I'm not sure who it was who requested a photo of this finished but here you are! It's done and being used day after tomorrow to celebrate our friend James' 3rd birthday! Happy Birthday James!
I made this mat from felt and cotton fabrics, scraps I had mostly. The words are on card stock. laminated and have a small velcro tab on the back for attaching to the mat. This is the toddler child's point of interest by the by. Velcro! So much fun for little hands.
We introduce the 4 Seasons Mat with this song:
(Tune: Twinkle, Twinkle)
Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall
There's four seasons,
count them all,
1, 2, 3, 4!
The birthday Toddler walks our globe around the mat while we sing a special birthday song using sign language and music. (Our globe is a soft pillow ball globe I bought locally but I've seen for sale in Micheal O catalog.).
PEACE,
Jennifer
7 comments:
The mat is great and I love the birthday tradition that goes along with it. I'll be linking over from my place!
Is the globe still available locally? I would love to check that out. Esp. since I don't even have my continent globe, anymore...:)
Thanks for the inspiration, I've been meaning to make a simple version of our birthday ceremony for our toddler class.
A suggestions for Sojourn Curiosities...
To make an affordable Globe of the Continents purchase an out of date globe at a thrift store ( I picked mine up for a dollar) and paint over the exisiting maps. I choose to paint our globe with a high quality oil based artist paint for color and durability, but you could use whatever paints you have on hand. If you use a water based acrylic I recommend applying a clear polyurethene finish coat for durability. Remember to make sure the colors you choose to paint your globe match the colors on your continent map.
Pictures can be found on my blog at www.montessori-work.blogspot.com
(Sorry, I'm still new at this and haven't mastered the linking thing yet)
A Land and Water Globe (sandpaper globe) can be made in a similar way. First paint the oceans blue and the continents brown. Let paint dry thouroughly. Next apply glue to the brown continent areas and dust areas with brown sand (sand will only stick where you have applied glue so make sure you apply thouroughly). Let dry and top coat with a clear polyurethene for durability.
I love it.
I have started teaching part time again and I always think of you!
I hadn't heard the season song before. I taught it to my daughter and we sing it when we use the Sorting Seasons cards. She loved it.
Thanks to you all! The reason you haven't heard the song before is because I made it up. :)
In PEACE
Jennifer
PS Your comments bring me such joy!
Beautiful! And such a lovely tradition for home or the classroom : )
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