

Lately we've been able to start a lot of our days with paper and colored pencils. I leave them out in the morning so that after breakfast and my coffee and the kids finish up their morning tv time, we can start our work together. 

Most of the time the oldest just listens to music and Indie experiments with lines and colors. It's very simple and there is no end goal, it is just us. It's a rhythm that fits our learning style. 

This week we decided to do a little leather stamping for art appreciation. It's really simple and you can find kits at your local craft store.  Joann has one like this. Hobby Lobby had a similar one for a bit cheaper. 

 A general rule of thumb is to get your leather wet before starting. 

 The mallets are pretty light- hammer your stamp onto your leather piece.  

This set included arrow head shaped key chain and would be a great lead into Native American cultures. Indie is holding up a bracelet she made as well. 

If you are working with Montessori at home this would fit into your practical life work. 

Parts of a dicotyledon {Botany}

We are working on seeds this week.  I was really pleased with how hard everyone worked this afternoon on their booklets and sorting. This is a pretty simple set up but has a ton of extensions. 

We used a mini muffin tin and four different varieties of seeds. We bought ours from the thrift store so I was limited with the types. Buy larger seeds (beans, squash) for smaller hands and smaller seeds (carrots, broccoli) for a bigger challenge. The top row contains an example seed and a card with the common and latin names. The middle row is the picture of the seed. It worked well to cover up that hole on the muffin tin. The bottom row is where they placed the matching seeds. 

Nomenclature cards. We did a three part lesson on the parts and ordered them in terms of growth. 

Working on writing. These are almost always a hit.  The younger ones work on tracing the words and coloring the pictures. 

More Resources

Parts of a Seed Cards from The Helpful Garden 

Botany Manual (and cards) from KHT Montessori. pictured

Montessori WorkJobs has a great printable as well

Free Seed and Plant Matching Cards from Montessori Print Shop

Landscape Art {Art Friday}

I had planned to take the kids up to the mountains to sketch this week but after a hectic few days we really needed that extra day at home. I'm sure we will make it up there next week. 

This morning we looked at some landscape art in our Can you Hear it? book along with searching for landscape art in our Usborne Famous Painting Art Cards. We also listened to  The four Seasons: Summer by Vivaldi. 

The selected cards that the kids felt fit a "landscape" description. 

They picked a card that inspired them. Indie picked Apples and Oranges by Paul Cezanne.

Barrett picked The Water Lily Pond by Claude-Oscar Monet. 

Apple Picking {Wordless Wednesday}

Sewing: Stuffed Bear {Art Friday}

Art Fridays are the days that I do my best to share an art related activity. Sometimes these are bigger projects, sometimes they relate to music or the visual arts. Sometimes they are the creative arts (like today). Enjoy! 

In retrospect, this project would have been significantly easier if we just made a pillow. But the house was quiet and I was feeling brave. The house is not quiet anymore and the baby is awake fully surrounded by a sea of Gerber Puffs. Oh well. 

Here is our hand dyed, hand sewn, new stuffy: "The Bear."

Barrett worked on this guy- some on his own- some with a bit of help from me. You can find the free pattern and tutorial over at Purl Bee. 

The fabric is upcycled curtains that we dyed with a natural homemade blueberry dye. 

Barrett helped pin and cut the pieces. Taking out pins and aligning fabric is an awesome way to include kiddos in a project. 

Using the machine set on low. 

Hand stitching the button eyes. I helped blind stitch the back and the legs on. 

He loves it. Mistakes and all. 

Let's just pretend he doesn't look crazy creepy. 

DIY.org {Review from a Montessori Mom}

One of my biggest struggles with doing Montessori "at home" for the elementary years is the lack of group work. The ability to work together in groups and feed each others interests seems to be an integral aspect of a Montessori classroom. We've been able to blend a more classical education with our Montessori inspired activities but it still seems a little forced on my part as "guide." 

When our friends told us about diy.org I was super excited. The best way to describe it would be boy scouts without the actual meetings. Kids can learn new skills and share them with friends in a safe online environment. They can earn patches for accomplishing skills and receive feedback from other members of the community. 

Parents get notifications when things are submitted and can log in online on their parent account to monitor conversations. I've been a little nervous about allowing my little guy some social media interactions but it seems to be a great way to learn internet safety in a safe, monitored environment.  It has been free (and still is) but they just added a subscription service where you get the patches for free, feedback, insights and even mentors that push them to do a little better. We had a mentor ask for a closer shot of an activity and Barrett was so proud to do it over I was amazed at the whole experience. 

Barrett has loved participating with his real life friends in an online environment and they seem to encourage each other in their passions and skill sets. I encourage you to check it out! 

I wrote this review for myself. We pay the monthly fee for this service and it has been well worth it. 

Constellations {Wordless Wednesday}

Wednesdays are the days that I post just pictures of an activity or experience. Thanks for stopping by! 

Free Constellation Cards from Montessori for Everyone

Simple Purple Dye {Practical Life}

We've been having fun learning about the Phoenicians in our Ancient History book this past week. One of the recommended activities was to make dye. The Phoenicians used snails but fruit and vegetables work great too! 

Materials:

Blueberries (frozen)

Pots (one for cooking the blueberries, one for cold water)

Cheese cloth (for straining)

Material to Dye (old curtains, fabric, pasta)

Cold Salt Water

Simmer your blueberries on low heat for about an hour. I found that I needed to add some water to our blueberries. Strain the berries and keep the juice. Dye your materials. Rinse with cold salt water- it will dilute your coloring a bit- but the color should stay a little bit longer.  Lay out to dry! 

Once our fabric dries we are going to make some stuffed animals with the sewing machine. Check back on Friday to see how it comes together!