Montessori Inspired I Spy Continents

If you've been here for awhile you know that we LOVE geography. We have traveled through Asia, braved Antarctica and took a fabulous run through Australia with The Pumpkin Runner and Little Passports. Now we are busy visiting Europe. With all this traveling, I always try to come up with fun educational ways to include the younger children. Today I'm sharing our icy I Spy Continents Activity. We are also having a fantastic Montessori inspired giveaway. Woohoo!!!    

Affiliate links might be found on this blog. A great big thank you in advance. 

If you are not familiar with I Spy it is a game or book where there are several items that seem alike, everything might be yellow, or there might be 25 things on a shelf and you need to find certain objects. Similar to a hidden picture find. These are just a few examples, but I'm guessing you understand. My children have several I Spy books and puzzles that get used often. That is why I knew an I spy Continent activity would be so much fun.    

Of course just placing several objects in a basket wasn't enough for this momma, however it's actually a great idea. I might do that next time for something different. This time I decided to use our DIY Light table, our perfect continent molds and Montessori 3 part cards. I prepared the day before making sure I had the cards laminated for easy wipe off, and added the colored water to our molds.  I also used a regular ice tray to freeze colored ice cubes. They would easily freeze in a couple of hours, if you wanted to prepare this in the morning for some afternoon fun. I set everything out on our light table and let them enjoy the activity.

They were so happy. Their little faces just lit up with excitement and they went to town finding their ice continents. Did I mention they enjoyed eating them too. 

These sweet smiles were totally worth the little bit of effort, plus we had such a great time learning our continents. If you would like to see our continent crayons, follow us on Instagram. I post fun pics and activities often.  

Are you ready to see what we are giving away?!

 I've teamed up with The Natural Homeschool and Trillium Montessori to offer you free printables and this fabulous giveaway. You can win Montessori continent insets, continent biomes 3 part cards, and a fun continents mold. I'm so excited to share this with you. 

 Click here for a free Continent Map.

Click here to see The Natural Homeschool continent lesson and get her free 3 part cards. 

GIVEAWAY TIME!

This giveaway is open to US and Canada. 
You must be 18+ years old to enter. 
Void where prohibited. 
No purchase necessary. 

Winners will be notified via email and have 48 hours to respond before another winner is chosen. 
Please see detailed terms and conditions below the giveaway for more info.
Giveaway will run from Wednesday, 29 October (midnight, Eastern Time) - Wednesday, 5 November (midnight, Eastern Time)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Visit Natural Beach Living's profile on Pinterest.

Toddler and Preschool Fall Crafts for Share it Saturday

Crafts with kids can be so much fun. Whether they are three or thirteen children just love to create. That's why today for share it Saturday I decided to feature some fun fabulous crafts for toddlers and preschoolers. I think you will love these craft ideas I've picked out for you. We have everything from lovely beaded napkin rings for Thanksgiving, to Halloween spiders made from shells. So come along and let's get crafting.

Beaded Napkin Rings perfect for Autumn from Buggy and Buddy

Mommy Crusader shared hands on fun with leaf stamping tee shirts.

A sweet Sunflower Cupcake Liner Craft from Sugar Aunts.

Grandparents Plus has a really cute pumpkin craft, perfect for toddlers and preschoolers.

Mini Monets and Mommies have the cutest Halloween Seashell craft.

This week our featured post from Natural Beach Living

The Perfect Gift Guide for Children that Love Nature

 As my 6 year old son would say 

"Everything is Awesome"!!

Link Up Time!

I am loving all of these wonderful posts we get to read each week. 

Ready to see who the other hosts have featured today?!    

Teach Beside Me

Fun-A-Day

Sugar Aunts

Chestnut Grove Academy

Visit Natural Beach Living's profile on Pinterest.

An InLinkz Link-up

Montessori Pumpkin Washing Station

You are probably expecting to find a washing station for clothes, dishes, or dolls. That is not exactly what you will find. What you will find is our fun filled Montessori inspired washing station for pumpkins. We are in the midst of fall, the leaves are changing, the weather is crisp yet lovely, and the smell of apple cider and fresh pumpkin bread fills our house. So I thought the perfect activity today would be to clean our hand picked pumpkins. The children were so excited.

Here is our Pumpkin washing station. It was easy to set up. I used a couple of buckets for the water area, a few small pitchers for them to pour the water over the pumpkins, a scrubber, a couple of wash cloths and a towel for drying. 

The wonderful thing about this activity is not only does it teach great practical life skills. It gets the children involved. It shows them what goes into life, different seasons, and caring for the environment.

If you have multiple children then they can help each other and work together.

"The things he sees are not just remembered;

 they form a part of his soul." 

~ Dr Maria Montessori

Thanks for visiting 

If you are interested in seeing other practical life activities 

Teaching Toddlers Self Care is another favorite. 

Visit Natural Beach Living's profile on Pinterest.

Schooling the Littles with the Classics

I LOVE books! In fact, one thing you will find in every room of my house is books. I love many different kinds of books, but the classics... ahhhhh you can never go wrong with children's classics. So when I set out with all of my catalogs, and my notebook to figure out a schooling plan for this year, I kept coming back to great books and our love for cuddling up in one room and reading. Wouldn't it be nice for every child to hear and learn with the classics. 

Little B (6 years old) and Bells (2 years old)

Classics are tried and true books that keep people coming back year after year. Books that have been around for decades and probably will be around for many more years to come. Books that you remember from childhood and are still just as good or even better now that you're reading them to your children. Books like Caps for Sale(one of my favorites growing up), Corduroy, and Eloise Wilkin Stories (Little Golden Book Collection).  So to start off sharing what we have planned for the year we are reading through several of Sonlight Core A books and for Bells we got Core P 3/4. We have already finished several of the books and we absolutely loved them. A few favorites so far are Curious George, My Father's Dragon, and The Boxcar Children. 

We are also using Before Five in a Row (BFIAR) - We started rowing and have completed Blueberries for Sal, Goodnight Moon, and Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? I can't say enough great things about FIAR. I have used it for several years, and I don't think you can ever go wrong when you mix classic stories and multisensory learning.   

We are using Explode the Code with Little B for extra phonetic learning, and handwriting skills. 

 

For Math we do a lot of hands on living Math, and include Math in our BFIAR and unit studies. 

  

 All about Reading is AMAZING! We recently added it and it's really been great, I'll be sharing more All About Reading information in the future. For our family I have found that it works best when we have several things to work with. This way it breaks up the day and keeps everybody excited. The kids are happy and momma is happy. 

We really like Signing Time CollectionBooks, Cds, and Dvds. I will be adding to our language learning this year, by using books, games, and fun activities in other languages. I can't wait to show you the great things I've found for language.

Bells will be joining us for everything that she wants to sit in for. Which so far is everything. I have also made up some busy boxes with daily themes for her to explore on her own (I'll share those soon).

A few of the Unit Studies I have planned are Jellyfish which you can see part 1  and part 2 here.
Plants/Planting, Weather, The Little House Series, Anatomy, Animals, and the Frog Life Cycle.

For some it might seem like we have a lot going on, for others it might seem to be a laid back approach. For us it works.  Great books and wonderful educational activities are always around us. I'm a true believer that when I mix Montessori, Charlotte Mason, Reggio Emilia, Unit studies, and Delight directed/Free Range Learning into our life, we don't have to adhere to a strict schedule. Instead we have a lifestyle of learning all of the time.

I am not a teacher,

But an awakener

~ Robert Frost

If you would like to check out what the older boys (8 and 10) will be doing click here. 

Follow Natural Beach Living's board Preschool, Kindergarten, Early Elementary Schooling on Pinterest.

Share it Saturday

I am so excited to be teaming up with several other bloggers for Share it Saturday. Share it Saturday will be a place you can come every Saturday and see all of the great ideas that are being shared from fellow bloggers. This link up is for anything kid-related, so if you are looking for kids activities, organization, parenting, kid friendly foods, you name it, you will see it here. I will also feature several posts each week that go along with a theme I think you will love.

This is so Exciting!!!!

Check out who the other hosts have featured today. 

Teach Beside Me

Fun-A-Day

Sugar Aunts

Chestnut Grove Academy

Life & Lessons From a Country Road

I would love for you to follow along on our Share it Saturday Pinterest Board. This way you are sure to see  many fabulous ideas.

An InLinkz Link-up

Fun Fall Toddler and Preschool Activities

I can't wait to share all of these fun fall activities with you. I have searched for the best activities for your toddlers and preschoolers. We are talking everything from lovely activities in nature to the exploding apples and pumpkins. From sensory play to cooking with kids, Make sure you don't miss the AMAZING giveaway  because we have something very special to start your season off. 

No-cook Natural Cinnamon Play Dough

Apple Sensory Play

Erupting Apple Cano

Fall Sensory Jars

Apple Tot Week 

Autumn Leaf Art

Tree Bark Owls

Simple Leaf Collages

Fall Pom Pom Tree

Apple Week Taste Testing, Fun Math & More

Spanish Fall Preschool Activities

Fall Felt Trees

Orange Activity Week for Toddlers 

Pumpkin Soup with Children

Exploring Pumpkins in Autumn

Fun Upcycled Turkey Craft

25 Free Fall Printables & Activities

Doesn't that get you in the mood for some fall fun?! I hope it does,
 If you are like me and always enjoy seeing more inspiration and activities follow my Fall Pinterest Board.

Follow Natural Beach Living's board Fall Food, Activities, Homeschooling on Pinterest.

Here at Natural Beach Living we wanted to start the season out right and give you the chance to win $500 Cash. Woohoo!!!   

Win one of FOUR $500 cash prizes directly in your paypal account! This giveaway is open internationally. You must be 18+ years old to enter. Void where prohibited. No purchase necessary. Winners will be notified via email and have 48 hours to respond before another winner is chosen. Please see detailed terms and conditions below the giveaway for more info.

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

An InLinkz Link-up