Montessori Object Boxes

Both my superheroes have used their Montessori Phonetic/Alphabet Box extensively.

Please see my post about Phonetic Boxes for toddlers here.  

You might think - why objects? Pictures work as well, and they are not nearly as expensive!

I personally think that the tactile experience of handling the three dimensional objects, and seeing miniature replicas of the everyday objects makes it more fun for the kiddos, and makes language work more exciting. And the possibilities with them are endless - you can extend them and get lots of mileage out of them. 

To sum it up, it makes language work more fun and exciting!


Back to the boxes.
Initially, I had a few letters in each box. And I introduced the letters in this order, according to one Montessori Album.

r a m f

b i t g

p o n l

h u s c

d e x q y

z v w j k

The object box is introduced as a Phonetic Object Box, for the kiddos to learn the sounds associated with all the letters. That means short vowel sounds, and hard sounds for c and g. 
My kids always manage to sneak in their toys, which is great! It shows that they understand Angry Bird starts with "a", or Dora and Diego start with "d", and McQueen starts with "m". 




These pictures were taken when Spiderman was already confident of his sounds. After working on a few letters at a time, I  combined all letters from A to M in one box, and letters N to Z in another box. 

And for both Spiderman and Batman, I would ask them to sort all 13 letters at a time once they were conversant with it. I know my kids have the attention span for it. You will know your kids and students the best. So decide accordingly.

They had tons of fun playing with all the miniatures, their toys, speculating about the origin of some of the toys (wasn't this from the goody bag from xyz's birthday etc), and of course, reviewing the beginning sounds.

So they now know their beginning sounds. What next? The same collection can be used for tons of things. 

• Extend them. Create sensory bins with them - something simple, like just plain white rice, with some or all the letters and one or more objects corresponding to each letter can make the whole experience different and playful and fun!
• Use then for pre-reading activities. Take a peek here.
• Use the same objects and work on ending sounds.
• Middle sounds are harder to identify for beginners. So pair the objects with the same middle sounds. Start with 10 objects, with one pair for each vowel (short) sound. Line up one of the pairs, and ask them to find the matching pair.
• Rhyming Words - you probably already have quite a few pair. See bank and tank in the picture. If you are working on the pink series, look for objects like pen - hen - men, lid - kid, mop - top, bed - red (a piece of felt works). You can find more pictures here. 
• Use them with moveable alphabets for Pink, Blue and Green Series work.
• Use them to introduce blends and digraphs and diphthongs. See my post here.
• Extend them to teach doubles - vowels or consonants. I had an apple for a, book and ball for letter b, egg for e, green for letter g - you see where I am going.
• For syllable count - ask the kids to sort them in 1 syllable, 2 syllable, 3 syllable words etc.
• Work on compound words - for example, if you have a butterfly, or ladybug, or football in the collection, the kiddos can identify the components. Or if you have a pin, wheel, cow and boy, they can come up with the compound words - pinwheel and cowboy!
• Once the kiddos have mastered the short sounds, use and extend the object boxes and go hunting for long vowel sounds in your collection. Have grapes for g? Teach them about the silent e in it, and how a says its name.
• Similarly, extend and use them object boxes for soft c and g sounds.  
• If you look at the pictures here, you will see I have car, feather - use them to teach about r controlled vowels. 
• Use it for singular / plural work. For kids working on the pink series, instead of giving them the labels, you can get them to spell the words using moveable alphabet. If they can spell pen, pens is easy-peasy for them!
• For Montessori grammar work - you can start with noun and article box. You already have everything you need. And if you have farm animals, you are all set for Montessori Grammar Farm.

And they are not just limited to language work. Use them to count and categorize. 
Use them for math work.

They can be used to introduce the kids to living and non-living things, or perhaps natural and man-made, soft or hard, sink or float etc.

For older kids:

• Present them a few things from your collection, and ask them to compose a story with the those elements. The results can be quite hilarious.
• Provide the objects (nouns), and ask them to write down adjectives.  
• Categories for older kids: magnetic or non-magnetic, conductive or non-conductive, vertebrates or non-vertebrates.

 
Even more fun might be to give a collection to the kids, and ask them to categorize it. 
Having two boys, I always have lots of transportation themed stuff. You could extend use them for Land/Air/Water Unit with vehicles and animals.
I also had quite a few animals. With one or two toobs of animals, I was able to do a categorization of the major habitats - grassland, desert, ocean, forest, polar-regions. 

Here's a picture of Spiderman working on the pink series work with me...

 

Great places for scoring miniature objects: 
Motessori Services
Tubes like the Safari Toobs 
 Hobby Lobby
Factory Direct Craft
Michaels, Dollar Store, stores that sell doll-house miniatures, other craft stores
Etsy stores like HighPie 
Toy bins at home (you will be surprised at how much you have at home already)



For more ideas on the objects, how to use them, where to get them etc, please follow my Pinterest board: Montessori Language Arts with Objects

As you can tell, I love object boxes, and would love to hear how you are using them! Leave me a comment, or a link.

Monstrous Fun with Hard and Soft C Card Game

I love all the Pixar/Disney Animation movies, perhaps a tad bit more than my kids :)
 
Have you seen Monsters University yet? I am still trying to convince Spiderman that it is NOT going to be scary and super-fun. And of course, there will be popcorn. It is slow going so far.

In the meantime, to pacify Batman (who is starting to get the hang of Uno, and wants to play card games), I thought it might be fun to make a monster themed card game with some learning!

Hence our Soft and Hard 'C' Card Game. The monsters need some help with their C sounds at school. Think you can help them out? Well then, get ready for some "Monstrous Fun at  School"!!

 This is a a freebie. So just head on over to my TpT store and grab it. Just print on card-stock, laminate, cut, and you are all set.  

 

There are 18 cards with hard 'c' sound...

  
18 cards with the soft 'c' sound...

6 cards with both soft and hard 'c' sounds...

12 gotcha cards that make you lose a turn or draw again...

 and 12 empty cards.

And if your little monsters are not quite ready to read yet, no worries. The cards all have the pictures in them. So pre-readers and emergent readers are good to go. Everyone can join in the fun.

Long and Short Of It - Vowel Sorting Cards

Spiderman has mastered the short vowel sounds. He consistently identifies the beginning sound, is nearly perfect at the ending sounds, and is getting quite good at the middle sounds...

I thought it might be fun to introduce him to the long vowel sounds, although it is a lot to remember for a 3.5 year old!  I explained to him the concept of long and short vowel sounds. Then we decided to sort the cards by their sounds. Control cards made the column headers. If the vowel says its name, it goes in the column for the long sound. I was quite amazed that he took to the concept so quickly.

 My most rewarding moment was Batman trying to teach Spiderman the concept of Bossy E. How the Bossy E makes the vowels say their name. It was hilarious, and quite rewarding...

                
For Batman (5.5), sorting the cards according to their vowel sound, long or short, was not much of a challenge. He wanted to make his own cards. So this set has empty cards for those who are up to the challenge. Batman was  quite happily occupied drawing, coloring, and then figuring out the spelling of the words.

With 110 cards and 20 blank cards, it is sure to keep the kiddos engaged!  There are 22 cards for each vowel, with 11 each for the short and the long vowel sounds, along with one card for each vowel sound. The cards have the vowels on them in the bottom left hand corner for easy sorting.

But the fun does not end there. There are over 20 cards with CVC words, great for beginning readers. There are some blend words, and plenty of bossy e/magic e words as well. It was a great exercise for Batman, trying to read the labels. 

The set is great for pre-readers, because although the labels are there, you don't need to read them. Just say the word out loud, decide what vowel sound you hear, and sort!!

Check out the cards here.




I share at these great places.

Montessori Inspired Rhyming Work and Chutes and Ladders

I have an extensive collection of miniatures, and I love them as much (if not more) than the kids :)

I generally start with 4 groups or less, place one object from each rhyming group on the carpet/mat, and Spiderman's job is to find the matching ones.

So I placed bed, chair. oar, hook and swing on the carpet, and Spiderman followed up with the rest...

Montessori inspired Object Box

... of the items from the tray.

Rhyming with miniatures

Bed, head, red, sled, bread
Chair, bear, pear
Oar, door, four
Hook, book
Swing, king, ring, wing  
 
Here is our work from another day. We started out reasonably, but then Spiderman kept on adding more, and the mats got a bit crowded. 

   

As you can see, the bed (with its mattress and pillow, and monsters lurking underneath) and the pirate hook is a hit with Spiderman. They have to make a mandatory appearance every time we play with our Rhyming box!

What I have noticed is that Spiderman is not quite as adept at this yet. Let's say that bee is already placed on the mat or carpet, and he picks up a tree. His first instinct is to say as many words as he can think of that rhymes with tree, like me, he, she, gee... If he also said bee during this rhyming spurt, then it is a snap fpr him to put in the tree with the bee (group), but if he did not, and looks at the groups on the board, then it takes him much longer to match it, if that makes any sense :)

I always have to remind him to match it with what is on the mat/carpet. Yes, "he" rhymes with tree, but it is not on the mat. Is there anything on the mat or the carpet that rhymes with "tree"? And yes, "shy" rhymes with "pie", but we don't have "shy" on the mat.

So I needed to come up with something where in just thinking of a  rhyming word is good enough. 
So I decided to amp up the classic chutes and ladders by adding a rhyming element to it.
This way, all he needs to do is think of a rhyming word, and that's it :)

<Click on the image to view the pdf file>

Chutes and Ladders with Rhyming Fun

<Click here to download the game>

Added benefits:
Spiderman also needs to work on higher number recognition. Along with all this, I have seen more conflicts between Batman and Spiderman, and I thought they needed to take turns, be patient with each other, etc etc.

Linked up to:
It's Playtime, Mom's Library,
Tot School Gathering Place, Link and Learn, Stress Free Sunday

Consonant Blends and Star Wars Board Game

We had tons of fun learning consonant blends this week. We focused on the ending blends.

Uh, but are you wondering about the connection between blends and Star Wars? Patience Padawan.
All in good time.

First, we used the object box for our blends. I set it up with the ending blends, the basket of miniatures, and some index cards. Batman is not a complete beginner at the blends, and I wanted to increase the level of complexity for him. The index cards are for him to spell the words, and create his own labels.

Batman is hard at work, placing things under the right group.

Here are the blends ending with k. Batman has labeled the bank.
For -lk, we have yolk in the bowl, ahead of milk. Shark and stork for -rk. Desk, whisk and mask for -sk. And bank, sink, tank, and skunk for -nk.

Batman hard at work, writing....
And we have few more labels for the group ending in t...

For nt, we had plant, tent, and ant. For st, there was nest, vest, chest, and mast (of the pirate ship), for ft, gift (which could also work as present), and for lt, we had belt.



Batman was wearing a storm trooper cupcake ring while doing all this. Which inspired us to come up with a Star Wars themed board game to reinforce ending consonant blends (mostly), although I sneaked in a few digraphs (-ng and -sh). As you can see, the blends are the ones we worked with, except for one or two different ones.


<Click on the image to see the pdf file>

Download the board game

 

Rules are simple.
If the square has an ending sound, and a skip, then you have to say/spell the word with that ending sound (mask for example for –sk), and if done correctly, as a reward you can skip and go to the next square.
If you land on a square that says Skip, or Go back 2, or Ride 4 hops, well then, skip that and go to the next square etc etc. There are two short cuts with blue light sabers.
Because this is such a short game, we made our own modified dice/die with some stickers/labels with just 1, 2, and 3. I drew the dots on the stick on labels.

We had a blast playing with our modified dice, and Lego star wars counters.  We even managed to sneak in a light saber fight (well, it said so on the game, not our fault)!

< Last but not least, Spiderman also worked with miniatures, but we did rhyming, and now, I have a request from Spiderman to make a board game for him as well. Watch out for that post!>

May the force be with you... 

Featured on
speech buddies

Linking up to:
It's Playtime, Mom's Library, Artsy Play Wednesday, After School Link Up, Montessori Monday, Kids Get Crafty and Link & Learn

Toddler Style Montessori Object Boxes

There is no reason why "big kids" like preschoolers and kindergarteners can't play and learn with these, of course, but these are geared more towards toddlers, and beginners. Both my super-heroes still use these for a variety of language work. But they are at a stage where they are more attracted to miniature ones.

 
Look how small the astronaut and anchor are compared to the wooden apple. I have all 3 and some more for "A", but that is another post :)









Here is a snapshot of what Spiderman played with till 2.5 years or so. You are the best judge of your child. You would know best when to introduce them, and when to graduate from these to something smaller, and more complex! These are all sturdy, does not need delicate handling, can't be swallowed, and can even take some gumming and chewing (mostly!)

.

A-M Toddler Object box

A - wooden apple
B - ball (from a b'day goody bag)
C - caterpillar (came with the Very Hungry Caterpillar book)
D - wooden duck
E - plastic or wooden egg
F - feather from craft stash
G - glasses from Dollar Store
H - straw hat
I - wooden Iguana
J - jar (of baby food)
K - wooden kangaroo
L - plastic leaf
M - wooden monkey


I started with one object for each letter.  They should be the short sounds for the vowels, and hard sounds for consonants like C or G. C as in cup, not as in city. G as in gum, not as in giraffe.

Once the kiddos know their letters, and are beginning to learn the sounds, you are ready! 

As a side note, both the kiddos learned their letter sounds by watching the Leap Frog Letter Factory DVD!!
They love the catchy song, and I love the painless way they learn the letter sounds. 

The letter cards shown here came with the DVD. These were already familiar to my kids, so I used them. You can let them match uppercase or lowercase letters to the cards, and then introduce one or two object with that sound, or let them choose the object. We also use the sandpaper letters occasionally, so they can trace the letters.

The toddler version of the object box I stored in the cardboard memory boxes, one with the letters A-M (shown here), and the second one with letters N-Z. I would take out a few at a time.

For smaller miniatures, you could use a metal box, like this one, one for every letter, or combine a few and label them.

Storing your miniatures

You will be amazed at how much stuff you already have lying around the house - from every day objects like clip, or spoon or whisk - for sounds ending in -sk, or fake flowers and fruits and veggies, toys, more toys, birthday goody bags, especially the ones that comes from pinata (we got alien, surfboard, maze-tiny plastic ones that don't work very well, but works great for silent e work, fake finger with nails - use it for finger or nail lol, putty, ninjas, rings from cupcakes, tiny erasers....). Raid the dollhouse, or tree-house for more miniatures. Grab a few of their vehicles. I could probably make a whole alphabet object box just with all the transportation themed stuff lying around the house (hmm...).... You just need mindful searching and pilfering...

Linked to Link & Learn, Living Montessori Now, Tuesday Tots, TGIF Linky Party, Show-and-Share Saturday, Weekly Kid's Co-op

Learn letters and their sounds using your sense of smell

Smelly Letters!!!

Caution: This project is best done in the spring/summertime.

Now, don't hold your breath or wrinkle your nose, these smell good!!

We have made touchy-feely letters, letters that are tactile. Why not engage the sense of smell as well?

My apple tree and hibiscus had some flowers on it, which triggered the idea.

These letters are mostly made with flowers and herbs, and teas (I love tea, all different kinds). So raid your garden and pantry. I also needed to raid my local nursery.

WARNING - Before you start: make a list of flowers, and then go over to the garden section of Home Depot, or to the local nursery, and get a few flowers (remember to ask nicely, and use the magic word). Dry the flowers, and you are in business. Other options - be on the lookout for flower bouquets with the right kind of flowers, go on a flower hunt in the neighborhood...

You can paste them on cardboard letters, or paste the smelly stuff in the shape of a letter. Or just form the letters with your sensory material, and then store them for next time!Or in other creative ways that I have not thought of.... 
OK, so here's the list. I have tried to limit the ingredients to short sounds for the vowels, and hard sounds for the consonants. So for example, you can make C with cinnamon, but that is the soft sound, whereas the kiddos master the hard sound first. 
 

Appy A
My super-heroes made an "a", and then put the blossoms in a bowl of water!  
- aniseed, or anise flowers, apple blossoms, flower petals from flowers like azalea


a with apple blossoms

Barky B 
- bougainvillea, bark (Batman's idea), basil from your herb pot, bay leaves, brown sugar

Bougainvillea b

Clovy C
- cloves, ground coffee, cardamom pods, cumin seeds, curry leaves, candy cane sticks, chamomile

C with cloves and c with cardamom pods

Daisy D
- daisy petals (my super heroes did not want to "hurt" the flower by pulling the "pretty" petals), dandelions (again, Batman is to blame), dill

D with daisy

Eggy E
Okay, so this one is not going to smell much of anything, as these are cleaned egg shells. In that case, switch to Elderflower. You might be able get your hand on the dried stuff. For older kids, try "earl grey" tea leaves or eucalyptus! Has anyone tried Bigelow's Eggnogg'n tea? That might be an option.
- eggshell, elderflower

Ferny F
- fern leaves from the garden, fennel seeds, a collage with different kinds of flower petals (Spider-man's favorite) 

F with fern leaves

Grassy G
I have Geranium flowers aplenty, but it starts with the soft G sound, as does ginger. And the kiddos did not want to use garlic. Sooo, a trip to the nursery, and we got some Gerbera flowers! But those were too pretty to be plucked, so we ended up using some grass :)
- gerbera or gardenia flower, garlic, grass, 

"g" with grass

Herby H
- collage of herb leaves from my herb pot, hydrangea and hibiscus flowers from the garden, hay (Spiderman says it has a nice hay-y smell), honeysuckle flowers

H with hibiscus

Inchy I
Try iris flowers, or irish moss for kids who know the long I sound.
- incense sticks broken into inch long pieces, (hence, Inchy), impatiens from the garden (am I a smart gardener or what!)

Jassy J
- jasmine from the garden

Kitchy K
I have an Indian pantry. You will have to come up with your own smelly letter for K!

K with Kala Jira

- Kala Jira, black cumin seeds, some kelp next time you visit the beach
Update - after dinner today, Batman decided to make a K in his Ketchup. It smells nice, it tastes nice, and it starts with K!

K in Ketchup

Abstract K painting in Ketchup

   

Lemony L
- lime or lemon peel, lavender leaves or flowers from the garden, lemongrass

L with lavender

Minty M
- mint leaves, marigold or mum flowers, mustard seeds, moss, mango tea leaves

M with mints

Nutty N
-  nutmeg, Nutella (suggested by Batman as it has a nice smell, vetoed by me), Nigella

Orangy O
- oregano, orange peel, oatmeal, orange tea leaves

O with orange peels

Peppy P
- peppercorns, potpourri, peppermint leaves from the herb pot or tea leaves from peppermint tea bags, pine-cones, pine needles, pineapple tea (it smells seriously good - thanks Dad)

P with cone and leaves

Quilty Q
- a quilt made with flower petals - we want to do yellow, red and white rose petals from the garden, quinoa

Rosy R
- rose to the rescue, rosemary, raspberry tea leaves (from Bigelow Raspberry Royale tea bags)

R with rose petals

Sassy S
- saffron, sage, sandalwood paste, scotch moss

Tiny T
- tea leaves, tarragon, twigs (from Batman, some twigs can smell good), tulip

Umby U
So I googled, came up with the Umbrella Palm, and I think I remember a tree that looked like one growing near a lake close to home. On our next visit to the lake, I will liberate a few leaves.

Viny V
-  a vine from the garden, vanilla beans or sticks, violet flowers

Woody W
- wood sage flowers, any white flower, white mustard, leaves from willow tree

Your X-cellency
- make an X with cinnamon sticks. 

Yolly Y
- any yellow flower or leaf, yarrow flower

Ziggy Z
-  zinia flower petals


So there you have it, gorgeous aromatic letters!!

Older kids can help you come up with sensory materials for the letters. I got lots of suggestions from Batman. I told him to look in the garden to come up with ideas, and gave him the spice rack for added inspiration.

Please leave some comments, and help me beef up some of the letter suggestions!

Disclaimer: I have a very well stocked spice rack. It helps, but is not a requirement.

 

 

Linked up to Friday's Nature Table at the Magic Onions