It was a lot of fun to find animals to include in our Montessori-Inspired matching cards this month. Much of Europe has similar animals, so it was a fun challenge to pick a few for our England unit. Did you know the Barbary Lion that has been extinct for decades? It's amazing that England has … Continue reading ENGLAND Unit Study: Fauna – Montessori 3-Part Matching Cards
When my husband and I were in London in 2012, we visited a pub dedicated to Sherlock Holmes, which had a room set up like a museum. Sherlock Holmes is a fictional private detective created by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known … Continue reading Sherlock Holmes Discovery / Sensory Bin [England Unit]
The Great Famine was a period in Ireland between 1845 and 1849 of mass starvation, disease, and immigration. During the famine, about one million people died and a million more emigrated from Ireland, causing the island's population to fall by between 20% and 25%. This time has also been referred to as the Irish Potato … Continue reading Ireland Unit: Grow a Potato (Great Irish Famine Activity)
No study of Ireland would be complete without a brief intro to the faerie folk of which Ireland is famous. I make a point of explaining to my daughters the difference between real and make-believe, but also encourage them to wallow in their imagination as well. First I traced around my play tray to create … Continue reading Ireland Unit: Fairy Garden Small World Play
I couldn't resist doing a Saint Patrick's Day themed activity during our Ireland unit because it also coincided with March 17th - how convenient I did that 😉 My oldest daughter is getting pretty good at counting, and can count to 40-50 before we starts rattling off numbers like 40-10, etc. However, I want her … Continue reading St. Patrick’s Day “Pot of Gold” Counting Activity: FREE DOWNLOAD!
I have always been fascinated by world currencies and love studying different kinds of money as part of our world country studies. My oldest is only three, so is not able to fully understand the concept of money, but she likes to compare, contrast, line them up by size/shapes/color. I also find that comparing coins … Continue reading Japan Unit: Learning About Japanese Yen
I love activities that allow me to upcycle or reuse things that would normally be thrown away. Instead of throwing away plastic straws, rinse them out and save to make colorful plastic "sheets" to upcycle into fun crafts. This month we are also studying Ireland, and as the shamrock is the national flora, this was … Continue reading St. Patrick’s Day Activity: Straw Shamrock Sun-Catcher
Here in Colorado we get quite a bit of snow at times. Sometimes it's just too cold for the littles to go outside and play, so I decided to bring the snow to them! About a year ago, I bought a "Tuff Tray" from the UK - It's basically a heavy duty PVC tray with … Continue reading Snow Painting – Indoor Sensory Activity
The Shinkansen or "Bullet Train" is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan. Initially, it was built to connect distant Japanese regions with Tokyo, the capital, in order to aid economic growth and development. Today the network has expanded to currently consist of over 1700 miles of lines with maximum speeds of 150–200 miles … Continue reading STEM Activity: Balloon Powered Japanese Bullet Train
March we started studying Ireland (because St. Patrick's Day, lol) and are really enjoying it! The first week of the month we were on vacation in the Caribbean as a family (yeah I know, rough), so we had a somewhat late start to our activities. I visited this beautiful country when I was five months … Continue reading #TravelingThroughLearning – IRELAND Unit!
