LEGO MAZE

Create a lego friends maze for your children or the children can also assemble the lego themselves. 

I told my son a story about the animals in the zoo. One of them is lonely so that the other friends are going to visit him. The marble is intended to be the friend who is going to visit the lonely one.

This activity is good to improve children concentration, fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. It also strengthens hand muscles to prepare writing skill.

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Buat lego FRIENDS maze untuk anak-anak Anda atau anak-anak juga dapat merakit lego itu sendiri.
Dalam permainan ini, saya membuat cerita tentang hewan-hewan di kebun binatang. Salah satu dari hewan tersebut kesepian sehingga teman-teman lain akan mengunjunginya. Kelereng diimajinasikan sebagai teman yang akan mengunjungi teman yang kesepian tersebut.

Kegiatan ini baik untuk meningkatkan konsentrasi anak, keterampilan motorik halus dan koordinasi tangan-mata. Dan yang tak kalah penting, untuk memperkuat otot tangan dalam mempersiapkan kemampuan menulis.

Book-based Activities: Noah's Ark

I just found some good books about bible stories. These were Arya's first bible-based activities and he enjoyed them very much. The story book doesn't have much writing. Moreover, it provides sound effects of the story. Arya liked to produce the sound effects as I read him aloud.

Next, he painted a used-plastic jar which I had prepared before. He was going to make Noah's ark by painting the front part himself. Then, I finished the back part. I let it as it is though there are some white spots, just to make it original. However, Daddy and Arya's cousins said the Ark looked more like a house lol 😅.

Book-based Activities: Ants

Book-based activity is one of Ar's favorites. I usually prepared a tray of 'invitation to play' to make him interested doing the activity. This time, I integrated reading activity with spooning as the practical life. Spooning is good for hand-eye coordination and it prepares the children's hand muscles in writing.

Reading book: Ants
1. I read the book about ants, showed parts of their body, pointed at some type of ants.
2. He started touching the sands and the ant puzzle.
3. He used the ant's stomach as if it was a spoon.
4. He pulled put the ant's legs and count them.

Sensory Play with Ant Life Cycle Figurines

Space Themed Activities

The Order of the Planets from the Sun: Ordinal Numbers, Planets

Arya was 26 months old

Materials:
I inserted eight straws in two bars of sponge. You can have a bar if the sponge is long enough. I labeled the ordinal numbers on the sponge below the straws. Next, I prepared the planets along with the pins from the solar system planetarium. My child's task is to put the planets on the straws in the right order.
We have read a book about the order of the planets several times. Arya has got the idea where the planets belong to. He took the planets randomly and inserted the pin of the planets in the straws. I still had to remind him which planet went to which straw by asking, "What planet is that? Is it the first? Is it the fifth?" When he answered correctly, I gave confirmation, "Yes, Jupiter is the fifth! Which one is fifth?" Then he placed the planet on the right straw. When he had known the correct order, I didn't ask any questions since it would distract his concentration. I just gave confirmation. This activity needs hand-eye coordination.

Extension activities:
Imaginative play
Arya suddenly blew the planets on the straws as if they were candles. We sang "happy birthday" and "let's blow the candle" song. I changed the 'candle' into the names of the planets. He enjoyed blowing them one by one.

This activity took 30 minutes with several repetitions since Arya tend to drop the planets after singing. It means he wanted to do the activities more and more.

After being tired singing and blowing, he pretended licking the planets as if they were lollipops. He offered me, "Mama, Here is Saturn lollipop." I said thank you and pretended to eat it. We can teach about good manners in offering and receiving things.

This activity is still a hit two days after. Arya is getting better in choosing the right order and more skillful in placing the planets on the straws.

EGGMOTICONS

Materials:  emotion board, matching cards, emotion eggs.

Pre-work from teacher/parent:
1. Introduce some feelings
2. Mime the expressions (the children will be interested to see the real expressions)
3. Explain why, in what situation and how to overcome negative feelings

Activities for children:
1. Point out the feeling mentioned by the teacher/parent
2. Match the cards with the emotion board
3. Match the emotion eggs with the board
4. Or take an emotion called out by the teacher, run to put it at certain point
5. Mime the emotions

Follow up:
Read books about feelings

This activity is good to teach children how to manage their negative feelings

Land and Water Forms Activities

Here are some Land and Water Forms activities. I gave a pair trays everyday so that he will remember them easily.

LAKE AND ISLAND

He was working on his den. We talked about the differences between land and water and what animals live there. He filled the tray with waterbeads in the water area.  He somehow insisted on putting the hippo, tiger and lion in the water. He said they were having a bath.

DIY: LIGHT BOX

I adore how Motleytoddler made her light box, therefore I followed her instructions to make an affordable one but I also made some adjustments.

Materials:
container (IDR 24,000 or USD 2)
silver spray paint (IDR 24,000 or USD 2)
tape
LED emergency lamp (IDR 35,000 or USD 2)
tissue paper

Steps:
1. Tape the outer edge of the container to avoid stains when spraying the paint
2. Spray silver paint around the inner side of the container and let it dry
3. Spray the silver paint once again, let it dry
4. Peel off the tape
5. Cover the container lid with tissue paper
6. Put the LED emergency lamp in the container
7. Close the lid of the container
8. Put any toys or media you want to explore on it

DONE!! All cost less than USD 7. Seriously?

Applying silver paint is to avoid the light goes through the sides of the container. I couldn't find frost spray paint for the lid as motleytoddler's suggested so I changed it with tissue paper. I could finish the project in 15 minutes because the paint dried fast. I'm overjoyed to see the result and can't wait to surprise my son 😍❤️💕.

This is not purely montessori method. It's more on reggioemilia method, but montessori also has geometic solid materials. I combined the geometic solids activity with the light box to improve my son's sight sensory.

HUMAN ANATOMY

I actually kept a human anatomy model for Ar when he is a bit older but he always dragged the box out of the closet. Therefore, I made the human organs sensory bin to satisfy his curiosity.

First, he pinched and squeezed the water beads. He is not interested in the organ models. Second, he made as if the large intestine is a maze for the water beads. Third, he took the organ I called out. Fourth, he he ran through his pool and threw the organ I mentioned in the pool.

ORGANS
I introduced human organs through three-period lesson and we continued doing racing game. I call out an organ, he took it, ran to his pool and throw the organ there. we did it until all of the organs were thrown to the pool. i downloaded the cards from suzie's blog.

To make it more dramatic, I poured some jelly into the human torso model and let it cool. Ar was ready to do an autopsy towards that body. let's call it autopsy because he might not return the organs on the right place as it is in a surgery.

 He cut open the 'flesh' and carefully took the organs one by one. He named them and asked what certain organs were for. We had serious discussion and he repeated the functions as if he was explaining to someone who hasn't known the functions yet.

Tweezers are great tool in this activity. They can strengthen the fingers and hand muscles so that children are ready to write. 

In the end, sprinkle some glitters onto the bowl of jelly to create a magical sensory play. Ar squeezed the jelly and he said it was wiggly and wobbly. Another thirty minutes were spent well.

SKELETON
Since he likes 'Skeleton Dance' song by Super Simple Song lately, I made a skeleton puppet and introduced parts of the skeleton. I haven't discussed about the scientific terms of the skeletons yet. As long as he knows that the bones are connected to each other, that's enough for me.

Follow-up activities: pasting parts of the skeleton. 

I cut parts of the skeleton, Arya glued and pasted them on a piece of paper. He could placed them in the right position though he still had difficulties in coordinating his hands when putting them on the paper. This activity is good for hand-eye coodination. Older children can cut the skeleton themselves.