Do you want to know what I truly love about Montessori Practical Life? I will tell you a secret…come a little closer…most trays can be made simply using items you have lying around the home. Variations seem endless and easily adaptable to months, seasons, interests, and holidays. Check out these fresh new ideas for your Winter Montessori shelves.
Montessori Winter Trays
Large Bead Stringing is popular and ridiculously effectively early childhood Montessori Practical Life Work. Easy to cater to the various festive seasons throughout the year, this tray includes green and red large beads with lace for stringing.
This pearl tweezer activity is a perfect winter fine motor activity for kids. Children who have mastered dry pouring, wet pouring, spooning, and tonging are ripe for this work. Plus the sound of the pearl dropping into the small dish is wonderful for young ears.
You can't go wrong with adding this snowflake paper punch to your shelves. We love paper hole punching work. It works fine motor skills and is a great variation on pin poking. Simply include a plain piece of paper and a bowl or bag for collecting the snowflakes to use in an art project or sensory tub. Another idea is to include punch cards for numeration, letters, or sensorial pattern making.
This adorable tray is a simple tweezing activity with a sweet twist. A great precursor to spring works and discussions around bird habitats and winter behavior. I picked this nest and eggs up at Michaels Crafts. Simply set up with tweezers, tongs, or even as a hand transfer.
Take green and red mini jingle bells in a small dish, add tweezers or tongs, and two obvious sorting areas. Invite the child to the work. The kids will adore the mini bells and the sounds of the holiday.
It is difficult to see in this image above but there is a bowl of mini silver jingle bells and a plastic ornament. My 1.5 year old can't get enough of taking one bell and popping it into the ornament. For older children, add tweezers to really work fine motor skills.
I love these mini spools. Not only are they green and red, perfect for the holidays, but they are so versatile. In this tray, we use a tweezer to sort the red and green spools into their respective “napkin rings”. I have also used these spools for small bead stringing.
We adore this tray! There is the isolation of color with white, plus the sorting between soft cotton balls and hard small beads. Adding tweezers or tongs is a nice final touch on the tray but not necessary especially with younger children!
So, what do you think about my secret? Do you like these fresh ideas? I hope so. I will be in touch soon!
Marnie
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