Thursday, February 14, 2008

Montessori on a Budget


Here is my Little One sorting bag snaps by color (these clips are for securing bags of chips, I bought at Family Dollar for, yep you guessed it: $1)
He can do so many things with them:
open and close them
sort them by color
line them up by size (he hasn't mastered this)
we even made squares with them when we opened them and placed them on the rug opposite one another.

Mostly he likes to fill and dump the basket, but by introducing him to colors, size and shape, the use of a rug, and the awareness that baskets contain objects and can be found on a shelf; I hope to familiarize him with concepts and ground rules he will continue to use in the future.
His work at 21 months is to play.


This 'work' can easily be made for about $2.00
The basket (also found at the $ store) was part of a four basket set (total cost $2.50) and the chip clips, like I said were $1. Not much to spend for a fun activity that my toddler will enjoy again and again. Don't you just love a bargain?

During my Montessori training, an instructor commented that Montessori could be done using sticks and stones. She even went so far as to bring in these natural items for us to create lessons from. It was an important reminder about how Montessori is less about the materials and more about the philosophy (and I will add: the attitude & approach of the adult).
Remember, we adults set the tone for young children.
(If you are enthusiastic about sorting chip clips, they will be too!)
In PEACE
~~MM

4 comments:

Melissa said...

O will love this! I'm going to the dollar store today! Thanks!

Evenspor said...

I'm trying to collect ideas like this for a resource page. I would like to link to this from my blog.

I love your blog, btw.

Jennifer Howard said...

Evenspor: I'd love for you to like to me. Thanks! I'll try and send some folks your way too.
PEACE
MM

plaidshoes said...

You are way too clever! I really appreciate how you make Montessori acessible to everyone.

Where in the World?

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