Montessori Practical Life Shelf Ideas

If you are anything like me, refreshing shelf work is huge whether you are a homeschooler or in a classroom. Shelf work should get a refresher once a month at least to keep the kids interested and to honor “following the child”. In this case, I have a Montessori Practical Life fall shelf theme. I hope you enjoy these Montessori Practical Life Fall Shelf Ideas.

Check out my fall themed Rainbow letters!

“All our handling of the child will bear fruit, not only at the moment, but in the adult they are destined to become.” ~ Maria Montessori

Paperclip Tray

This tray is great because you can place it on the Math Shelf! Pretty simple. A small bowl or paperclips, a piece of chalk, a die, and a chalkboard. Have the child roll the die for the numerals to add (or subtract).

If the child rolls a “3”, the child then clips 3 paperclips together, and so on. Add the paperclips together to get the sum. This tray works fine motor skills and introduces math concepts in a concrete way.

Acorn Transfer Tray

I found plastic Christmas ornaments and decided to make a work from them! This tray has the ornament placed on a geometric solid base, a small bowl of acorn “gems”, and small tongs. You can use tweezers, too. Simply tweeze an acorn and drop it into the ornament!

Daisy Counters Tray

This tray is versatile, too. Like the Paperclip Tray above, this tray works the fine motor skills of “clicking” the counter while introducing numeration with counting. Honestly this idea came about when we were cutting the dead flowers from our yard. We started to count the daisies and group them into 2s, 5s, and 10s. Voila! We have a work!

I also introduced this tray with “leaf gems” from Michaels. Simple, small, and festive! This fall math activity with leaves is easy to put together and a fun variation on card counters.

Thank you for taking the time to read this Montessori Practical Life fall shelf post. Be sure to stop by our awesome Carrots Are Orange Facebook community for more inspiration! Lastly, please let me know what is on your shelf!

Marnie

PS. I have some super fun Halloween themed cutting strips in my shop! Check them out!