Rain Mini Montessori Topic

Now I am back working some days I find it quite difficult

to organise Montessori based trays but I did this with

things I had in the house already and kept it very simple.

This started with Big Seed's current interest in "What are clouds?"

Here is what is on our shelves for our rain week.

Activities for a 4 year old and a 2 year old.

Playscape: Blue silk, felted pond, ducks, blue bricks, wool, blue and clear glass beads as rain drops, frogs, felt lilypads, eco blocks, a little bell and a huge shell.

One of Little Seeds watercolours cut into a cloud with drops drawn on.

He has to cover the drops with glass beads.

More of Little Seeds watercolour paintings.

I have drawn raindrops and clouds for them to cut out and to hang/make a mobile.

Using pipette to drop water on to soap pad.

Also used this with paper towels covered in felt-tip dots.

This was popular.

Tonging clouds ( cotton wool balls)

2 tongs for 2 abilities.

Drawing box. 

Paper cut into clouds and raindrop shapes.

Different blue mediums.

Spooning raindrops.

Small mini crystals/ clear beads from Ebay.

Opening 6 cocktail umbrellas onto a sponge.

( Too hard for Little Seed on his own.. He did enjoy trying though.

He likes this the best because he needs to master it....

Thankfully you can buy them in a bulk pack from Ebay!)

Making puddles expand.

Dropping water with a pipette onto kitchen towel.

Good with felt-tip dots on them too.

Explaining how clouds work. Dropping water with a pipette

then squeezing them when they feel heavy.

Using blue do-a-dot pen to put raindrops on raincloud shaped paper.

I put marks for him to aim for.

3 part cards - clouds

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Watercolours # 3 : Inspired by the rain

The school summer holidays have started and so has the rain...of course!

Rain, rain, rain...so we just rolled with it.

We took some proper watercolour paper and dabbed it all over

with watercolour tube paints, straight from the tube itself.

Then we laid it on a wire cake rack and placed this on the step in the rain and watched

the colours change and merge together.

Big Seed was really absorbed watching it.

He got really excited going in and out of the rain to check on it constantly.

Here is the finished picture.

Bare feet on the wet steps...a new exciting sensation.
He loved this!
I had to put a towel down by the door as he kept going in and out enjoying himself.

 I had to extend this quickly...so we used felt tips on kitchen towel in the rain.

Then we reached a real milestone...Big Seed spontaneously came up with an art idea
and got to work on it without any assistance from me.
He got some paper and made lots of dots with a green pencil,
"This is raindrops. This is the rain!"

Then he cut it out and stuck it on the cupboard door.
As the weather changes he now feels the need to draw it and hang it on his washing line...  ( oh yes, the washing line is still going strong!)
...we have a sun, grey and white clouds and a moon.

For me this is the most significant art work he has ever done...all by himself, for himself.